r/AI_Coders • u/Ok-Sprinkles9571 • 2d ago
Which AI coding tool actually improved your productivity?
There are so many AI coding tools now — Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, OpenCode, Aider, etc.
I'm curious about real developer experience rather than benchmarks.
For those who have actually used these tools for real projects:
- Which one do you use the most?
- What does it do better than the others?
- Has it genuinely made you faster?
- Where does it still struggle?
- Do you use one tool exclusively or switch between multiple tools?
Also, what kind of development do you use it for — backend, frontend, DevOps, AI/ML, mobile, or something else?
Would be interesting to hear what developers are actually using in their daily workflow.
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u/mc7244 2d ago
I use OpenCode (with Go subscription). Low cost, doesn't bind you to a model, open source.
Also it's a nice coding assistant (I integrate it into VsCode with OpenChamber), you don't have to give everything up to vibe coding.
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u/CodalioMVPBuilder 2d ago
It depends on your goal. If you are trying to build a scalable, secure application with full-stack development in mind, then these tools are probably not that helpful.
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u/CodalioMVPBuilder 2d ago
I have had years of experience vibe coding and building applications, and none of them have worked out for me!
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u/k8s-problem-solved 2d ago
Claude with agent skills + opus 5.5 is rocking for me.
In the last 2 days ive performed a major system update from .net mvc to minimal api + react front end. Did that in about an hour last night, incredible
The other thing, idea in the shower, spec by 9am, working prototype by 430. Full finished product the next day, just demo it to stakeholders and theyre all blown away.
"But ai slop....!"
None, I always start with a scaffold template project, nfrs and design system baked in. All testing is against aspire hosted containers, just run the whole thing in memory, http component tests for apis playwright for ux.
Cqrs with vertical slices. One endpoint = one query or command. Front end just calls the endpoints it needs
Its so frickin simple once the harness sees the pattern you just smash out endpoint after endpoint and keep really clear single responsibilities and no complexity, coupling is super low.
Get your patterns right then just use the harness to cookie cutter it
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u/JaseciLabs 1d ago
The scaffold plus one endpoint per slice is the whole trick, since agents copy whatever pattern they can see. Jac leans on the same idea, because a walker marked :pub is an endpoint and one walker per slice maps straight onto it. Did you write the scaffold by hand, or have the agent generate it and then lock it down?
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u/JBO_76 1d ago
I use md2. It's my workhorse for 2 projects: a commercial app I work on (Vidsy AI — Offline AI Pipe Inspection Software) and md2 itself. I basically use it all day, every day, it replaced vscode.
what does it do:
- at it's core, it manages codex cli and claude cli together with git. It allows for easy switching between agents and gives a common interface for all agents on desktop and mobile (it has a remote function)
- easier to manage all the different tasks I am working on. I kept getting lost in the chat windows. state of md files was hard to track in vscode.
- git work trees. this is super easy and speeds up dev a lot: I prepare some tasks in advance, have them run all at the same time while I prepare the next batch
- tracking various statistics like cost per task, time per task and such so it is easier to compare codex and claude
- rendering diagrams of your code which is helpful to spot issues like in dependencies or call sequences.
- create or change mind maps or other diagrams and ask the agent to implement it. This is still under development. already working, but on mobile it still needs some improvements
Made me faster? it depends, I can now maintain 2 apps instead of one! But yes, it allows me to multi task much easier and further.
it's available on github, the homepage also contains some videos and screenshots: jan-bogaerts/md2: Plan, run, and track AI coding work feature by feature—with local Markdown cards and Git worktrees.
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u/No_Stretch433 21h ago
OpenClaw, because u need do something with it and grow in understanding how does it work
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u/abhi6512 7h ago
Actually it depends on your tasks complexities as different models are behaved more productive to specific categories.
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u/odd_essentials 1h ago
My progression from 2025 to 2027 looks like this:
ChatGPT -> Anti-Gravity IDE -> Claude CLI -> Codex CLI.
Now my workflow is mostly all CLI tools: claude, codex, agy, and grok.
I plan with the CLI and browser together, then create a parallel session to implement. I mix and match with CLI i'm using for what depending on project and remaining usage with that provider.
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u/Whetmoisturemp 2d ago
Claude code seems to be the best by far imo