How to prepare for AI-assisted coding interviews?

Scenario

You’re invited to an onsite interview labeled “AI Code Craft Challenge”.

• You will receive starter code (an existing small codebase).
• You are allowed and encouraged to use an AI coding assistant in your local IDE.
• The goal is to complete a practical engineering task while demonstrating how you use AI to build / test / debug / iterate .

Question

1. What should you prioritize when preparing for an AI-assisted, starter-code-based coding interview?
2. Which tools/workflows (IDE setup, testing, debugging, linters/formatters, AI assistants) are most useful to have ready?
3. In practice, do tasks tend to be closer to feature implementation , debugging , refactoring , or improving test coverage —and how should you prepare for each?

Constraints / Expectations (implicit)

• Time-boxed interview environment.
• You must ship a correct, maintainable change and communicate tradeoffs.
• You should use AI effectively but still demonstrate strong engineering judgment and verification.