u/swagatk

Context: Solo dev, TypeScript/Node app, continuously shipping new features and bug fixes. I use an AI coding agent (Claude) for most implementation. No dedicated QA.

My goals are simple:

1. New features work as expected
2. Existing features don't regress

Looking for inputs on how to think about this holistically — not just "write unit tests." Specifically:

What I'm wrestling with:

• Granularity: Unit vs integration vs e2e — where does the ROI actually sit for a solo project? I've seen advice that goes all over the place.
• Timing: Should tests be written before the feature (TDD), alongside it, or as a post-ship pass? Does this change when an AI agent is writing the code?
• Ownership: Should the coding agent write tests as part of its task, or should a separate review/testing pass happen after? What breaks when the same agent writes the code and the tests?
• Sustainability: What's a realistic, low-overhead process that actually holds up as the codebase grows — not just "write tests for everything"?

What works for you in practice? Especially curious from anyone who's integrated AI agents into their dev loop.

Context: Solo dev, TypeScript/Node app, continuously shipping new features and bug fixes. I use an AI coding agent (Claude) for most implementation. No dedicated QA.

My goals are simple:

1. New features work as expected
2. Existing features don't regress

Looking for inputs on how to think about this holistically — not just "write unit tests." Specifically:

What I'm wrestling with:

• Granularity: Unit vs integration vs e2e — where does the ROI actually sit for a solo project? I've seen advice that goes all over the place.
• Timing: Should tests be written before the feature (TDD), alongside it, or as a post-ship pass? Does this change when an AI agent is writing the code?
• Ownership: Should the coding agent write tests as part of its task, or should a separate review/testing pass happen after? What breaks when the same agent writes the code and the tests?
• Sustainability: What's a realistic, low-overhead process that actually holds up as the codebase grows — not just "write tests for everything"?

What works for you in practice? Especially curious from anyone who's integrated AI agents into their dev loop.

Context: Solo dev, TypeScript/Node app, continuously shipping new features and bug fixes. I use an AI coding agent (Claude) for most implementation. No dedicated QA.

My goals are simple:

1. New features work as expected
2. Existing features don't regress

Looking for inputs on how to think about this holistically — not just "write unit tests." Specifically:

What I'm wrestling with:

• Granularity: Unit vs integration vs e2e — where does the ROI actually sit for a solo project? I've seen advice that goes all over the place.
• Timing: Should tests be written before the feature (TDD), alongside it, or as a post-ship pass? Does this change when an AI agent is writing the code?
• Ownership: Should the coding agent write tests as part of its task, or should a separate review/testing pass happen after? What breaks when the same agent writes the code and the tests?
• Sustainability: What's a realistic, low-overhead process that actually holds up as the codebase grows — not just "write tests for everything"?

What works for you in practice? Especially curious from anyone who's integrated AI agents into their dev loop.

Context: Solo dev, TypeScript/Node app, continuously shipping new features and bug fixes. I use an AI coding agent (Claude) for most implementation. No dedicated QA.

My goals are simple:

1. New features work as expected
2. Existing features don't regress

Looking for inputs on how to think about this holistically — not just "write unit tests." Specifically:

What I'm wrestling with:

• Granularity: Unit vs integration vs e2e — where does the ROI actually sit for a solo project? I've seen advice that goes all over the place.
• Timing: Should tests be written before the feature (TDD), alongside it, or as a post-ship pass? Does this change when an AI agent is writing the code?
• Ownership: Should the coding agent write tests as part of its task, or should a separate review/testing pass happen after? What breaks when the same agent writes the code and the tests?
• Sustainability: What's a realistic, low-overhead process that actually holds up as the codebase grows — not just "write tests for everything"?

What works for you in practice? Especially curious from anyone who's integrated AI agents into their dev loop.

Context: Solo dev, TypeScript/Node app, continuously shipping new features and bug fixes. I use an AI coding agent (Claude) for most implementation. No dedicated QA.

My goals are simple:

1. New features work as expected
2. Existing features don't regress

Looking for inputs on how to think about this holistically — not just "write unit tests." Specifically:

What I'm wrestling with:

• Granularity: Unit vs integration vs e2e — where does the ROI actually sit for a solo project? I've seen advice that goes all over the place.
• Timing: Should tests be written before the feature (TDD), alongside it, or as a post-ship pass? Does this change when an AI agent is writing the code?
• Ownership: Should the coding agent write tests as part of its task, or should a separate review/testing pass happen after? What breaks when the same agent writes the code and the tests?
• Sustainability: What's a realistic, low-overhead process that actually holds up as the codebase grows — not just "write tests for everything"?

What works for you in practice? Especially curious from anyone who's integrated AI agents into their dev loop.

Context: Solo dev, TypeScript/Node app, continuously shipping new features and bug fixes. I use an AI coding agent (Claude) for most implementation. No dedicated QA.

My goals are simple:

1. New features work as expected
2. Existing features don't regress

Looking for inputs on how to think about this holistically — not just "write unit tests." Specifically:

What I'm wrestling with:

• Granularity: Unit vs integration vs e2e — where does the ROI actually sit for a solo project? I've seen advice that goes all over the place.
• Timing: Should tests be written before the feature (TDD), alongside it, or as a post-ship pass? Does this change when an AI agent is writing the code?
• Ownership: Should the coding agent write tests as part of its task, or should a separate review/testing pass happen after? What breaks when the same agent writes the code and the tests?
• Sustainability: What's a realistic, low-overhead process that actually holds up as the codebase grows — not just "write tests for everything"?

What works for you in practice? Especially curious from anyone who's integrated AI agents into their dev loop.

Looking for ideas on how I can optimize my workflow further.

I currently have created a moderately  complex vibe coded app. My current setup is VS code, with codex (5.5) and claude code (sonnet) extension, $20 pro plan for each. I have railway and GIT CLIs intalled as well on VS code.

My current workflow:

1.      Implementation Plan – All the below happens in one session of chat

a.      For a feature, I want to add to my repo, I ask Claude to research it to create an implementation plan document.

b.      Ask Codex to review and provide feedback on the plan by creating a feedback document

c.      Ask Claude to review the feedback to finalize the plan

d.      Repeat proceeded if feedback is major

2.      Coding Session – All the bellow happens in one session of chat

a.      Ask Claude to update the code as per the implementation plan

b.      Ask same Claude session to create a code review document which lists down what was changed in which scripts

c.      Ask Codex to use the implementation plan, code review document to review the code to create a code review doc

d.      Ask Claude to assess feedback and update code

e.      Repeat process if feedback is major

 

How to create documents, what to check, how to code, etc. are clear instructions in my agents.md. The overall output created is satisfactory since it has gone through multiple rounds of review on plan and the code. However looking help on the following:

1.      Is there a way to automate it? Because I have manually switch between claude and codex windows to ask them to do their part once the previous part is completed

2.      This burns a lot of tokens, to implement any feature, because it has a lot of iterations, especially for big changes

3.      Anything I need to change in the workflow to get better/equivalent outputs while being more efficient

 

Looking forward to hear from you.

 

 

Looking for ideas on how I can optimize my workflow further.

I currently have created a moderately  complex vibe coded app. My current setup is VS code, with codex (5.5) and claude code (sonnet) extension, $20 pro plan for each. I have railway and GIT CLIs intalled as well on VS code.

My current workflow:

1.      Implementation Plan – All the below happens in one session of chat

a.      For a feature, I want to add to my repo, I ask Claude to research it to create an implementation plan document.

b.      Ask Codex to review and provide feedback on the plan by creating a feedback document

c.      Ask Claude to review the feedback to finalize the plan

d.      Repeat proceeded if feedback is major

2.      Coding Session – All the bellow happens in one session of chat

a.      Ask Claude to update the code as per the implementation plan

b.      Ask same Claude session to create a code review document which lists down what was changed in which scripts

c.      Ask Codex to use the implementation plan, code review document to review the code to create a code review doc

d.      Ask Claude to assess feedback and update code

e.      Repeat process if feedback is major

 

How to create documents, what to check, how to code, etc. are clear instructions in my agents.md. The overall output created is satisfactory since it has gone through multiple rounds of review on plan and the code. However looking help on the following:

1.      Is there a way to automate it? Because I have manually switch between claude and codex windows to ask them to do their part once the previous part is completed

2.      This burns a lot of tokens, to implement any feature, because it has a lot of iterations, especially for big changes

3.      Anything I need to change in the workflow to get better/equivalent outputs while being more efficient

 

Looking forward to hear from you.

 

 

Looking for ideas on how I can optimize my workflow further.

I currently have created a moderately  complex vibe coded app. My current setup is VS code, with codex (5.5) and claude code (sonnet) extension, $20 pro plan for each. I have railway and GIT CLIs intalled as well on VS code.

My current workflow:

1.      Implementation Plan – All the below happens in one session of chat

a.      For a feature, I want to add to my repo, I ask Claude to research it to create an implementation plan document.

b.      Ask Codex to review and provide feedback on the plan by creating a feedback document

c.      Ask Claude to review the feedback to finalize the plan

d.      Repeat proceeded if feedback is major

2.      Coding Session – All the bellow happens in one session of chat

a.      Ask Claude to update the code as per the implementation plan

b.      Ask same Claude session to create a code review document which lists down what was changed in which scripts

c.      Ask Codex to use the implementation plan, code review document to review the code to create a code review doc

d.      Ask Claude to assess feedback and update code

e.      Repeat process if feedback is major

 

How to create documents, what to check, how to code, etc. are clear instructions in my agents.md. The overall output created is satisfactory since it has gone through multiple rounds of review on plan and the code. However looking help on the following:

1.      Is there a way to automate it? Because I have manually switch between claude and codex windows to ask them to do their part once the previous part is completed

2.      This burns a lot of tokens, to implement any feature, because it has a lot of iterations, especially for big changes

3.      Anything I need to change in the workflow to get better/equivalent outputs while being more efficient

 

Looking forward to hear from you.

 

 

Looking for ideas on how I can optimize my workflow further.

I currently have created a moderately  complex vibe coded app. My current setup is VS code, with codex (5.5) and claude code (sonnet) extension, $20 pro plan for each. I have railway and GIT CLIs intalled as well on VS code.

My current workflow:

1.      Implementation Plan – All the below happens in one session of chat

a.      For a feature, I want to add to my repo, I ask Claude to research it to create an implementation plan document.

b.      Ask Codex to review and provide feedback on the plan by creating a feedback document

c.      Ask Claude to review the feedback to finalize the plan

d.      Repeat proceeded if feedback is major

2.      Coding Session – All the bellow happens in one session of chat

a.      Ask Claude to update the code as per the implementation plan

b.      Ask same Claude session to create a code review document which lists down what was changed in which scripts

c.      Ask Codex to use the implementation plan, code review document to review the code to create a code review doc

d.      Ask Claude to assess feedback and update code

e.      Repeat process if feedback is major

 

How to create documents, what to check, how to code, etc. are clear instructions in my agents.md. The overall output created is satisfactory since it has gone through multiple rounds of review on plan and the code. However looking help on the following:

1.      Is there a way to automate it? Because I have manually switch between claude and codex windows to ask them to do their part once the previous part is completed

2.      This burns a lot of tokens, to implement any feature, because it has a lot of iterations, especially for big changes

3.      Anything I need to change in the workflow to get better/equivalent outputs while being more efficient

 

Looking forward to hear from you.

 

 

Looking for ideas on how I can optimize my workflow further.

I currently have created a moderately  complex vibe coded app. My current setup is VS code, with codex (5.5) and claude code (sonnet) extension, $20 pro plan for each. I have railway and GIT CLIs intalled as well on VS code.

My current workflow:

1.      Implementation Plan – All the below happens in one session of chat

a.      For a feature, I want to add to my repo, I ask Claude to research it to create an implementation plan document.

b.      Ask Codex to review and provide feedback on the plan by creating a feedback document

c.      Ask Claude to review the feedback to finalize the plan

d.      Repeat proceeded if feedback is major

2.      Coding Session – All the bellow happens in one session of chat

a.      Ask Claude to update the code as per the implementation plan

b.      Ask same Claude session to create a code review document which lists down what was changed in which scripts

c.      Ask Codex to use the implementation plan, code review document to review the code to create a code review doc

d.      Ask Claude to assess feedback and update code

e.      Repeat process if feedback is major

 

How to create documents, what to check, how to code, etc. are clear instructions in my agents.md. The overall output created is satisfactory since it has gone through multiple rounds of review on plan and the code. However looking help on the following:

1.      Is there a way to automate it? Because I have manually switch between claude and codex windows to ask them to do their part once the previous part is completed

2.      This burns a lot of tokens, to implement any feature, because it has a lot of iterations, especially for big changes

3.      Anything I need to change in the workflow to get better/equivalent outputs while being more efficient

 

Looking forward to hear from you.

 

 

Looking for ideas on how I can optimize my workflow further.

I currently have created a moderately  complex vibe coded app. My current setup is VS code, with codex (5.5) and claude code (sonnet) extension, $20 pro plan for each. I have railway and GIT CLIs intalled as well on VS code.

My current workflow:

1.      Implementation Plan – All the below happens in one session of chat

a.      For a feature, I want to add to my repo, I ask Claude to research it to create an implementation plan document.

b.      Ask Codex to review and provide feedback on the plan by creating a feedback document

c.      Ask Claude to review the feedback to finalize the plan

d.      Repeat proceeded if feedback is major

2.      Coding Session – All the bellow happens in one session of chat

a.      Ask Claude to update the code as per the implementation plan

b.      Ask same Claude session to create a code review document which lists down what was changed in which scripts

c.      Ask Codex to use the implementation plan, code review document to review the code to create a code review doc

d.      Ask Claude to assess feedback and update code

e.      Repeat process if feedback is major

 

How to create documents, what to check, how to code, etc. are clear instructions in my agents.md. The overall output created is satisfactory since it has gone through multiple rounds of review on plan and the code. However looking help on the following:

1.      Is there a way to automate it? Because I have manually switch between claude and codex windows to ask them to do their part once the previous part is completed

2.      This burns a lot of tokens, to implement any feature, because it has a lot of iterations, especially for big changes

3.      Anything I need to change in the workflow to get better/equivalent outputs while being more efficient

 

Looking forward to hear from you.