I reach the same flow state by multitasking across multiple tasks in multiple repos. I can hold my own context across 5-10 different terminal tabs each running their own Claude code or pi. Watching Claude especially with sub agents is like watching paint dry.
Ask HN: How do you get into a flow state when using AI to code?
21–30 of 140 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you get into a flow state when using AI to code?
#22Flow state relies on a constant information inflow that holds your attention perfectly, often hinging on competency and challenge. You can't enter it in AI coding because you need to wait for replies. It's incompatible. I just watch YouTube in the downtime these days, or movies that I don't care too much about
Meditation teacher Michael Taft recommends "dropping into awake awareness" whenever you're waiting for a response. [1] It's the opposite of watching YouTube, pretty much. [1] https://x.com/OortCloudAtlas/status/2062208343192769004
Interesting. I still don't get what that means. Ironically, he suggests you just watch his YouTube.
Re: Ask HN: How do you get into a flow state when using AI to code?
#23Welcome to management!!!
lol, it is funny,but sadly is partly true...
Re: Ask HN: How do you get into a flow state when using AI to code?
#24Use composer 2.5 fast in cursor (or cursor cli). YMMW but I find it fast enough to maintain focus on one task (if that's what you're going for given a particular problem
I tried, but I just found it not smart enough. I do love how fast it is though.
Re: Ask HN: How do you get into a flow state when using AI to code?
#25For working on a single project, I have a text document open where I’m working on future prompts. For working on tasks in a team setting, with prs and reviews, i built a tui that manages multiple tmux sessions. It creates a worktree for each task. It has status indicators for each session, hotkeys to quickly cycle through them, hotkeys to pull, annotate and paste pr comments, pull, annotate and paste linear tasks and comments, hotkeys to launch external tools and to jump directly to the pr url, and any time there’s a period when all the dots are busy i just start a new task. It’s a bit manic, but it’s manageable because it’s all in one terminal window. It’s also for AI as it existed 3 months ago, work slowed down and i haven’t tried to apply loops or whatever the latest crazy thing is.
Re: Ask HN: How do you get into a flow state when using AI to code?
#26I try and make very small and deterministic steps. I do the planning (in flow state) and let the model to the execution. When the model is executing, I follow the "thinking" and keep seeing the diff like I would when I was coding.
Re: Ask HN: How do you get into a flow state when using AI to code?
#27I use "comment-driven development" by building out the skeleton manually, writing comments instead of code, and letting the agent fill the code in (and then repeat, until done). It is a "lower level" of AI usage, compared say to full-vibe mode, spec-driven development, whatever. But I feel that it's even easier to stay in the flow, because I do not get bored by boilerplate or mundane implementation details.
"Higher levels" of AI usage are exhausting and flow-free endeavours.
Re: Ask HN: How do you get into a flow state when using AI to code?
#28Flow state relies on a constant information inflow that holds your attention perfectly, often hinging on competency and challenge. You can't enter it in AI coding because you need to wait for replies. It's incompatible. I just watch YouTube in the downtime these days, or movies that I don't care too much about
There's an XKCD for that, "Compiling" : https://xkcd.com/303/
Re: Ask HN: How do you get into a flow state when using AI to code?
#29Flow state relies on a constant information inflow that holds your attention perfectly, often hinging on competency and challenge. You can't enter it in AI coding because you need to wait for replies. It's incompatible. I just watch YouTube in the downtime these days, or movies that I don't care too much about
There's an XKCD for that, "Compiling" : https://xkcd.com/303/
The difference is your boss isn’t going to fire the middleman so he can talk straight to the compiler
Re: Ask HN: How do you get into a flow state when using AI to code?
#30im finding it way way more "flowy" than pre-ai. all the boring trivia is gone, i can focus on what i actually care about - the shape of what i am building, tradeoffs, second- and third-order consequences of decisions.
the trick to get it uninterrupted is "selective multitasking". i don't like having too many Claudes / Codexes in parallel on auto-pilot; this way im finding i'm getting _something_ that is perfectly plausible, but rarely what i wanted. but I have N going at any given time, just enough to be basically non-stop reading. problems need to be related; within one project, ideally adjacent areas that are complementary. then my "flow" is just switching between reading and typing non-stop. never felt time flying by faster in my life, pure flow