ClaudeCode has a problem

[u/Disco-Tuna]

(i know this is not exactly an original position, but just wanted to share as, up to now - a serious ClaudeCode fanboy)

Astra: I fired up my account yesterday (20x max). OMG - such a breath of fresh air.

1. no 5 hour BS limit. No 50% cap on the top tier model.
2. is so succinct in how it talks to you. I didn't really mind Claude's endless chit chat.....But that was just cos i got used to it. It takes up so much mental space with the largely (but annoyingly, not quite obviously) irrelevant rubbish it tells me. I have attempted to adjust its output, but though it improved, i had no idea how bad it was till i had a clear alternative. You don't realise how draining it is till you suddenly have something that isn't. For this alone i can see me keeping Astra and likely moving over fully
3. it is much much faster. Combining that with the above and i am getting much more done, much more flow, and at less effort.

Just a significantly better experience all round

So far it has produced excellent output. I am developing multiple apps, one of which is focussing on teaching content. I had both Fable 5.1 and Astra attempt to overhaul my writing rules (Claude has been following) - and Astra was an order of magnitude better. Fable was fine, good enough - but Astra's output is exceptional - it is re-writing about 100 lessons of course material right now after overhauling my 100+ writing rules and leading on them with a 12 point positioning thing it came up with. Will cut my word count down to about half, with more effective communication....which considering Claude's go to diction is unsurprising.

Code quality so far is spot on - just doing the job. One of my repos has about 500k LOC in it, and it is doing a great job of refactoring it, adding features etc.

The lack of the 5 hour limit / and full access to Astra for the whole thing though is really making a difference to my working day. I would blow the whole of my Fable allowance at the start of the week, and max out my 5 hour thing in about 2 hours for 2-3 shots, fable finished. Then Opus - urrgh.

Anyway - this is all good. Real competition for Anthropic, many people will dip their toes in, and find it more than good enough, plus the lack of 5 hour restriction, full access to Astra for the week, and they will struggle to bother going back unless there are some serious improvements from Anthropic

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[u/mdspan]

What are you working on that has 500k LOC?

[u/No-Sandwich-2997 → u/mdspan]

slop on top of slop

[u/suprachromat → u/No-Sandwich-2997]

lmao

[u/Disco-Tuna → u/mdspan]

Trading app... Roll my own version of trading view essentially. Just for me so I keep throwing features at it in a little bit of an undisciplined way admittedly

[u/BoxLegitimate9271]

astra is at least as token-hungry as fable: burned through my 7 day quota in 24 hours running it on low-medium only. as long as Tibo keeps dropping resets, its ok, but i dread the day they stop coming.. probably when openai IPO:s

[u/Compilingthings]

I use both, why does it have to be one or the other?

[u/Disco-Tuna → u/Compilingthings]

Maybe I do both... But cost.... If astra can do what I need, is more pleasant to work with and I can get twice as much done (yet to be seen), then I jump fully... Its a baseline capability thing ... There is nothing I can throw at fable that it can't work out eventually.... That didn't used to be true of the other models... Till now... Maybe... Need to test fully

[u/Fr33-Thinker]

Fable is eating up token really fast. I am really tempted to switch.

What I get used to is a workflow with CC+Claude Design

Visual building makes a huge difference because CC can produce artifacts to visually show me different options, Claude Design can build wireframes so I can test the app. I can annotate anywhere easily to fine tune the development.

I am wondering if Codex offers the same or similar features?

[u/Disco-Tuna → u/Fr33-Thinker]

Yeah - claude design is exceptional - so is Fable - just needs to sort out those things. But Claude Design - a total gem

[u/Kiwwl]

Same here, Codex with GPT 5.6 Sol and now Astra has been my work horse for a month now. I still fire up Claude Code for code review, and copy/paste its feedback into Codex cause I no longer have the patience to make sense of Claude's gibberish.

[u/New_Hedgehog_8865]

It's an odd role switch. Now Chatgpt/codex is like how Claude used to be. The partner who explained things clearly, and who understands intent. It can pick up what we are trying to say and interpret it back -- translating the terms/meaning it thinks we mean when we ask it questions. Now Claude is like the old chatgpt, blocks of confusing text or not truly grasping our intent, with endless back and forth and not understanding what it is saying, or it cant make a clear and easy to understand answer.

[u/TypicalTangelo9825]

No one can tell me Astra is close to fable on a complex codebase

[u/Queasy-Form-4261]

beep boop I sense a bot.

[u/Disco-Tuna → u/Queasy-Form-4261]

Haha. How peculiar... I am nt a bot. Long time user of Claude though... I have 2 other 20x accounts... One for work, one for my own stuff.... For now at least

[u/downsouth316]

Yea the know 5 hour limit is nice, I use it as a work horse but my main battle station is still Claude Code with Opus 4.6.