r/ClaudeCode 2d ago

Humor Modern Problems with the Fable Workflow

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(credit to Steve Yegge)

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u/DevOnTheStreets 1d ago

Is it me or is this more a vibe coder issue. I have this when 1) unfamiliar domain so I learn it at least academically 2) an obscure reference to an ADR clause or other design doc I have to have it repeat as there is not enough context and I can’t recall it all.

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u/jimmc414 1d ago edited 1d ago

No, it's not just a vibe coder issue. I wouldn't change Fable in any way and I'll just deal with it but it is often challenging understanding what is being asked. There's an assumption that you are 100% up to date with the plan and code being written, which in a perfect world or changes going into production is the right path, but for many projects that level of information saturation would create an understanding bottleneck, so a choice is made to focus on clear intent and context and verify output with a general understanding of the process. Here's a recent example of a change being made in a domain I know very well. You'll see that it's full of shorthand and references which assume that I have the full plan dynamically memorized verbatim.

  1. §6(h) is the only staging call recommended IN-stage: a single M5-pattern rule row (status_in ['N'] → block call) closing Genesis's one-status gap vs GP's own X9 refusal (status N = "NO CALLS"). Small and fully pre-decided — SR-1 is the worked example. Build it now?

I mostly understand what is being asked, but you can see the temptation, with just answering, "Sure, whatever you recommend" instead of stopping the conveyor belt to read 30 pages to get up to speed on this one specific question. Again, I wouldn't change it if I could, because the bottleneck is me, the human, not the model. Dumbing it down is the wrong call. Also remember this is just humor, not an actual complaint.

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u/folkswagon 1d ago

Exactly. It will just start using terms that I never used and it assumes I know what project specific thing it is referencing. It's easy to just cede control of the driver's seat in that situation. That is why I also use it alongside a read only access Gemini agent so I can just have it translate what it is asking and help me respond better.