u/Primary-Fisherman-55

Hi everyone. I had zero coding experience before starting this project — a web app for my company (automotive industry): passing work orders between service departments, scheduling vehicle handovers, and managing a car wash (queue scheduling, cost/profit tracking).

\*\*First attempt – ChatGPT:\*\* Built a similar app for fun on a paid plan. It generated .zip file packages I just dropped into a folder. Worked locally, but deployment failed — it used SQLite instead of PostgreSQL, so it couldn't handle concurrent users. Shelved it.

\*\*Second attempt – Claude:\*\* Subscribed (\~$25/month). Spent a week planning with Claude: architecture (PostgreSQL, Django, Tailwind + HTMX + Alpine.js), features, module structure, user permissions, org structure, notifications (push + Brevo email), VPS/domain setup, UI direction, data security. This produced a \~1500-line CLAUDE.md meant to guide development.

\*\*Implementation:\*\* Set up GitHub, WSL2 + Docker, VS Code + Claude extension. Skeleton and database went fine. Problems hit once building the first of four modules — token usage exploded. I likely made it worse by pasting VS Code errors into regular chat and copying responses back manually. Burned 100% of my weekly usage in 3 days, left with a barely-functional module stub, then blocked for days.

\*\*Now:\*\* Only after hitting the limit did I research skills, plugins, opening new chats to manage context, and that the terminal apparently works better than the VS Code extension. Wondering if the 1500-line CLAUDE.md itself is part of the problem.

I have a solid functional plan but my motivation has dropped. Questions for those with more experience:

1. Continue fixing the current project, or start over? If rebuilding, how should I approach it?
2. Should documentation be split into a docs folder with separate files per backend/frontend/module, instead of one giant CLAUDE.md?
3. How should CLAUDE.md and project docs be structured to avoid burning tokens so fast?
4. How do skills actually work — added per-project, or can they be set globally in Claude Code?

Any advice appreciated.

Hi everyone. I had zero coding experience before starting this project — a web app for my company (automotive industry): passing work orders between service departments, scheduling vehicle handovers, and managing a car wash (queue scheduling, cost/profit tracking).

**First attempt – ChatGPT:** Built a similar app for fun on a paid plan. It generated .zip file packages I just dropped into a folder. Worked locally, but deployment failed — it used SQLite instead of PostgreSQL, so it couldn't handle concurrent users. Shelved it.

**Second attempt – Claude:** Subscribed (~$25/month). Spent a week planning with Claude: architecture (PostgreSQL, Django, Tailwind + HTMX + Alpine.js), features, module structure, user permissions, org structure, notifications (push + Brevo email), VPS/domain setup, UI direction, data security. This produced a ~1500-line CLAUDE.md meant to guide development.

**Implementation:** Set up GitHub, WSL2 + Docker, VS Code + Claude extension. Skeleton and database went fine. Problems hit once building the first of four modules — token usage exploded. I likely made it worse by pasting VS Code errors into regular chat and copying responses back manually. Burned 100% of my weekly usage in 3 days, left with a barely-functional module stub, then blocked for days.

**Now:** Only after hitting the limit did I research skills, plugins, opening new chats to manage context, and that the terminal apparently works better than the VS Code extension. Wondering if the 1500-line CLAUDE.md itself is part of the problem.

I have a solid functional plan but my motivation has dropped. Questions for those with more experience:

1. Continue fixing the current project, or start over? If rebuilding, how should I approach it?
2. Should documentation be split into a docs folder with separate files per backend/frontend/module, instead of one giant CLAUDE.md?
3. How should CLAUDE.md and project docs be structured to avoid burning tokens so fast?
4. How do skills actually work — added per-project, or can they be set globally in Claude Code?

Any advice appreciated.