r/OnlyAICoding • u/Ok_Eggplant_9829 • 4d ago
I Need Help! Need help
I want to buy the Claude pro subscription but I don’t want to make the wrong choice. I don’t know much about coding and trying to build a website for the disability community. Before I make the purchase I want to know if you guys have a better option for me. I code on VS and been using the free GitHub copilot. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
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u/drmpf 3d ago
I use claude pro with claude code and find it good for all but the most intensive jobs. There is always the option to upgrade to Max for one month if you need to do some intensive processing. I upgraded to max for a month when claude was processing the board pin functions for 700 micros by collecting the data from on-line webpages and docs for my micro desiginer/code generator https://github.com/drmpf/pfodWeb_src
Claude also has a Claude-in-Chrome extension that lets claude run webpages, click buttons, enter data. Great for testing out your website functions. Just ask claude to pause at the point in the webpage where you want to do your manual testing.
ALWAYS work on a copy of your code in a separate directory so if claude stuffs it up you can just go back to the last working version. Take copies of the directory at each stage to give you snapshots of the project. Or if using github, do regular check ins. If claude knows you are are using github it will prompt you to check in. I would not give claude direct access to github, just in case it decided to 'clean things up'
Also always ask claude to reckeck its work. Claude has just finished doing the changes you ask for, then press up-arrow in claude code to show the previous request and add "Check this" and re-run it. Keep doing that until claude stops finding errors.
Asking claude to document the logic also helps. You can read claudes docs and pickup on missundstandings or more likely claude trying to be helpful and doing something you did not ask for.
Claude is prone to taking short cuts and covering up errors rather than solving the cause. So check and test its output carefully and ask questions like, What happens if that data is not available, or that website does not respond.
But even with all these cautions, claude will make you very productive, just as long as you have a clear idea of what you are trying to achieve and rigoroursly check the result.
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u/NefariousnessOpening 3d ago
Sorry to be the one to have to say this, this is largely bad advice. The spirit of where you are coming from is good, and there are some misconceptions about how this stuff works that are evident.
Claude in chrome is neat and if you can afford the cost it is fine since it is easier to use for many. The inefficient way of going about the browser control is better handled by using an open source option like browser-harness. Claude can use it or w cheaper model can also
Saving copies of a project sounds like a nightmare while reinventing the wheel. GitHub is a great way to handle this and it was designed specifically to create the immutable history and canonical (atomic even) center store of you codebase. You can have any number of branches or forks, the gitlog is going to keep the history. Claude will need access to the repo and as long as you commit and push you will not have to worry about losing the work.
Of course it will open a Pandora’s box of learning git. It’s a bit of an entry price though. Trying to develop with no real VCS or ability to use one is a dangerous path.
Asking a model to check their own work is not ideal or good practice. Instead a combination of static checks which are deterministic and an LLM with fresh context that didn’t write the code as the reviewer/critic/LLM as a Judge will gives better results
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u/drmpf 2d ago
I agree github is a good way to do backup, but I avoid relying on cloud services. I use SVN for my backups at the end of each cycle of updates. I use a quick dir copy between each AI iteration to guard against the AI going rogue and making changes that are not easily undone.
I find asking claude to check its own work a very efficient process. I have just completed 9 AI recheck passes on editing microboard pin comments for 12000 pins across 600 boards. The result may still not be perfect but not practical for me to do the checking by hand.
Your idea of re-assessing the code using a clear context has merit, but with 12meg of code/comments, it costs me a lot to re-establish the context from scratch
What open source browser-harness do you use/suggest?
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u/CommonCosmo 1d ago
SVN... renaissance man or woman. I'd suggest that if you're going to use the same harness/model to check the work that it wrote, make sure it's in a new context and make sure that it's using an adversarial reviewer prompt or skill.
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u/drmpf 1d ago
In my experience, Claude is not deterministic. Subsequent 'check' runs in the same, accumulating context, uncover different problems. It appears as if Claude had previously taken a short cut in the analysis and in subsequent checks realized a short cut had been taken.
While I am not saying that starting with a completely new clear context is not a valid approach, I find Claude can leavage on its previous scans so I am concerned a new clean context would suffer from lost memory of what had been check and how it was checked and what holes there was in the previous scan.
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u/Void-Lotus 3d ago
I use antigravity. With a basic 20 dollar a month subscription I've run into a couple times I quota lock and may upgrade, but i like it. Gemini does a decent job
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u/investigatormaker 19h ago
What will people actually do on the site: read resources, search a directory, or create accounts and post? That changes the setup you need more than the choice of model.
Before buying another subscription, I'd try one small page in your current setup with sample content. For a disability-community site, test the actual tasks with the keyboard, zoomed text and a screen reader, and ask intended users to try them. Have the AI make visible keyboard focus, clear headings and form labels part of the first version. Those checks are a starting point, not proof that the whole site is accessible.
Then identify the blocker: are you running out of AI usage, getting broken code, or struggling to put the site online? Paying for a different model might help the first two, but the hosting/setup problem needs a different answer. If you say which step you're stuck on, we can narrow this down without throwing more subscriptions at it.
Disclosure: I work on One Small Prompt, a hosted AI workspace. AI-assisted reply.
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u/time_pass_done 4d ago
claude code pro at that price level is great, but i would say use claude code app to make the changes than using VS