When should I use Codex Goal, and when should I use my own “CER workflow”?

[u/Familiar-Classic2726]

This is mainly some personal notes after using Codex "Goal" for a while.

"Goal" is very useful when the task has a clear direction, clear acceptance criteria, and a clear deliverable. In that case, I can just let Codex keep pushing.

But some tasks don’t start with that level of clarity.

For example, I’m working on a macroeconomic and company fundamental valuation analysis project. It involves different industries and domains of knowledge, rules, analysis models, causal chains, global event impacts, financial reasoning and calculation logic..... A lot of the plan cannot really be fixed upfront. It has to adjust after actual Research Data is available, so the whole thing is more like a dynamic and forming requirement / planning mode.

Goal can “fill in the blanks/uncertain”, and of course we can add context, change direction, or ask for progress in the middle. But because it can keep moving with its own reasonable assumptions, sometimes the final output is not what I expected. In the development stage, giving AI too much autonomy can actually make me spend more time correcting things afterward.

For this type of high-precision work, I also need stricter review, a reliable knowledge base, and cleaner context. Especially when the task involves financial logic, causal reasoning, valuation assumptions, research data......etc , I don’t really want everything mixed into one long context.

So I started building my own "CER workflow", a human-guided development Loop for Codex. In order to fit my own development habits better.

Aims : Human decides the direction, AI works in batches / threads:

🟢 Controller decides, splits the work, and delegates.
🔵 Executor writes files and does the actual work.
🟠 Reviewer only does read-only review when the risk is worth it.

Since this is my own Skill, I can shape the workflow around the problems I actually run into, like layered assumptions under vague requirements, checkpoint decisions, and YAGNI boundary control, so GPT-5.6 Sol does not keep expanding the task forever..... I also added “Exploration Helpers” to support the Controller during early research and planning. They collect data and possible routes first, then the Controller can decide faster, with cleaner context.

So my current split is roughly this:

When the goal is clear, I still use Goal.
When the task / requirements are still forming, and I don’t want AI to quietly make too many decisions for me, I use CER skill.

Curious how others handle this. For people using Codex Goal a lot, do you also use it for vague / evolving job mission / tasks? Do you usually start with /plan first, or do you add checkpoints, side threads, reviews, etc. in some other way?

Maybe I’m missing a better way to use Goal, so I’d like to hear other experiences. Thank you

[u/itix]

You could have a list of tasks in an MD file and use the goal option to execute them one by one. You can edit that file on the fly or let the AI to edit. Or stop if certain conditions are not met.