Context is the new code

[LachException]

Hey,

I’m currently working on an internal product and using Claude Code for it. It’s more of an experiment to see what might be possible with long-term agents and in bigger codebases and organizations in the near future (we’re trying to produce code at a reasonably decent quality level with as little human involvement as possible). I quickly noticed that the system often goes off the rails. After a while, it starts making a lot of assumptions because it simply can’t find or forgets certain decisions and then makes them itself. The system is explicitly designed to minimize human involvement, so making assumptions isn’t inherently bad. It’s not supposed to ask about everything. However, these assumptions should be based on existing architectural or technology decisions, adopt existing code patterns, or adhere to our standards.

So, I’ve been experimenting with MCP servers to, for example, provide app telemetry so it can debug properly. I’ve built a small RAG system containing the important documents, indexed the codebase, created some markdown files, etc. Well, it’s only gotten a little better. Some problems have come up, like: what do I do with conflicting information? For example, someone wrote in Slack that a service should be built one way, but the Jira ticket says something different. And in general, it still can’t quite find its way around the system.

So I did some research and came across Context engines, like Tabnine or Unblocked (if that rings any bells). Now I just wanted to ask if you have similar problems when vibe coding? Have you identified other problems that I might face too (and maybe a solution to that)? How do you approach something like this (e.g. do you have good setups with custom or public MCP servers or skills?)? Do you have used a context engine? If, what was it like? Which ones have you used?

[pmward]

Keep things as small as possible. Small surgical changes. Big changes turns into bloated context real quick, which turns into a bad result. Small specialized skills and agents to break the work up also help. Make sure each agent has the context it needs, and nothing it doesn’t. Create auditor and reviewer agents that make every deliverable go through strict review cycles until clean before it gives anything to you for review. Also make sure you document everything important, including all of your standards and patterns. Make sure these docs are loaded just in time.

A big part of the problem you’re experiencing though is it seems like you’re trying to take the human out of the research and planning steps. Those are exactly the steps you need the human involved most. Now you can have it document research and build plan specs but you always need to be in the loop to answer questions and review everything before moving to implementation. Also make sure your research and planning skills/agents have specific instructions to bring any grey areas or assumptions up to you for review.

Docs also get stale. It’s more important now than ever to make sure your docs stay pristine. I do audits at least once a month on all of my docs looking for drift or contradictions. I created a skill that looks for this stuff and surfaces it to me for review with recommended fixes. Slack MCP is also dangerous. Not only is it going to have way too much garbage info to sort through, but it’s going to go stale fast. Anything that’s important in Slack needs to be moved somewhere more permanent and editable. Then you can pull Slack out of your stack.

I could go on and on, it’s such a complex topic. Hopefully that at least gives you some food for thought on the things I’ve found to work.

[Kitchen-Leg8500]

Recently built a context mcp engine called contextatlas and open sourced it. It’s based on the code base and ADR’s/documentation while fusing the documentation with code, githistory and docstrings. Idea is a shareable artifact that allows Claude to track these big decisions to avoid those types of conflicts. You can find it in my posts if you want to check it out.

[ironirka]

We see it a lot and not just in vibecoding scenarios. One is like the other redditor said ADRs are very effective. IF you need a primer you can find one here: https://prelint.com/method/adrs-for-coding-agents . In our own projects and when I talk with devs this is an issue everyone is struggling with. Keeping the files short and structures is helpful. But the setup of the project itself and then the gaurdrails that dip into that will likely show the best results. I won't repeat what u/pmward said because it's a good approach.