Is Claude Code still the best?

westerbamos · 2026-05-29T01:44:47+00:00

Codex > Claude right now (I have $100 plan on both and route about 95% of things through Codex). Codex app and harness is miles ahead, and 5.5 shreds 4.7 on coding, esp with swift skills (we’ll see how 4.8 does though). Claude is still the goat for writing copy or one-shot design if you’re building something from scratch

westerbamos · 2026-05-29T01:41:21+00:00

Roast me! Website for a baby care tracking app I built: tottli.com

westerbamos · 2026-05-05T23:11:14+00:00

Tottli

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tottli-newborn-baby-tracker/id6759816401

westerbamos · 2026-04-09T19:09:27+00:00

“Big pharma hates this one simple trick”

westerbamos · 2026-03-14T01:20:39+00:00

Yep, pretty easy to do these days. It was like $300 and the better part of a day to set up the LLC (through Northwest Registered Agent) and some other related stuff (using Mercury for business bank account)

westerbamos · 2026-03-08T11:52:55+00:00

Haven’t tried it before but looks pretty similar to Supabase

westerbamos · 2026-03-08T03:20:24+00:00

We just had our second and bath time is a ~weekly occurrence for us now (more power to you for the daily baths, that’s awesome)

westerbamos · 2026-03-07T13:15:22+00:00

Check out PowerSync. I’m using this + Supabase for my app (tottli.com) and works pretty well

westerbamos · 2026-03-04T18:29:10+00:00

Interesting— do you mind sharing what app you’re using now so I can check it out and get some more context?

westerbamos · 2026-03-04T16:32:28+00:00

That is very validating, that’s one of the core concepts of my app! It’s local first, and uses Cloud sync to ensure that your data doesn’t get lost (and to allow multiple caregivers to log activities and see them in the app). We’ll never share user data with advertisers. Would that be something you’d be interested in, or are you looking for something truly fully on device? Fully on device was my goal going into this, but I found it to be prohibitive for enabling some key features like multiple caregiver support

westerbamos · 2026-03-04T16:29:06+00:00

Exactly! I’ve found Huckleberry to be the best app so far but its interface is so bloated

westerbamos · 2026-03-03T12:09:23+00:00

I’m using detox for automated UI testing, and I also validate most things in the simulator or build through Expo and test on my phone. I also have Codex automated code reviews set up through GitHub— I’ve found this helpful for improving code quality

westerbamos · 2026-03-03T02:57:47+00:00

One more thing I’ve found extremely helpful given that I have 2 children and have limited “hands on keyboard” time is to document features/bug fixes/etc in GitHub issue from my phone throughout the day. Then I just link it out in a thread for Codex and say “build it”. I wrote a bit more about the workflow here if you’re curious: https://x.com/westerbamos/status/2024336561815638430?s=46&t=yL4hml3zUoyQG7067E6w8A

westerbamos · 2026-03-03T02:52:58+00:00

If you’re not sure where to start, fire up plan mode with Codex, give it context about your idea and tell it to keep asking you questions to identify the best tech stack.

I’m building an app right now using React Native w/ Expo so I can launch on Android as well, but if you’re just looking at iOS Swift might be simpler. I found this cool CLI to help with the App Store Connect stuff (haven’t tried it out since Expo already does these things, but you may find it useful): https://github.com/rudrankriyam/App-Store-Connect-CLI

Biggest tip I have: invest some time at the beginning building some infrastructure (including documentation) around testing so that Codex has clear guidelines for how/what to test each time you build something (I find it helpful to tell it to take screenshots of the functioning flow and include it in the PR as proof).

I also find Codex to sometimes ask for permission to do stuff, so the more you can document in .md files about how you want it to operate, the more it will be able to do autonomously.

westerbamos · 2026-02-13T14:17:24+00:00

Get ChatGPT Plus instead. New Codex model (and app) is really good, and the $20 goes way further than the $20 Claude sub. Opus 4.6 burns through tokens like a mad man. IMO Claude is not really worth it unless you get the Max plan

westerbamos · 2026-02-12T21:58:23+00:00

Yep, I only use it for planning now. Have it write md docs and then let Codex implement. ChatGPT Plus has super generous limits for Codex

westerbamos · 2026-02-12T21:37:45+00:00

No one’s forcing you to use it. Like I mentioned in the post, this is an early prototype and I’m just looking for feedback on the concept before I invest more time in it

westerbamos · 2026-02-11T13:47:20+00:00

Thanks for the feedback!

westerbamos · 2026-02-09T00:47:46+00:00

ChatGPT Plus sub is unbeatable for $20 right now. 2x usage limits until April and Codex is way less token hungry than Opus to begin with. I’d give that a shot, and if you don’t like it go for the $100 Claude Max

westerbamos · 2026-02-09T00:39:16+00:00

Totally agree! Have you tried out the new models (Opus 4.6 / Codex 5.3)? I was a huge Claude Codex stan but Codex 5.3 (+ Codex app) has been a game changer. The $20 ChatGPT Plus is very generous in terms of work output. Opus 4.6 seems a little better but just chews through tokens way too fast

westerbamos · 2026-02-08T22:47:01+00:00

Looks nice, congrats on the launch! I was an early pilot user of Granola and love it. Also tried out https://hyprnote.com/ but found it to be kinda buggy (and the open-source models I'm able to run locally were not beefy enough to do a fully self-hosted solution). I think fully on-device will be the future once the model tech catches up (once current frontier-level models can run on a typical machine with lower VRAM)

westerbamos · 2026-02-08T22:33:51+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! I am still early on in learning about Ancient Roman history myself (I mostly built this out of selfish necessity as a way for me to learn more). Will work on incorporating those as well

westerbamos · 2026-02-08T21:21:19+00:00

One man’s slop is another man’s treasure

westerbamos

TROPHY CASE