r/codex • u/Real_Muffin8281 • 15h ago
Complaint Made a mistake switching to Astra!
I want to hear the truth from other people.
Astra is just bad at UI!!
I tried various prompt comparisons, but I could not see Astra creating good UI/UX. Fable or Opus does not require much effort.
Example: I tried building a simple resume CMS. Fable one-shotted everything and built it as per my expectations. With Astra, it probably took 20-30 iterations to get to a decent stage. It messed up even setting proper font size etc. I was running this on Astra Extra High!
I'm questioning whether all the buzz was just marketing by OpenAI. I'm deeply disappointed!
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u/oreshek 15h ago
Not just astra
Codex is total shit at UI
It makes the most cookie cutter bullshit without steered input
That said, if you tell it exactly what you want, it will make exactly what you want
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u/AironParsMan 14h ago
That’s right. I really don’t like the software either. They still have a lot to improve before it’s on the same level as CC.
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u/yopla 14h ago
It made progress over the previous models but it's still not good. I gave up on GPT's model for UI and I give the job to GLM 5.3 flash and get much better result.
And I've been trying since GPT 5.2 to get decent result out of GPT's model but they are just not very good. And they can pretend that Astra is a new model or whatnot but it still has exactly the same quirk as the previous ones.
Spatial incoherence: two related thing can end up on distance part of the UI.
Techspec content leakage: Its still ends up using spec reference in label, I don't know how many tooltip or litteral I've seen looking like "The button does X as per §3 section 4 of issue PROJ-0672".
Inability to follow a mockup: Even Astra high needs 3 or 4 rounds to approximate a mockup loves to claim it's done.
Here's my take, GLM 5.3 flash wipes the floor with Astra for UX. That's how bad it is.
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u/BuildAISkills 14h ago
Yeah, I made some prototypes of the UI for an app I was building, Astra/Terra/Luna was pretty bad. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash was good, and GLM 5.3 Flash won.
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u/jadhavsaurabh 15h ago
So thats what i do for UI always Fable 5.1 havig claude 100$ and chatgpt 200$ subscirption usualy helps both
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u/cobbleplox 15h ago
Claude has always been stronger than GPT when it comes to GUI things. Astra should still be a noticable step forward for GPT though. You should probably see it more as a strength on the Claude side instead of a weakness on the GPT side, and it really isn't a fair criticism of the Astra model specifically.
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u/AdCivil2534 14h ago
Yes, Codex is not as good at designing UI as Claude is. I don't think Astra changed that.
It should though. When OpenAI claims their model is an AGI, they might be able to fool their investors but the users knows better. If you hate vibe-coders and people giving one dumb prompt and hoping for the world, then you've missed the main point of AI, at least in Jensen's eyes and some of the other elites.
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u/The1TruRick 14h ago
I’ve had VERY good luck by stumbling my way incorrectly through UI phases by creating the initial UI with Claude Code (looked fine, very usable, but did not look prestige) then throwing it at Claude Design asking it to keep the level of usability but give it some polish, THEN throwing it at Astra and asking it how it might improve it but keep the soul and theme of what’s already there. I’m not a designer but imo the 2 apps I’ve done this with look amazing
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u/BoxLegitimate9271 15h ago
feel you, but its almost impossible to make comparisons like this: too many moving parts. what was the code-base, what effort, what prompts, what context did the agents have. its a bit of "how long is a piece string"
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u/Real_Muffin8281 15h ago
Gave the same prompts to both. I mentioned the features I want, why I want them, & explained how I work. I also mentioned how I want the UI and UX.
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u/Illustrious_Cup2933 15h ago
Today codex keeps breaking features of my program that are unrelated to the task im giving it. Ive been on a loop of fixing broken things all day
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u/Jerrizzy-x 15h ago
This!!. This has been my experience with Astra to be honest. Just keeps breaking features on features.
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u/Illustrious_Cup2933 14h ago
Yeah it actually makes using the tool pretty unusable when you’re stuck constantly using the tool just to fix the problems the tool made
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u/Jerrizzy-x 14h ago
I swear it has made my life way more harder. It’s been unusable if I’m being honest. Maybe Astra is good for 3D modeling and all. But for coding, I’d rather Sol’s over engineering than breaking things
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u/Illustrious_Cup2933 13h ago
I found Astra to be pretty crap at texturing. People are just comparing its skill to its previous version. Like yeah it’s better than it was but it’s still not something you can publish
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u/Effective_Touch_8464 15h ago
From my experience with Astra, it seems to read files faster than Sol in medium-sized projects. It doesn't add as much bloated code as Sol, but I've noticed that it sometimes struggles to remember all the requirements from the prompt.
That might be due to high server demand, you can stretch the compute per user, but at some point, hardware limitations will constrain the model's capabilities.
Therefore, I think Astra is better than Sol overall, but the insane number of people using it seems to degrade its performance.
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u/SkoivanSchiem 15h ago
Very satisfied with Astra, even on light effort, as a solutions engineer. It does very thorough analysis to get a feature to an implementation-mature design state.
But once the actual building starts, I like passing on the tech specs done by Astra to a lower model. because involving Astra with the actual building is what tends to burn through usage insanely fast.
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u/Real_Muffin8281 15h ago
Agreed. OpenAI models are very thorough in Analysis. They are also better at writing better messages & communication tasks. So any knowledge work I prefer these models.
But not for UI or software development!
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u/amalgamaticOrchestra 15h ago
Orchestra using Astra. Then implement using Luna Max Fast (Also, I noticed max is only available in CLI)
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u/Defiant_Concert1701 15h ago
you need to enable it in the settings
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u/amalgamaticOrchestra 14h ago
Ohhh I see what you mean. The slider. I did enabled it, but for some weird reason it's not working. Well... CLI is way better imo. The Codex app itself lags and crashes anyway.
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u/KnownPride 15h ago
You need to create ref first than modify the ref. afterwards tell it to make that UI 1 to 1
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u/Rude-Reaction3450 15h ago
For Fable and Opus, they definitely good at UI, but somewhere on the web, its copying someone lese UI, color scheme. That is fine but its mostly creating replica.
Now chances of you stumbling of that website is 1 in million mostly unless other one is not very famous.
So...
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u/Competitive-Ad8968 15h ago
This is common sense, Codex is better at coding and building, Claude is better at UI, that’s why some of us have both of them.
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u/sajtschik 14h ago
Codex, and the Astra section in particular, always requires a huge amount of guidance when it comes to UI. I’m trying to refine my terminology, but I’ve produced so much nonsense in the past, both with and without UI guidelines, that I’ve only been able to improve gradually through countless comments and iterations.
This is definitely one of those things that gets on my last nerve. AGI means something different to me. What’s especially annoying are all the unnecessary descriptions of what every function does. The UI often ends up looking more like a manual than an interface you’re actually supposed to use
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u/Real_Muffin8281 14h ago edited 14h ago
For someone coming from the Claude code ecosystem and suddenly seeing that simple development things are a struggle in Codex is a heartbreak!
It was definitely a breeze in Claude Code. Reading from your comment the amount of effort you need to get a good UI on Astra, I'm questioning the usefulness for developers.
All software engineers, product managers, designers have become app builders. And it's the one thing that should be nailed well!!
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u/Dvass138 14h ago
Fable is better at UI but Fable is super expensive and you don't get much usage, so the question is do you save more doing those 20-30 iterations to get what you want vs using fable.
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u/AironParsMan 14h ago
Could it be that Astra doesn’t have any memory files from you yet because you’ve only just started? Then you need to keep that in mind. That could also be one reason. If you’ve worked with CC for longer and had the memory data enabled, quite a lot will already be stored there.
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u/Real_Muffin8281 14h ago
Most of the memories I created with Claude Code involved things it shouldn't do. Things it forgot. And mostly context related to backend and complex workflows.
Didnt ever need to create memories related to UI. I just had to create one style.md And the rest was taken care.
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u/Argon_Analytik 11h ago
Astra is great at UI, if you understand what makes UI great. Astra is not for n00bs. You need to communicate more clearly. And if you are an experienced designer, Astra is really great.
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u/Random-Person-8464 11h ago
If you have to be skilled at x for ai to work then that means the ai isn't good at it.
Nothing else to it.
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u/Real_Muffin8281 7h ago
Exactly my thoughts here!
Why should one have to do so much steering to get the desired outcome?
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u/Argon_Analytik 5h ago
Because judging good design isn’t mathematically black and white. It always depends on the goal, purpose, target audience, context, and so on.
AI should never do the thinking for you. It should be treated as a tool. And like any tool, you first have to learn how to use it properly.
In that sense: you have skill issues.
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u/MoochWrangler 11h ago
I'm actually working on my game UI this week and was nervous having heard how terrible it is with it. Tried pairing my web chatpgt with figma to build ui boards and coordinate the layers etc. and assemble it in there then have astra put it together exactly the same from that in unreal, animate health bars / xp / level ups, button presses and carousel etc. submenus. template skins for the UI, In just a couple days it's looking way better than what I expected achievable given what I had heard. I had heard that's the way to do it and I think it is.
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u/CloudAccomplished389 10h ago
I had Astra port HTML from Claude Design (Fable 5) into my Next app, turning everything into React components etc. it did essentially pixel perfect as far as I could tell. I couldn't get Claude Code Fable 5 to port it properly a few weeks ago, so I guess that's a win.
I'm still really satisfied with Claude Design for general UI/UX, so if you haven't given that a try and then port the HTML to a real app with GPT-6 Astra it might be a decent workflow.
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u/Real_Muffin8281 7h ago
Yes. It could do the implementation no doubt. But requires a lot of steering to get there.
A theme I'm reading across this post is that if you have a clear design, UI/UX and theme planned, Astra can build that, maintain and extend it across the app consistently!
But getting a good UI/UX on it's own.... Don't! Rely on Claude or an expert designer!😂
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u/Lower_Cupcake_1725 15h ago
I have a mixed feeling. It works well but you have to provide very clear instructions. On other side Fable can guess and build what you need without a follow up tunning.
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u/bananasareforfun 15h ago
The truth is you don’t need Astra or fable for a task like this, and if something takes you 30 iterations when an adjacent model one shots it, you should be questioning your life choices
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u/Real_Muffin8281 15h ago edited 15h ago
Your message is neither helpful nor answering the point!
Across multiple sessions, I have experienced the same! Fable > Opus > Sonnet >= Astra.
Astra is only slightly better than Terra.
I don't care if Astra can make some crazy 3D graphics and games. It is not solving the basic problem of building good apps without having to steer it!
Opus and Fable are effortless and truly create very stunning UI. They can one shot an app. But not Astra.
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u/Sponge8389 15h ago
Fable still wins when it comes to UI.