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TOOLNeill's Vibe · Field Notes

Copy out, paste back, repeat until something breaks.

An AI that lives in your project beats a chat tab you shuttle files through.

✓ what worked
01 · the learning

What I set out to add

My first workflow was a chat tab: paste code in, paste the answer back, lose the thread, paste it again. It broke constantly because the AI never actually saw my project. The shift was to an AI that works inside the real repo — it reads the files, runs the commands, and keeps the context the shuttle kept dropping.

02 · the test

The thing I actually tried

I tested setting up a project so the in-editor agent could see everything at once instead of through a straw — a starter scaffold and a first real session.

setup-starter-project.shFIRST-CLAUDE-CODE-SESSION.md
03 · the frustrations

Where it bit

Copy a file out. Paste the fix back. Copy the next file out. Repeat until the context falls apart.
04 · the verdict

What worked, what didn't

✓ worked

The in-project agent. It sees the whole repo, so its fixes fit the code that's actually there.

✗ didn't

The copy-paste shuttle. Every round-trip lost context, and the bugs lived in the gaps.

the durable rule

Stop describing your code to the AI. Put the AI where the code is.

🔒 this became a classT4·F31 — Claude Code members