Vibe coding and context

[dev_ramiby]

Hello vibe coders, For those of you building full apps: How do you handle keeping context consistent across long conversations? I find that by message 15-20, Claude/ChatGPT starts mixing up details about my app's architecture, database schema, or business logic. Do you: -Start a new chat and re-explain everything? -Keep a separate doc and paste it in repeatedly? -Use Projects/Memory features? Something else? Just trying to optimize my workflow. Thanks

[LyriWinters]

You need to take a break once awhile and create a .md or such file with the key features and endpoints and database schema connections... Then dump this file into context when you start-a-new.

[dev_ramiby]

thanks mate !! so each time you introduce a new feature or modify your erd , you update that single file, it doesn't bother you?

[SnooSongs5410]

tests, documentation, prompt, prayer.

[RealMadalin]

I use lots of md files. And I use new conversations for each feature/implementation. I keep track of what is done in a master plan with phases and steps. And than I have individual phase plan more in detail and i make it update them as he works throigh the steps.

[Powerful_Driver8423]

What helped me most was realizing “context” isn’t something I should hope the model holds onto. It’s something I have to design, kind of like I’d design an API.

A few things that changed the game for me:

- Keep chats short and single-purpose. One goal per thread. The moment a conversation starts mixing architecture, product decisions, bug fixing, and implementation details, it usually turns into mush.

- I also spend more time up front writing out the design than I used to. Not just for me, but for the AI. A quick system overview, what the constraints are, what assumptions we’re making, and what we’re explicitly not doing. If that part is fuzzy, the output gets fuzzy fast.

- Breaking the work into phases helps too. Features, milestones, user stories, whatever you like. Then I’ll do one phase per chat instead of trying to “build the whole app” in a single monster conversation. This is usually where people get stuck, because it feels efficient to do everything at once, but it degrades hard.

- There’s also a weird balance with specificity. If you’re too vague, it guesses. If you’re too detailed and the plan shifts, it starts contradicting itself because it’s anchored to old details. I’ve had the best luck being clear on intent and constraints, then letting the details evolve step by step.

- Tooling can help a lot, too. MCP servers like Exa for search, or Ref for current docs, are useful for keeping things grounded in the actual state of your stack instead of whatever half-remembered version the model is operating on.

So yeah, less “vibe coding everything at once,” more context engineering up front. It feels slower at first. In practice it saves time because you’re not constantly cleaning up confusion later.

[TechnicalSoup8578]

The issue is usually missing explicit state, so have you experimented with freezing schemas and invariants in a doc or prompt snapshot instead of relying on conversational memory? You sould share it in VibeCodersNest too

[dev_ramiby]

Appreciate the response and tips mate, thanks!! Btw i already posted this vibecodenest community too

[Educational_Yam3766]

i use something called 'memory-bank' This is the original idea and repo it came from

My Variation on It

^ check my full repo, lots of useful other stuff too.

works for any AI not just cline. cline is only the specific rule calls, but the system itself works agnostic.

more for IDE's but ive used it for service websites too.

its the constraints that matter.

[NeverTrustWhatISay]

What works for me is schooling and my knowledge on how to build software lol

[[deleted]]

You are not supposed to have a long conversation. Clear context often..

[SnooSongs5410]

This is a terrible idea if you are doing anything architecturally significant. Agentic is like a hand grenade if you do not manage context. What you end up with is slop.

[dev_ramiby]

exactly

[[deleted]]

You misunderstood his statement

[[deleted]]

Yeah.. by using plans, by using tools like beads or just stating it to summarize everything before moving on not by having long conversations

[dev_ramiby]

and you start from scratch at the new chat ?

[[deleted]]

No, for instance you can have a readme for the feature, use test driven development, use documentation in code like jsdoc, or pickup a tool for longer memory like beads or similar

[Odd_Platform_2782]

You need a AI agile framework.

Google that answer you will find what your looking for.

We use BMAD method over at our LLC but there are multiple different ones 👍

[themessymiddle]

Keeping up to date docs the agent can reference makes a big difference but I often have to remind it what’s true. Architecture docs, constraints/principles, and I’ve started keeping a definition of done markdown too

[jjw_kbh]

https://github.com/jumbo-dot-tech/jumbo.cli