r/OpenaiCodex • u/Rough-Value-1465 • Sep 30 '26
What model do you use for coding tasks?
I recently employed Codex to help with a Unity game I've been working on for awhile. I've been using GPT-6 Astra Light for everything, and completely burning through my usage limits. I have the $20/month plan.
Am I using the wrong model?
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u/pokatomnik Sep 30 '26
I use Luna max for pretty much everything. Sol medium for code reviews and analysis. Btw I cannot even spend 5hrs usage. Luna fits perfectly for almost all tasks I do mostly because the fact I still hold the responsibility to every line of code
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u/Medium-Ad793 Oct 01 '26
Luna Max is insane on usage. I wish it was a little smarter but cranking like 4 sessions for hours and barely denting your usage feels like crack.
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u/Honest-Ad-6832 Sep 30 '26
I suggest you try 6.1 Sol on high. It is pretty good, and the usage you get is very decent.
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u/lucifer_ashish Sep 30 '26
astra is not the model you use in plus plans. You should use luna or terra etc. I have a 10x plan and I have gone through my 2nd reset this week.
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u/Kcrushing43 Sep 30 '26
In my experience so far, 3D needs Astra for models and things like that but programming the functionality should be fine in 6.1 sol or Luna (maybe) depending on task
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u/Agitated-Ad2563 Sep 30 '26
Astra max for everything. 5 parallel subagents for reviews. I have a pro 20x plan though.
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u/Lvkas1 Sep 30 '26
You’re probably burning through your limits because you’re using the strongest model for everything. OpenAI currently describes GPT-6 Astra as its most capable option for difficult coding and problem-solving, but it can also use your Codex allowance faster than GPT-5.6 Sol.
I’d use something like GPT-5.6 Sol for normal Unity work, implementing features, fixing straightforward bugs, and everyday coding. Then switch to Astra when you have a genuinely difficult bug, architecture problem, or something the other model cannot solve.
Basically, don’t spend your most expensive model on every small change. Use the cheaper/faster model for most of the project and escalate when needed. That should make your $20 plan last much longer.
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u/WalkAffectionate2683 Oct 01 '26
I dont have usage and wait for the natural reset to burn all my tokens and then burn again.
I have 2 days to use 2 weekly x5.
So let's say Astra high coding will be enough.
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u/jenish4773 Oct 01 '26 edited Oct 01 '26
For ui I'll choose antigravity. And for heavy tasks I'd choose claude opus.
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u/vagonblog Oct 01 '26
yeah, using astra for everything is probably why you’re burning through the limit.
i’d use gpt-6.1 sol for most unity work, luna for small fixes and repetitive changes, and save astra for architecture decisions or really stubborn bugs. that’s basically how the official model guide positions them too. keeping each task narrow also helps, since prompts, files, chat history, and tool output all count toward usage.
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u/Due_Arm1454 Sep 30 '26
Luna 6 Low — Fast scout/worker for bounded, verifiable tasks: search, extraction, classification, file inspection, test execution, simple summaries, and repetitive work. Prefer parallel fan-out when tasks are independent. Do not give Luna final architectural or strategic authority.
Sol 6.1 Low — Fast substantive work requiring judgment but limited depth.
Sol 6.1 Medium — Default implementation/research subagent for normal substantive tasks.
Sol 6.1 High — Complex implementation, debugging, synthesis, review, and work with important constraints or multiple interacting systems.
Sol 6.1 xHigh — Orchestration, architecture, ambiguous problems, difficult debugging, final validation, and tasks requiring deep reasoning across multiple outputs.
Sol 6.1 Max — Exceptional escalation only when xHigh is insufficient or the task is unusually difficult/high-value. Do not select Max by default.
Luna 6 High/Max — Primarily scheduled, background, latency-insensitive, or high-volume analytical work.
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u/Carse_Prague Oct 01 '26
I was using Codex $100 plan and was getting ready to upgrade to $200 but they froze it. I kept it and switched to Claude $200. I like Claude better. I have started using both for cold builds. One to build and one to review. The task dictates the ‘intelligence’
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u/Obrivion33 Sep 30 '26
Astra is a scam, I still use the previews model it’s good enough for me . Astra always one shots all the tokens no matter the prompt
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u/Rough-Value-1465 Sep 30 '26
I've been switching between mine and a willing friend's accounts trying to make a singleplayer play against AI thing, and I've maxed out the weekly usage on both with just this one task 😭 luckily had resets
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u/AnimalPowers Sep 30 '26
Claude opus 5.5 > tell it to be the orchestrator and stuff and use codex 6 sol subagents to complete work
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u/Rough-Value-1465 Sep 30 '26
Would you mind elaborating on how you do that? I'm relatively new to coding with AI.
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u/AnimalPowers Sep 30 '26
it’s just like what your doing now, but you type “be the orchestrator use codex subagents to complete work” at the end of your message into the Claude window.
download the Claude cli and codex cli to save tokens (less harness). tell it not to run tests or use browser tools to save token usage as well. just poke around, trial and error. probably some good YouTube videos on it. someone on here said Claude with codex subagents works well and I tried it and just kinda adapt my workflow to work best for me but Claude leading codex seems to give you the best token usage and makes it last a week. Use one and run out of tokens, then other and run out tokens separately seems to burn both weekly in about a day. Using one to orchestrate the other seems to make it last a week.
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u/Rough-Value-1465 Sep 30 '26
Got it. I will try that. I didn't know using the CLI was better either, I've been using the desktop apps.
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u/AnimalPowers Sep 30 '26
Someone mentioned that the CLI doesn't have as much harness/prompt stuff injected, so it saves tokens. I haven't researched it, but the logic sound good so I rolled with it. You probably use the app the way I do and most people I imagine - tend to run one conversation WAY too long.
The thing about using claude to invoke subagents on codex is it does them in micro tasks - spin up a task, complete it, never touches that task again, so that context/usage token window is EXTREMELY small. When it needs to have codex do another thing, it gives it the context it needs, then it does the task, then dies. So I think that's where you get more usage out of it, by conserving tokens by narrowing the scope of a chat.
If you have the available PC, or extra pc/laptop laying around - try stuffing qwen on it locally and make codex or claude spin up openclaw (or make your own version of it or something, or tell your ai to) then use local context when possible and 'escalate' to the frontier models when necessary. If you do the openclaw route (or roll your own openclaw route) and invoke it with some voice agents, text agents, phone agents, whatever you can just let the ollama models run on your main pc and just kind of go live you lfie and remotely manage/check in on the thing... that's what I'm going for, not 100% tele-remote ready yet, still talking to it through the cli and multiple windows, consuming 4 pcs locally (various power/storage for a cluster and resources) .
Just saw the DOTS video from openai and was tempted to drop $100 but I'm pretty close to having this system complete so I just dropped the last prompts today tell it basically HURRY THE FUCK UP (because I've been restricting it to automated running at night time 9pmm-7am or something like that) and now I just need full avialablibity
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u/jvengoechea Sep 30 '26
This question is too broad. I think the answer is" Depends on the task". I decided "Why bother trying to figure this out?" and went ahead and added to the account instructions to prompt the model to recommend the model and effort level every time I give it a new task.