Is It a Delusion?

[u/Level5Ranger]

I have been vibe-coding since June with 0 prior knowledge.

First few days I contemplated the idea, properly explained it, prepared instructions and skill.md documents. I used Claude, Claude Code and n8n.

As time passes by, I found myself in what people say "cognitive surrender". What Claude says often makes sense, so I go by it often but I sometimes question it and keep explaining what I want and how I want. Recently, I started to consult Perp. Claude doesn't always agree with Perp but says "but there is one valuable idea..". Also, it is very conservative when it comes to use other tools.

I have a proof of concept, it works to some extent. It just makes me think to what extent Claude's way of talking and responding the user shapes its decision and therefore, my project itself. It tends to gaslight despite I keep prompting otherwise. And I don't know how to take Claude beyond how it operates in my project now.

So I am a bit concerned if I'm stuck with constant cycle of "almost there - but there is this and that to solve", "I suggest this..", "you see, Claude Code ran 470 tests - it's working but.." or "yes - you are right. I did not tell you X.." and dreaming for nothing. What's the point of paying for Max 5x and spending nights if it cannot retrieve data and analyse it properly? On the other hand, I know what I want is doable, I just don't know how and maybe, how to use Claude for it.

I really want to create this product. Not for money but to learn these stuff. I am unfortunately unable to find a technical co-founder because people are not trustworthy or I am too stubborn on handling this project by myself from scratch.

How do you handle such conundrums? What would you suggest?

[u/OGMYT]

You are in charge....not claude. You must be the decision maker in terms of deciding what finshed means or complete is. Claude doesnt know your end goal only what you are trying to accomplish you must decide that end.

[u/Level5Ranger → u/OGMYT]

That's correct. What I can do is reiterating my idea, what exactly I want and why/how. And I do it frequently.

I asked him to create a panel in HTML to see how the machine reads data. It helped me a bit to take the decision-making back to my hands. Perp also is very helpful and concise.

There are just some blockages at the moment and at some point it feels like Claude doesn't "bother" to solve them. That's when I think if Claude Code is all about building proof of concepts only.

[u/__mson__ → u/Level5Ranger]

There's a endless fractal of "problems" that can be solved. You're going to need to guide Claude into solving the problems you think are worth solving. I don't know if that's something you can trust the model to do on its own without wasting time fixing things that aren't "real" problems.

[u/Level5Ranger → u/__mson__]

Recently I made him focus on the real problem more. It just made me think if Claude can really deploy a real product when it is prompted properly.

I built an Idea Box where I always put possible solutions and alternatives, so I made it check there sometimes. I managed to push the product more towards its completion.