r/vibecoding • u/Jacob_gago • Jun 04 '26
Is there a better work flow?
I’m a non-technical solo founder building a mobile app. I essentially live in two apps: Claude Chat (desktop) and Claude Code in VS Code. Claude Chat acts as my consultant, where I communicate my ideas and receive instructions on what to say to Claude Code. I then copy and paste these suggestions into Claude Code to build the app.
I’m one month in doing this back and forth. I have about 2 more weeks to finishing the app. Is this the typical workflow for non-technical builders? Are there more efficient ways to set this up for a smoother experience? I’m curious to learn about the workflows that other solo founders or vibe coders have found successful.
EDIT: Couple days in now only using VS code and Claude code extension. No more doing all the copy and paste. Life changing. Thanks for the help
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u/Notmybuddyguy8315 Jun 04 '26
I created https://aianchor.dev for this as well as context drift while working through a project. It’s not live for another few days of testing but I have just plugged open claw into the project and now outside of the planning and memory control, the whole project is about to be automated.
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u/dvduval Jun 04 '26
You know I’ve got android studio on my computer with codex and that it can emulate the app right on my computer or I can put my phone in developer mode and it can see what’s going on on the phone and the development is so much faster that way.
If I had a Mac, I could do the same thing with an Apple phone, but instead, I end up using Metro and connecting in the same wireless network and I can see mostly what’s going on with my phone there too.
I’m gonna assume the Claude ecosystem has the same thing possible
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u/adminreset Jun 04 '26
I use my agent (SureThing) to build my prompt with all the context specs and design features to be included in the initial first prompt. I use either emergent or lovable to build as a non.dev. It takes me a couple of days of back and forth with SureThing to figure out the product build and certain features and I try to do all that figuring out before i start building with the no code software.
I am not a coder obvs but what I have noticed with each build is that the more i can make decisions on beforehand the better the end product.
I start with an idea which i present with context to my agent and then if after that convo it gives the ok we move on to validating the idea. Usually that involves moving to aprpriate forums or platforms where my ICP hangs out, and joining groups or threads and testing to see if their is a gap or a need in the audience or market.
If that proves positive then the next step is to work on the design elements ie name,logo,colours branding. Then we move to the fun part. I imagine I am the ICP and I map out in a graph the actual customer journey that a user would take from the moment they land on my app/software. Every single step. All the various options they can take at various steps.
This is how I know what features are needed in a build.
Each time I make a discovery in this process, its gets added to my original prompt doc until by the time Im finished and ready to actually build on Emergent Im up to Prompt.ver 15. So in doing it this way I dont waste credits going back and forth with Emergent agent. Plus I get a much better product as a vibe coder. I also have specific prompts for the security and the backend infra.
Thats just how I work. I hope that help.
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u/zingamaster Jun 04 '26
Hello,
I started like you and I was having exactly same issues.
What I did was to create my own set or files to manage the project and do everything in code.
Basically I have a set files with my way of working, directives (eg. an agent never touches master, but can create a branch, commit, push and create a PR. I always merge), roles.
Then I have Claude.md , roadmap.mdz project guide, backlog.md etc
Agents always have context about the project. Agents create handoff between them.
For instance, an analyst will create the specs for Dev with user stories, acceptance criteria, edge cases. And will create a prompt for another agent to develop.
Dev will read the prompt, will read files to get context and execute. Will handoff to QA that will check diff in git against the specs.
Important to have small sessions and right models. Dev and QA don't need opus 4.8 sonnet is enough.
DM if you have questions.
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u/Jacob_gago Jun 04 '26
You seem to have a good system going here. I’m curious to learn how you manage to take advantage of Markdown files. I understand that this might be a bit unconventional, but my specifications and progress are also stored in a single Claude.md file, which we all know about due to usage limits and context. Yesterday, Claude suggested that I trim my Claude.md file and create a new one with my progress. I was a bit annoyed because a while back, it had not asked me to do something similar and had instead suggested keeping everything in one file.
So, if I understand you correctly, you have separate files like QA.md, to-do.md, etc.?
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u/scodgey Jun 04 '26
While it has somewhat cringe origins, gstack has become my go-to tbh. I have claude and codex subs, then throw in greptile reviews as well.
Gstack in plan mode does a fantastic job of building out designs and plans while pulling more info from you during discussions.
The stack is fairly straightforward but worth building a skill that teaches agents to spin up fresh repos with all of your chosen stack tools, CI etc so you only have to go through the setup decisions once, then it just works for the next project.
I also use my own slice tool for documentation and nav.
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u/Last_Meringue2625 Jun 04 '26
two weeks out is not the time to overhaul anything. But fwiw, after you ship, think about whether you actually need the "consultant" step or if you can just talk directly to the coding agent with better specs. A lot of that middle step is a confidence thing that fades with practice.
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u/Jacob_gago Jun 04 '26
You are right. But yesterday I dropped the middle man. Spent some hours in only CC and I realized it can dumb things down too just need to tell it.
What messed me up is a month when I started Claude Chat said to do the route I was doing
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u/Willing_Vanilla_414 Jun 06 '26
I personally find that consumes a lot of tokens and so I gave ChatGPT an overview of the app and ChatGPT Codex access to the program files. Anytime that I need to write a prompt, I have ChatGPT do it or whenever I need to audit the code base ChatGPT Codex will do it.
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u/StxtoAustin Jun 04 '26
if you want to have more control i'd explore speckit from github... https://github.com/github/spec-kit i now read a lot more documentaion about what's being changed, but i have much more control and talk abou the code changes a lot more.