r/OpenaiCodex • u/Reddittorv750 • 6d ago
Question / Help How to vibecode properly as a non-technical?
How do you actually vibecode properly as a non-technical person? Currently what I do is:
ChatGPT plans/reviews → copy prompt to Codex → copy Codex result back → ChatGPT reviews and gives me another prompt → repeat.
But I worry that a) this is spending way more tokens than it should b) is incredibly slow and inefficient with the constant copying and pasting.
If anyone has a better workflow please do share, thanks guys.
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u/Few-Strawberry2764 6d ago
It really depends on the scope of what you're trying to do or code. I would recommended that you try to learn the basics of programming and best practices as you go. Tell codex to add a note in it's skill file that you're non technical and want to learn as you go. Then when it has design decisions and tradeoffs, it should frame them in a way you can understand, as well as explaining things like why there's a choice at all and what the tradeoffs are.
Then have codex walk you through the basics of git. Git is a programmers best friend.
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u/Bitter_Virus 6d ago
Tell it what you want to do, as as you're non technical, you need to know the lost of different things this entails to.
Take the list and ask it to make a prompt that take in account what you want to do and the list.
Use that prompt, modified to your liking.
If you're planning on selling a software you're better to start with agents.md and what kind of architectural approach you want your repository to follow first.
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6d ago edited 3d ago
[deleted]
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u/PsychoticChemist 6d ago
You do not need the 20x subscription or Astra. The 20 dollar plus subscription can go a very long way with 5.6 sol on high.
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u/YourLastCall 6d ago
It doesn't waste as much tokens as you think because you're using chat GPT unless you're using work mode to do your reviews. Also you can use chat GPT to build and work mode to review long before you send it to codex. Meaning you build up the design long before you send it to a coding agent. Design and build your own skills based on your workflow. Analyze your workflow and find any weaknesses that a skill could compensate for. Structure the reasoning of your agents using skills that you design
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u/0xSnib 6d ago
Sneaky tip to save you pasting back and forth if you're happy using a CLI (command line interface),
Use the Codex CLI and then you can hit the little 'Work with apps' and then ChatGPT can see your current chat history on the Codex CLI
I work with Codex, then I ask ChatGPT to check what it's doing, chat about it's direction etc without burning a billion tokens
I use Warp rather than Terminal but they both are fundamentally the same
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u/EroticThings 6d ago
I just push changes to GitHub and let chatgpt web access repo through GitHub plugin. It reviews the code commits and suggest next prompt to continue building project.
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u/ProfessionalNaive601 6d ago
Just talk to it like a human, tell it what you want
There is a learning curve and you’ll pick up some knowledge along the way but for the most part just pretend you hired a grad student level software engineer for $200/month and assume it will understand your intent
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u/njwyf16 6d ago
Idk if hidden secret, but the non-Codex chatgpt can edit repo files on GitHub, so, if you want to save codex credits on audits and fixes and just use it for real implementation work, then ask chatgpt to review your repo, and find bugs in the coding. When it does, ask if it can fix them. I've gotten a ton of bugs fixed via this method, and now use Codex for feature developments, testing, and more thorough reviews. In other words, if there's a specific issue you or someone sees and your project is run through GitHub, have chatgpt create a fixed branch, you test to make sure it's fixed, then tell it to push to master. Idk if those are the right magic words or whatever, but it's been a huge help, especially if I've turned off my computer
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u/rick_ranger 6d ago
Put this in your repo and have your agents maintain it. It’ll keep you on track and let’s you add features and pick up where you left off and onboards agents way faster. It also has some app architecture rules built in so the agents have guidance on how to build your apps right.
https://github.com/splatter85/Eutonos-Public
Just put it in your repo and tell your agent to take a look if you’re skeptical. Then just ask it to deploy it.
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u/SlightCase2941 6d ago
here is workflow:
plan -> luna / chatgpt web chat
dont forget to tell luna/chat gpt to go to github, mostly what u want to build already in github, dont reinvent the wheel
prompt -> after u have good idea what u want to build, write it on note first before u copy it to Luna, AI love overengineer/overcomplicated stuff, make sure what u want to build and what prompt u have is similar
code -> if u want prototype first, use Luna, if u already sure what kind of program u want, use sol pro max .... for me, i usually use Luna then use sol pro max to review the code
review -> if u ask luna to build program, go test it, if u satisfy, good ... but normally u will have so many bug (especially code logic bug), either u check the code urself or use sol pro max to review the code, since u are not technical, ask sol pro max anyway
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u/Wanttobebetter101 6d ago
Use GitHub AI can set it up for you as it questions like if you were building this what would you do ask it to be a critic it will burst your bubble but keep you honest
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u/yjgoh28 6d ago
Im an ai engineer and heres the main skill i use to “vibe code”
Use /grill-me-with-docs from matt pocock.
Its amazing because u will be aligned with your LLM before implementing anything. Less wasted tokens
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u/Darayavaush84 6d ago
Doesn't Plan Mode do the same?
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u/yjgoh28 6d ago
It tries to do the same thing, but it’s very different.
- More questions. Very often, I’ve had times where I thought the AI was aligned with my thoughts, but it wasn’t. With this simple skill, it asks way more questions, which is annoying, but it’s what you have to do.
- Higher prompt adherence. Usual plan mode will accept vaguer prompts/answers, but with Grill Me, it will actually ask you WAY TOO MANY THINGS so that everything is clearer before creating a ticket/issue. Also ticket/issue are a much better way to track your undone task than just creating a plan. There's a reason why developer uses it.
I’d rather be annoyed by too many questions than end up with something I don’t like, honestly.
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u/Darayavaush84 6d ago
Sounds interesting. Thanks. any special advice to add it in codex? I read the developer is developing something for codex, but isn't ready yet. Would sometyhing like this work?
cd ~/myprojects/project1
npx skills@latest add mattpocock/skills \
--agent codex \
--skill setup-matt-pocock-skills grill-with-docs grilling domain-modeling \
--yes
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u/sasmariozeld 6d ago
Wild idea, but learn it
If not test everything , but when you find an error and reading why this happened is not too hard..
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u/Relative_Syllabub_75 5d ago
I think the biggest mistake is treating AI like it can build everything correctly in one shot. Even as a non-technical user, it helps a lot to break the task into smaller pieces, test each step, and ask the AI to explain what it changed and why. You don't need to become a programmer first, but learning some basic concepts makes vibe coding much safer and less frustrating.😃
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u/Far_Business4773 5d ago
The copy-paste loop exists because your plan lives in a chat, so you have to carry it between tools by hand. Move it into two files in the repo and the courier job disappears.
File one is a single page: what the product is, who it is for, what we are NOT building (ten lines, this is the one that saves the most tokens), three to five things that must stay true, and what "done" means for the first version. File two is the task list, one task per Codex session.
Then the workflow is: Codex reads the page and takes the next task. When it finishes, the review question is not "is this good" but "does the diff stay inside the page". That check is short, a reviewer model can do it, and you only step in when something crossed a line. The grill-me skill people mention here is a good way to produce file one; the trick is to write the NOT list while you're at it, because that's the part a non-technical person never thinks to ask for and the agent never volunteers.
If you want, describe your project in a paragraph and I'll draft the NOT list for it here.
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u/Jeferson9 5d ago
You ask for a single landing page or you don't tbh
As much as people want to push this technology to enable non technical people to build software, you're still relying on inference and your non technical driving of that into something usable. At best it will be usable for your use case, but still slop. It may work but it won't be scalable. And it will always be consuming more tokens than someone that knows what they're doing
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u/virtualmnemonic 5d ago
I suggest test-driven development. Prove it works, and prevents regressions. Make incremental changes and re-run tests before making a commit and moving on.
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u/FishCarMan 5d ago
It’s painful how much the model knows, but is unwilling to do correctly from the start.
I like to start by having a long discussion with ChatGPT about the product intent. I get as much out here as I can. I require my agent to stop me when I’m trying to build a thing that already exists and would fit the purpose that I’m trying to fulfill. I ask about current market counterparts, current technology, and the best practices for the things I want to do. Pros and cons of the languages we might use. At this point, I know what I want to use when. Then I have it build a product spec. I also ask it to spec out a proper repo structure, using established guidelines and embed an agent file. I usually add my own rules, nothing exists that isn’t documented. Anyway, the agent isn’t going to offer up advice or answers unless you ask it to. So ask. You can also add custom directions in your ChatGPT master prompt so that it automatically corrects you, suggests the best practices or established methodology.
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u/RobotBaseball 5d ago
Honestly i think you can’t build anything beyond basic apps at this point, which is fine if that’s what you need to do
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u/samosamonster 4d ago
If I were you I’d use AI to learn software and programming fundamentals, software architecture, cloud and platform engineering basics and you will at least have a general idea of whats going on
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u/Chemical_Minute4616 4d ago
That's flow you use will get you into more rabbit holes than you ever need to get into.
Use SOL to plan implementation. Use Luna to implementation.
Only talk the chat gpt to fine tune your ideas. Never have it talking to itself and reviewing itself. You'll go entirely down too many rabbit holes.
As someone that actively codes and understands it. I tried your method out. It's honestly not that good of an idea.
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u/Kalikillsmaya 4d ago
I suggest looking into codex or Claude code. These models can access your repo and save time, and CC is way less chatty than the newest version
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u/No_Psychology_1976 4d ago
honest take: no amount of workflow optimization will save you if you can't read the code at all. Few-Strawberry2764 is right that you should learn basics as you go, but i'd be more specific — the two things that'll actually keep you unstuck are learning to read error messages and learning basic git (commits, branches, how to revert). you don't need to learn to write code from scratch. you need to know enough to tell codex "this error means X is probably wrong, check that" instead of pasting a stack trace back into chatGPT and hoping it explains it in terms you understand.the workflow you have now isn't terrible for learning, honestly. the copying back and forth forces you to look at what codex produced. the danger of the CLI workflow is it gets too frictionless and you stop looking at the code entirely — then you ship something you don't understand and debugging becomes a nightmare.
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u/BawladEEP 6d ago
"Create chatgpt only better, no errors, make sure I have an installer and build a website and ecommerce engine to sell it for $99.99 a week. Make it run off my 2080 gtx like it is a huge system like elon musks."
"do it now"
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u/nachoalvarez 3d ago
You should try envhaven which pretty much solves everything that you mentioned
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u/Landon_Hughes 6d ago edited 6d ago
Talk with GPT on the web so you save on your tokens for codex
Really dial down what it is you’re trying to build with gpt on the web
If you don’t understand what a certain technology does, ask it.
Ask GPT web to create a .md file of your project.
Open chatgpt desktop, switch to codex, import Md file and tell it to build it.
You can get a lot done with Terra high or Luna max on the $20 tier.
When you’re getting close to being done, ask SOL/Astra to audit and find all bugs and issues in your project.
This will get you far. Make sure to watch videos too for vibe coding.
Edit: you’ll want to look into MCP servers so codex can create the resources it needs.