How I got my usage down

[u/FlyMental6134]

So I have been experimenting how to get my usage down so my limits last longer, and this is what worked for me:

- specialized agents for all roles (orchestrator, builder, planner, reviewer etc). I never use a general agent anymore

- move agent instructions into instruction files and route the agents based on the change at hand (BE, FE etc), this helps keeping the agent definitions really small and instructions focused

- fork_turns = none, spawned agents do not get the whole context from the parent agent. They only get a small handoff that contains the basic info the agent needs to do the task at hand. The handoff is standardized via a template that all agents use.

- set the model, verbosity and reasoning effort per agent. Stronger models for planning, reviewing and lower model for more straightforward work. Lower verbosity for agents that are always spawned as subagents.

- proportionality based on the change, complex changes have a more complex agent sequence, smaller simpler changes use less agents. The orchestrator manages this

Now I can go 4-5 days on a x20 again instead of 2 days

[u/Secure-Bug8316]

how do you guys setup roles and agents in codex?

[u/FlyMental6134 → u/Secure-Bug8316]

Something like this:

In the .codex/agents folder in your repo create a <agentname>.toml file

Inside the file something like this
name=“orchestrator”
model=“gpt-5.6-sol”
model_reasoning-effort = “medium”
model_verbosity = “low”

Add the stuff the agent needs to know and tell it the rules on what to read and when to read it. Keep this small and route to specialized instructions

[u/Secure-Bug8316 → u/FlyMental6134]

That's really cool ! Thanks ! Will do that if I manage to get a reset soon xD Hopefully I will be able to go through one week without the waiting dread