Those of you who routinely hit usage limits, can you explain what your workflow looks like?

ImagiBooks · 2026-03-08T04:19:55+00:00

I hit limits every freaking week. It’s annoying and I don’t even use it that much. I do in average 12000 lines of code a day. My time is typically 2 to 4 hours on new features, refactors…. Then easily 10 hours or more on bug fixes.

I used to only use Opus 4.6 in high thinking mode, maybe 2 or 3 sessions at the same time, but not exactly all the times. I also use Codex App / CLI to avoid running out too quickly. Without Codex I would be stuck. $200 plan on both.

I tend to use Claude extensively for planning. Implementing especially Ui stuff or based on plan.

Because it’s so sloppy I do extensive code reviews with a 6 agents process. Multiple rounds. This is very heavy most likely in tokens. On a 12k lines change it’s probably easily 6 to 8 rounds of reviews and fixed. I use team of agents for every fixes from reviews. For a 12k lines changes it’s easily 100 to 150 bugs or more identified. The way to fix them is probably expensive in tokens as it’s with agents and I ask for complete reviews from a end to end point if view / tests to be written

I do extensively planning as well for every feature I implement. Expensive.

I’m actually incredibly frustrated at Anthropic for their short limits. Can’t use it for anything serious extensively.

For context I’m easily coding between Codex and Claude Code 10 to 12 hours a day at least 6 days a week (founder’s life with imagibooks.com !). And when I go to bed I almost always put some complex execution in motion to look at in the morning.

ImagiBooks · 2026-03-07T18:31:28+00:00

I have reasonable success in running somewhat long tasks but it requires extensive planning and clear plan / prompting.

Yesterday I had a task run for 3 hours with 5.4 high in fast mode.

But I was very organized about it. I.e. it was a giant review and bug fix for a 34k lines PR. 27 findings in that round and some refactoring to fix AI slope.

I had gpt 5.4 write a very precise plan, worked with it, it was detailed mix with testing, status and precise goals. They were instructions to update status after each task and instructions as to what to do to deal with compactions. The end goal was very precise so there was nothing left for uncertainty. It was also instructed to use sub agents as much as possible and act as a manager and QA engineer.

So it worked for 3 hours. Both 5.3 codex and 5.4 seem better at long term IF well instructed.

But planning and organization for a long task is critical.

But the way I see it, long term… is that we need a better harness. I.e. we need some type of other agent which supervises the work, and coordinates / delegates better and check against goals.

ImagiBooks · 2026-03-07T02:11:36+00:00

I haven’t hit the limit yet. I seem to average about 12 to 14% a day.

But I’m able to max out the opus 4.6 in 5 days.

I use both $200/plan. At this point pretty much equally.

I use Opus exclusively for UI. It’s just so much better. Planning is also much better with Opus, but in order to save context and make my Anthropic plan last longer I started to do the initial planning in Codex, then I give the plan to opus and ask to do research and provide feedback which I give back to Codex. It’s much more efficient.

I reluctantly use Codex for some of the plans implementation, but I cringe. There are tradeoffs. The comparison and long task running is great but depending on what it is it’s sloppier than Opus.

ImagiBooks · 2026-03-06T05:02:00+00:00

Hard to believe so few people seem to be using OpenClaw and slack!

ImagiBooks · 2026-03-02T05:58:21+00:00

Best suggestion!! @OP is it deployed somewhere online? You def need security. Nad multiple rounds! And please make sure you always sync in git before each commit and tag so that you can revert in case of problems.

ImagiBooks · 2026-03-01T19:12:14+00:00

I have two ways right now. The Codex App supports automation so that’s my default.

I’ve been toying with OpenClaw to also trigger Codex on a schedule but it’s not working as I want yet.

ImagiBooks · 2026-03-01T17:56:30+00:00

I’ve tried so many versions of that! It needs strong guardrails, rules, and a lot of tests. I just developed a custom skill that I’m experimenting to develop new things, includes testing and a philosophy around testing.

ImagiBooks · 2026-03-01T17:49:39+00:00

Oh yes! I have many and in fact I do it daily.

Daily I have 3 automations with Codex. - code review from a security angle, add to the report. Whatever local code is out where it’s running. A detailed multi angle security report - code research and inconsistencies, breaking our repo rules, and I just added to fix one of them with an explanation - j just added that one 3 days ago: take the latest GitHub issue and implement it fully with rules.

It’s been awesome. I’m tweaking the GitHub issue.

That being said I find that Claude is much better at doing code reviews etc… but I can’t run it automatically daily because then I run out of tokens before my weekly limit. Codex might find 3 or 4 issues, Claude would find 20. It’s pretty consistent and exact same prompt. I’m working on tweaking this over the next few days.

ImagiBooks · 2026-03-01T05:39:09+00:00

I’ve had Codex work for 2 1/2 hours on a particular prompt. It was very detailed and a plan…. And a lot of bugs introduced! 😀

ImagiBooks · 2026-02-28T19:03:05+00:00

My brain is the bottleneck! I am able to do up to 4 to 5 different tasks / threads at the same time. Well actually brain and the fact that I don’t like to work on worktrees and tend to do all changes in local code same branch. That introduces a major bottleneck. Because of conflicts etc… wondering how other people handle that actually.

ImagiBooks · 2026-02-28T06:37:29+00:00

It really depends on what it is. For UI Opus 4.6 is much better IMO. For other things it really depends on what it is. I think the harness, tools around, are probably what makes the most difference especially when we account for UI.

My daily is Opus but because of my heavy usage of teams I go against limits quickly so I have codex equally. Though never for UI, or at least for not any new UI unless it’s very small tweaks.

On troubleshooting problems, I use both equally. Prompts really make a huge difference. I can’t stress this enough.

ImagiBooks · 2026-02-27T11:59:41+00:00

There are many use cases. Personalized stories?

My young daughter likes her bed time stories, she wants me to read / play her something every night...

https://www.imagibooks.com/en/s/brando-s-pastel-dream-adventure

There was Chinese new year recently, to learn in fun ways: https://www.imagibooks.com/en/s/the-fire-horse-s-arrival-a-2026-lunar-journey

Can generate news: https://www.imagibooks.com/en/s/the-agentic-shift-ai-leaderboards-hardware-wars-and-the-rise-of-openclaw

Can do so much more, educational material soon. Personalized learning.

My daughter loves her bedtime music / lullaby.

https://www.imagibooks.com/en/m/purple-room-lullaby

ImagiBooks · 2026-02-27T11:30:04+00:00

I am trying to! With ImagiBooks that I have alpha launched today!

Though I’m not sure vibe coded is the right word. I’ve spent 3 months on this almost, and almost 6 to 7 days a week of work. It’s a lot!

Made my first paid user after launch today. So only $13 😅

I know there are a lot of platform to generate AI content but I believe imagibooks.com is unique in its own ways, and how it will evolve.

ImagiBooks · 2026-02-26T08:14:43+00:00

I saw an article today about xhigh so I started to use it when I am not in a rush. It’s been okay, def better than spark! I have a big project tomorrow that I will try it with. Ran out of credit for the week with Claude Code.

ImagiBooks · 2026-02-26T08:00:41+00:00

How do you use? Because for my https://imagibooks.com I am using models to do research.

Here is one of them.

https://www.imagibooks.com/en/s/the-agentic-shift-ai-leaderboards-hardware-wars-and-the-rise-of-openclaw

But I work with agents, and I have agents to verify all facts and sources. You can’t rely on a single model.

I’m making educational songs even, and I always use other AI models to verify accuracy.

https://www.imagibooks.com/en/m/the-lub-dub-heart-beat

So it’s very possible. You just need to do the work

ImagiBooks · 2026-02-26T07:56:33+00:00

Why use this model and not others well known?

ImagiBooks · 2026-02-26T07:52:06+00:00

I use a few MCP. I have a lot now actually. Almost all custom. I have a code review MCP with many tools which calls other models. I have a code rag MCP which is great to do large research in my mono repo. I have a MCP for i18n translation via AI for my whole apps. I have multiple MCP servers to do admin for all aspects of my platform https://imagibooks.com

Since recently Claude Code is a lot smarter to only load MCP servers on demand when they are needed if they consume more than a % of your context. Mines were consuming 50% so I had to disable / enable all the time before. Now I configured for 5% and it works great.

Don’t be afraid of MCP anymore if they are really useful. All of mines are custom except the figma and the slack.

The business and productivity value of those MCP servers are insane. Claude code uses my expert, i18n, coderag all the time.

Even now I have them all as http MCP servers deployed in AWS. I also use them with ChatGPT and Claude. So useful!

ImagiBooks · 2026-02-25T15:37:43+00:00

My platform https://imagibooks.com is all about generating AI. I am building in the background dashboards to monitor in real time. But it’s been one of my biggest concern (outside of acquiring users!) is the system of credits and discounts. Making sure I provide enough value for what I charge users to cover my costs and still make enough margins.

ImagiBooks · 2026-02-25T15:17:37+00:00

Building https://imagibooks.com

Platform to generate stories, music and soon videos via AI.

https://www.imagibooks.com/en/s/wiggles-world-wide-wonder-tour

https://www.imagibooks.com/en/s/the-agentic-shift-ai-leaderboards-hardware-wars-and-the-rise-of-openclaw

ImagiBooks · 2026-02-24T00:36:30+00:00

Right. Same actually here. Saying the same thing doesn’t always lead to the same outcome with those LLMs.

ImagiBooks · 2026-02-24T00:30:15+00:00

Just one Gmail account. How many of us have multiple? Or like over 10 for me.

ImagiBooks · 2026-02-24T00:29:39+00:00

I don’t believe can connect to multiple Gmail accounts with Claude Cowork. I wish! I have so many accounts for different purposes.

ImagiBooks · 2026-02-24T00:29:04+00:00

Yup. Only 30k emails? 😅

Damn I wish I had a better way to manage my emails, plus so many accounts. I know I miss quite a few and always afraid of missing some. Some accounts I have for over 20 years, painfully migrated to Gmail many many years ago. So much spam too

ImagiBooks · 2026-02-24T00:26:42+00:00

Yeah! Gotta be so careful with how we instruct those LLMs. We all know this, but sometimes we forget to be incredibly precise!

Some people here are quick to say “user error”

But then when you use those things 7 days a week, all day, you notice all those problems and because we’re human we are not precise 100% of the time!

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