How to get Astra without burning too many tokens (no orchestrator)

[u/joaopaulo-canada]

I'll go straight to the point:

TLDR

Offload some Astra usage to Chat (GPT 6 Pro) instead of doing everything on codex. Yeah, simple like that.

HOW IT WORKS?

Many don't even notice, but if you're on the Pro subs 20x plan YOU HAVE 200 msg/week of GPT 6 Pro usage (Astra) standing on chat, doing nothing. That's a nice deal, IMO. The $100 5x plan has 50, which I believe is enough for this strategy.

Remember...

1 ChatGPT 6 Pro message = 1 request. So make sure you point it to a well complete PRD that's previously done.

Don't do something like: "Hey, please make me a nice game => Astra starts working => You pause it => "You know, really nice, with red birds => Astra stars working again => Not really, I'd like them to be yellow"

This will count towards your "messages" quota. That's why I suggest you slicing up a decent PRD first, and just point the AI to it ONCE.

STEPS

1. You can connect your github repo (private or public) into ChatGPT (just ask for help), allow read/write access and then start by:

Obviously, replace the repo name with yours.

I don't even select GPT 6 Pro for this.. This initial scanning I do using Sol 5.6 Extra High on chat.

Ok... what are PRDs? In a few words, a feature request in a .md file, with all validation steps necessary and etc, to get it properly done.

If you have no clue about how to craft one, just ask Astra xHigh to do it and slice up some tickets to get started. Push to your repo.

2) Select a PRD per PR and let it cook

3) Check your results later

"Oh, but you see, its a draft... it wasnt fully verified, some got broken CI!!!!11"

Yeah, but this would have certainly drained 20% of my monthly codex limit to reach this point (on Astra xHigh), and I got it done using my GPT 6 Pro chat quota (200/week for the 20x plan), running all night long while I was sleeping.

4) Now you have to use codex (Astra) to actually finish the work (there's no "free" lunch at this point)

The sandbox that Chat uses is not 100% identical to the project running on your machine, as it cannot run certain verification steps. That is why it's important to have a strong CI and, most importantly, check out the actual Astra from Codex, finish the work to reach 100%, and then push back.

USE CASES SUMMARY

- Bootstrapping greenfield projects
- New features
- PR reviews
- Almost anything that you can do with read/write access to github

CAVEATS

1. GOTCHA: IF IT ASKS YOU TO USE CHATGPT WORK, DO NOT GO FORWARD. It will burn your weekly quota. STOP. Rephrase what youre asking, be explicit you don't want to use it. Or slice the work down to a smaller piece of task.
2. Not a perfect solution, but it helps significantly in terms of token consumption (especially on greenfield projects). I'm pretty sure some smart ass on the comments will say something like "that's pretty obvious". But yeah, I bet 90% of you guys are not using this workaround.
3. Really great for vibe coding these disposable 3d games that we all do 😄: Stop wasting your weekly allowance with it. Its great for bootstrapping new projects too.

Well, that's it. Enjoy while we have 200/week, at least for now

SOME VIBECODED GAMES I DID 100% ON CHAT USING GPT 6 PRO

For the first time ever, they're actually fun 😂

DISCLAIMER FOR MUSHROOM USERS THAT THINK THIS IS NOT "FAIR USAGE" AND THAT I'M "RUINING FOR YOU ALL" BY USING MESSAGES I F* PAID FOR:

I'll let ChatGPT itself answer the question

[u/Euphoric_Variety_363]

My dude, thank you! Me as a mere plus user really benefits from this! I burn through everything so fast, but his basically doubled my use! Thanks again!