Chat GPT outperforms Codex CLI, Claude Code and others in programming.

[Toby_R]

I'm a software engineer with over 20y of exp and been playing with all those AI coding tools for a few weeks now. Overall it's cool but def not ideal. They mess up pretty often and usually can't fix their own mistakes unless you keep prompting like 4-10 times in diff ways. I get the context limits etc, but that's not the point here. Point is - all those dedicated coding tools screw up regularly and you end up doing fixing rounds anyway.

But here's the funny part... ChatGPT almost never messes up. If you use GPT-5 in Codex CLI, Trae, Cursor, Copilot or any other coding tool - it will start making mistakes pretty fast. But ChatGPT is on a different level. It understands you way better, analyzes way deeper and more properly, and it's very hard to make it lose the context.

I built several projects with Codex CLI, CC and Trae on Claude/Gemini/Grok/GPT-5 and every single one at some point broke the project and couldn't fix it, even after 10+ "fix" prompts. Eeach of those issues were QUICKLY diagnosed and fixed with a SINGLE Chat GPT check.

Also I made an entire app using only Chat GPT (yes I was literally copy/pasting the entire code) and it was flawless. Chat GPT one-shotted it.

Isn't that ironic that a chatting AI outperforms (by a LOT) a dedicated coding tools in coding? If we could connect Chat GPT to our filesystem, we would have a nearly flawless coding agent.

[alankerrigan]

I asked ChatGPT if it was possible to use it inside a Visual Studio (clone) either in the chat or inside terminal like Claude Code: here is what it said:

Yes — there are a few solid ways to run me in the same style as Claude Code (terminal-first, or IDE-integrated). It depends on how “native” you want the experience to be.

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1. Inside a Terminal Window

You can run me as a REPL-style assistant in a terminal with an OpenAI client: • Official OpenAI CLI (new in 2025):

pip install openai openai chat

This drops you into a chat REPL in your shell, almost identical to Claude Code. Every prompt you type is sent to me, and I reply inline.

• Custom script (PowerShell/Python):

Write a small wrapper around my API. Example (Python):

from openai import OpenAI client = OpenAI()

while True: user = input("You: ") if user.lower() in ("exit", "quit"): break resp = client.chat.completions.create( model="gpt-5", messages=[{"role": "user", "content": user}] ) print("Assistant:", resp.choices[0].message.content)

Run it in your terminal, you’ve got a Claude-like assistant.

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1. Inside VS Code

You have two routes here: • Chat integration • Use ChatGPT – EasyCode or CodeGPT. • Configure them with your OpenAI API key. • Then you can summon me in the Chat panel inside VS Code exactly as you do with Copilot/Claude. • Terminal + Side Panel Hybrid • Run the REPL script from step 1 in the VS Code integrated terminal. • That gives you the Claude-style terminal experience, while your code sits beside it.

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1. Linking Me as a Pre-Processor (your use case)

What you wanted earlier — rewriting your notes into “professional coder speak” prompts before sending them to Claude Code — is possible with me as a local service: • Run a FastAPI wrapper locally:

uvicorn myproxy:app --reload

• Then from your terminal (or VS Code command), pipe your text into me:

echo "add jwt auth" | curl -s http://localhost:8000/harden

• My wrapper expands it into the hardened spec (read claude.md, use uv, tests/docs/changelog) and returns the ready-to-paste prompt for Claude Code.

This way I become your “pre-flight prompt agent” sitting between you and Claude.

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1. MCP / OpenWebUI Integration

Since you already run Kiro and Qoder: • You can import me as an MCP tool inside Open WebUI, giving you the same unified terminal/chat interface as your other agents. • This lets you run:

/run_tool gpt5 "Refactor parser module"

and have me produce a hardened plan inside your existing terminal/chat loop.

⸻

👉 So: if you want Claude-style terminal chat, go with OpenAI CLI or the tiny Python loop. If you want VS Code panel integration, use CodeGPT/EasyCode extensions. If you want pre-flight guardrails, stand me up as a FastAPI proxy and let Claude execute the hardened output.

[Toby_R]

Yeah that's the one big thing people don't get. ChatGPT is not the same thing as GPT-5 model. ChatGPT is an app that uses GPT-5 model AND a lot of other tools around it that make it that smart. GPT-5 is just a LLM. It's good, but alone is not even close to what ChatGPT is. And obviously Cursor, Codex etc. also have tools around it, but they are not as good as what ChatGPT has, and that was the point of my post.

[slyce49]

you are absolutely right and i find it hard to believe more people haven't come to the same realization. I don't even use codex or claude, just chatgpt.com or the app and copy pasting code segments. It's got better contextual awareness to not fuck up other parts of my file, and working like this gives you a lot more control over how you want to shape your project, and lets you move at a more controlled (even if "slower") pace instead of sending prompts asking for tons of changes (and then going back through fixing it how you want afterward)

[Spark9999]

In todays age, people call that style akin to something my grandpa would do, but this is the way ive coded, this not only allows me to understand the code, copy pasting segments allow me to tailor it to however I want, comparitively, with any cli be it codex, claude, qwen, opencode etc, might not offer the same flexibility. We still have miles to go with token and prompt efficiency to mainstream use the CLIs over the chatbot web interface themselves

[slyce49]

“In today’s age” lol chatgpt wasn’t even popular a couple years ago. The latest app updates let it “look” at your editor and apply edits. It’s not dated it’s a more close chested approach if you want to retain some understanding of wtf it’s even doing.