I started using Claude Code in the spring. I’m new to programming (or rather, coming back after a decade or so after some schooling, since I chose a different career in AEC), and I’m learning primarily with AI tools. My goal is to focus on system design, and use these tools as effectively as possible without excess. I primarily work on web dev projects, but am interested in everything. There’s a lot of discussion on here and other subs about agentic coding setups. Some people like stateless, other people like A2A with state, and everything in between. I’ve seen many impressive projects produced with both approaches, and met many professional engineers who have differing opinions. I wanted to survey this sub and see what others are doing, in what context, and why. Questions: Do you prefer stateless or stateful agents for coding? Why? If you use both, what are the different applications? Are you a solo dev or working on a team? If 2, how big is your team? Are you a professional engineer or a hobbyist/student?
My current Claude Code setup: (For reference - feel free to offer suggestions) Git & GitHub Single source of truth. At any time, any agent run by any contributor should be able to approach the project and have everything they need to work on it from the repo alone. That’s my #1 rule. CLAUDE.md -> AGENTS.md , ~100 line general protocols. Spec: The full record of what to build. May be one SPEC.md or several sections. Categorized by type/component, not numbered. I use /grill-me or my own /ask-me that’s a little softer for this process. Docs: Complete documentation. Architecture, schemas, styles, whatever makes sense for the project. Markdown, because my projects are small and contributors are few. Dev Workflow: [Issue -> Atomic commits -> Test -> PR -> CI -> Squash merge]. Goal is to create a self-maintaining record of the project. Maintain spec and docs while coding. Each ticket starts and ends with a complete, working repository. Development approach: SDD, TDD. Read the spec, write the tests, write the code, test it, back-check it. CI checks lane, build & validate, npm check (most of my projects are Node.js), test, and accessibility for UI. Usually watch from the same session; red triggers a triage routine. This is probably what I lean on the most to avoid system failures. Branches are divided into lanes (dev, docs, content, etc.) which influence what CI checks. Milestones: A large, bounded area of scope. Comprehensive QA/QC review at the end. Parent issue with sub-issues (I found GH Milestones didn’t work as well with Claude). Dependabot Coding Harness Stateless Claude Code. I generally use default settings. Claude Desktop/Mobile using Anthropic’s cloud environment. Local if I need an allowlist that Anthropic cloud doesn’t support. 99% of the time I’m controlling agents from my phone. I used to vary the model more, but these days I rely on Opus 5.5 (Medium) for nearly everything. Routines Issue triage: Makes sure new issues end up in the right lane, in the right place in the dev queue, etc. Development: Picks up the next issue in the queue after a dev issue is closed. Helps avoid wasting my usage when I’m not available Dev process is driven by the spec and managed through GitHub; routines just keep the machine running. So far, I prefer a GH webhook trigger setup to an always-on listener. Devices Cheap laptop and a smartphone Compute I’m on a tight budget, so I make the most of a Pro plan. This has forced me to focus on efficiency, and I rarely run out of usage anymore. I run agents around the clock and usually make it to Friday. Skills & Internal Tools I’m a big grill-me fan. Aside from that, I want anyone’s agent to be able to work on my project at any time . So everything else is a repo skill. I don’t write skills for anything that can/should be read from the docs. I keep a decision record in the repo as a reference. It’s short, and links to PRs. I don’t want another source of truth to manage, but I’ve found this to be especially helpful for spec-writing when transitioning between phases of development. Agents working on dev lane issues do not review this file. If I want to preview UI stuff or content, sometimes I’ll build an internal tool to explore options, rank them, and work back and forth to develop a skill. General rule is minimize tooling and dependencies unless they add value. Very wary of cargo-culting and configmaxxing. Some love it; I don’t. submitted by /u/Time_Cat_5212
Originally posted by u/Time_Cat_5212 on r/ClaudeCode
You must log in or # to comment.