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How I use Claude Code: Separation of planning and execution

boristane.com

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Re: How I use Claude Code: Separation of planning and execution

#371

Post by colinhb »

Quoting the article:

> One trick I use constantly: for well-contained features where I’ve seen a good implementation in an open source repo, I’ll share that code as a reference alongside the plan request. If I want to add sortable IDs, I paste the ID generation code from a project that does it well and say “this is how they do sortable IDs, write a plan.md explaining how we can adopt a similar approach.” Claude works dramatically better when it has a concrete reference implementation to work from rather than designing from scratch.

Licensing apparently means nothing.

Ripped off in the training data, ripped off in the prompt.

Re: How I use Claude Code: Separation of planning and execution

#372

Post by parasti »

The biggest roadblock to using agents to maximum effectiveness like this is the chat interface. It's convenience as detriment and convenience as distraction. I've found myself repeatedly giving into that convenience only to realize that I have wasted an hour and need to start over because the agent is just obliviously circling the solution that I thought was fully obvious from the context I gave it. Clearly these tools are exceptional at transforming inputs into outputs and, counterintuitively, not as exceptional when the inputs are constantly interleaved with the outputs like they are in chat mode.

Re: How I use Claude Code: Separation of planning and execution

#373

Post by submeta »

What works extremely well for me is this: Let Claude Code create the plan, then turn over the plan to Codex for review, and give the response back to Claude Code. Codex is exceptionally good at doing high level reviews and keeping an eye on the details. It will find very suble errors and omissins. And CC is very good at quickly converting the plan into code.

This back and forth between the two agents with me steering the conversation elevates Claude Code into next level.

Re: How I use Claude Code: Separation of planning and execution

#374

Post by nubg »

dakolli wrote: post #341
oblio wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not (or should not be what's happening). They write a short high level plan (let's say 200 words). The plan asks the agent to write a more detailed implementation plan (written by the LLM, let's say 2000-5000 words). They read this plan and adjust as needed, even sending it to the agent for re-dos. Once the implementation plan is done, they ask the agent to write the actual code changes. Then they review that…

[flagged]

What genuinely new thing have you produced?

Re: How I use Claude Code: Separation of planning and execution

#376

Post by copirate »

chaboud wrote: post #334
vishnugupta wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Revolutionary or not it was very nice of the author to make time and effort to share their workflow. For those starting out using Claude Code it gives a structured way to get things done bypassing the time/energy needed to “hit upon something that several of us have evolved to naturally”.

It's this line that I'm bristling at: "...the workflow I’ve settled into is radically different from what most people do with AI coding tools..." Anyone who spends some time with these tools (and doesn't black out from smashing their head against their desk) is going to find substantial benefit in planning with clarity. It was #6 in Boris's run-down: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46470017 So, yes, I'm glad tha…

But the author's workflow is actually very different from Boris'.

#6 is about using plan mode whereas the author says "The built-in plan mode sucks".

The author's post is much more than just "planning with clarity".

Re: How I use Claude Code: Separation of planning and execution

#377

Post by nubg »

dakolli wrote: post #358
nostrademons wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the attention mechanism at work, along with a fair bit of Internet one-up-manship. The LLM has ingested all of the text on the Internet, as well as Github code repositories, pull requests, StackOverflow posts, code reviews, mailing lists, etc. In a number of those content sources, there will be people saying "Actually, if you go into the details of..." or "If you look at the intricacies of the problem" or "If yo…

You will never convince me that this isn't confirmation bias, or the equivalent of a slot machine player thinking the order in which they push buttons impacts the output, or some other gambler-esque superstition. These tools are literally designed to make people behave like gamblers. And its working, except the house in this case takes the money you give them and lights it on fire.

Your ignorance is my opportunity. May I ask which markets you are developing for?

Re: How I use Claude Code: Separation of planning and execution

#378

Post by imiric »

winrid wrote: post #213
scuff3d wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know why it works, to varying and unmeasurable degrees of success. Just like if I poke a bull with a sharp stick, I know it's gonna get it's attention. It might choose to run away from me in one of any number of directions, or it might decide to turn around and gore me to death. I can't answer that question with any certainty then you can. The system is inherently non-deterministic. Just because you can guide it a…

But we can predict the outcomes, though. That's what we're saying, and it's true. Maybe not 100% of the time, but maybe it helps a significant amount of the time and that's what matters. Is it engineering? Maybe not. But neither is knowing how to talk to junior developers so they're productive and don't feel bad. The engineering is at other levels.

> But we can predict the outcomes [...] Maybe not 100% of the time

So 60% of the time, it works every time.

... This fucking industry.

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