u/yxf2y

I've been spending a lot of time using Codex and Antigravity on a fairly large Laravel + React project.

After a while I noticed the same patterns over and over again.

The agent would:

• read way more terminal output than necessary
• dump huge files just to inspect a single function
• repeat similar searches across multiple folders
• burn through context on information it never actually used
• end up asking for approval dozens of times because of lots of tiny shell commands

The models themselves weren't really the problem. The workflow was.

So I started writing a small set of PowerShell helper scripts to guide repository navigation instead of letting the agent freely explore everything.

Things like:

• compacting noisy build/test output
• investigating a feature across multiple folders with a single command
• reading specific symbols instead of entire files
• keeping searches focused
• reducing repeated repository exploration

I'm still experimenting with the workflow, but it's already made a noticeable difference for me.

I'm curious how everyone else is approaching this.

Do you just let your agent explore freely, or have you built your own tooling/rules to keep context usage under control?

If people are interested, I'm happy to share what I've built in the comments.

I've been spending a lot of time using Codex and Antigravity on a fairly large Laravel + React project.

After a while I noticed the same patterns over and over again.

The agent would:

• read way more terminal output than necessary
• dump huge files just to inspect a single function
• repeat similar searches across multiple folders
• burn through context on information it never actually used
• end up asking for approval dozens of times because of lots of tiny shell commands

The models themselves weren't really the problem. The workflow was.

So I started writing a small set of PowerShell helper scripts to guide repository navigation instead of letting the agent freely explore everything.

Things like:

• compacting noisy build/test output
• investigating a feature across multiple folders with a single command
• reading specific symbols instead of entire files
• keeping searches focused
• reducing repeated repository exploration

I'm still experimenting with the workflow, but it's already made a noticeable difference for me.

I'm curious how everyone else is approaching this.

Do you just let your agent explore freely, or have you built your own tooling/rules to keep context usage under control?

If people are interested, I'm happy to share what I've built in the comments.

I've been spending a lot of time using Codex and Antigravity on a fairly large Laravel + React project.

After a while I noticed the same patterns over and over again.

The agent would:

• read way more terminal output than necessary
• dump huge files just to inspect a single function
• repeat similar searches across multiple folders
• burn through context on information it never actually used
• end up asking for approval dozens of times because of lots of tiny shell commands

The models themselves weren't really the problem. The workflow was.

So I started writing a small set of PowerShell helper scripts to guide repository navigation instead of letting the agent freely explore everything.

Things like:

• compacting noisy build/test output
• investigating a feature across multiple folders with a single command
• reading specific symbols instead of entire files
• keeping searches focused
• reducing repeated repository exploration

I'm still experimenting with the workflow, but it's already made a noticeable difference for me.

I'm curious how everyone else is approaching this.

Do you just let your agent explore freely, or have you built your own tooling/rules to keep context usage under control?

If people are interested, I'm happy to share what I've built in the comments.

I've been spending a lot of time using Codex and Antigravity on a fairly large Laravel + React project.

After a while I noticed the same patterns over and over again.

The agent would:

• read way more terminal output than necessary
• dump huge files just to inspect a single function
• repeat similar searches across multiple folders
• burn through context on information it never actually used
• end up asking for approval dozens of times because of lots of tiny shell commands

The models themselves weren't really the problem. The workflow was.

So I started writing a small set of PowerShell helper scripts to guide repository navigation instead of letting the agent freely explore everything.

Things like:

• compacting noisy build/test output
• investigating a feature across multiple folders with a single command
• reading specific symbols instead of entire files
• keeping searches focused
• reducing repeated repository exploration

I'm still experimenting with the workflow, but it's already made a noticeable difference for me.

I'm curious how everyone else is approaching this.

Do you just let your agent explore freely, or have you built your own tooling/rules to keep context usage under control?

If people are interested, I'm happy to share what I've built in the comments.