While this is all good practice in theory, I wonder how much discipline plays a role here?

I am not very disciplined, and find it too convenient to reach for an agent these days.

This may sound ridiculous, but I am addicted to nicotine. I used to have some sort of rule around how I am allowed to use nicotine pouches to manage my addiction. For example after I finish writing a feature, I could have one pouch. It was obviously a dumb idea that didn't last very long.. But in that specific aspect, coding agents feel similar. I tried setting up rules on how I should use them, but it's not easy to follow them.

Maybe the biggest problem is just guilt?