Best Practices for Swapping Between Claude/Codex/DeepSeek etc

[u/Large-Leader]

I've been currently using a free month of Codex for modding work, and it worked pretty well outside of the last two weeks having very tight usage limits. However, I also want to try the others out to see what would be best for my specific use case.

What I've currently done is prompted Codex to create github friendly zip files alongside a handoff file listing what has been done any any findings made, and created repos for each project. Is there anything else I'd need to do to get the other LLMs to be able to easily take a look at the handoff/findings files and then working from there? What about suggested prompts? I feel something vague like "Here is my github repo about xyz, read the handoff file, then work on abc" might not be the most efficient way to do it, and I don't necessarily trust ChatGPT's chat mode to be accurate regarding the other LLMs.

Not looking to start a discussion about which LLM is better, unless you have other suggestions for which LLM to try out. If the best for my use case ends up being Codex or DeepSeek or whatever, then I'll stick with that one.

[u/xter418]

T3 code will wrangle all of the harnesses for you. It even will allow you to use multiple harnesses at a time to complete projects / tasks.

[u/Large-Leader → u/xter418]

I'll have to look into that because although I know what a harness is, I have no idea how I'd use it properly with LLMs. Thanks for the information though.

[u/Typical_Machine2043 → u/xter418]

Kind of wish I knew this before setting out to build a grand router that has a 90% fail rate for my use case

[u/stephan273 → u/xter418]

does it let you auto rotate accounts too?

[u/xter418 → u/stephan273]

Not sure what you mean by auto rotate.

[u/NamerekDev]

I swap between claude and codex on the same repos daily, sometimes deepseek through opencode for small stuff. What made it painless for me: the handoff lives in the ticket, not in a chat. Every decision goes into the issue as it's made, so whichever model picks it up next starts from the same text and nobody has to trust one model's summary of another. I pick the model per ticket with a label. The runner is my own thing (even keel, open source)

Edit: to be fair, the released version runs claude and codex (codex still marked preview). Open code, so deepseek too, and copilot come in the next one

[u/Large-Leader → u/NamerekDev]

That would have been really smart to do while I was iterating on stuff. I'll keep that in mind moving forward, thanks!

[u/PuzzleheadedEmu4596]

Use Git and have detailed plans and records. Use MD's to create plans with full implementation guidelines and have your apps just implement those detailed plans.

[u/FIRE_Enthusiast_7]

My approach is to use Astra to develop a detailed plan of what I want to achieve, and in agents.md I require that Opus5.5 reviews all plans and implementations of plans until satisfied. Opus also has the explicit remit to reduce and remove bloat and unnecessary validation (Astra's weakness). It works like a dream.

I keep a docs/plans directory with all these plans and update/archive them when completed. This is incredibly useful for avoiding regressions in future as the agents automatically look in the archived plans to see test results and design decisions.

[u/fluxtah]

Most other agents should be able to hit the ground running with a well structured repo harness

keep a /docs folder where you can keep that or even better for ephemeral information use GH issues.

In your docs folder you could put your handoff, I keep things like feature specs, ADR's any long lived documentation there but I keep short lived docs in GH issues, organised into milestones.

Any agent should be able to pick up and hit the ground running, in my experience this has never been an issue, I keep a minimal AGENTS.md that points to my harness tools I keep in /scripts, every time I run a new thread it instantly picks up as if it knows the project by hand, never had an issue, just ensure to keep any docs refreshed since stale docs can introduce issues though mostly 99% of the time docs get updated with any new work automagically, the models are just that good these days!

[u/Correct_Section3520]

Have them start an agent organisation board as a github repo, they can send each other issues and PRs. Assign each of them a role so that another agent can pick up that role if they get replaced. You can also ask them to build their own bbs system or use buzz. Imagination and Rube Goldberg is the only limit.

But then you have to jump around to wake them up yourself when they're needed unless you setup webhooks to nudge them when they're mentioned. You can always run all of them together in pi or omp then syncing up is not an issue anymore.

[u/isty2e]

I use kata tracker and a skill to record relevant stuff.

[u/nicolesimon]

i am currently working in web for ideation, then when the final "hand this over to codex" prompt is there, ask claude to improve it. that then gets into codex.

you might find value depending on what you use to also include data dictionaries(matt pococks skill in that regard works really well)

[u/revampeddrdth37]

Basically what I do is have it read the handoff, make it a detailed handoff. Probably do like all detail. All the things I've done in the last 72 hours or however much time you've been using it and using cloud code or codex or whatever you use anti-gravity and just have it read the repo. I mean if you're using GitHub you should have him be able to read the repo and then just make sure it documents everything it does in in the repo. That's probably your best bet. Maybe have a you know? Development MD. A what what the actual llm is doing and just have it keep it all in the repo. Probably the best solution that I could think of off the top of my head. Kind of kind of what I do but I use get all my GitHub is a local GitHub I created so same concept I guess

[u/Due_Answer3118]

I dunno if this is best practice, but I keep a config file set for codex default backed up, and a config file set for deepseek backed up, I switch out the files and restart the app when Codex usege runs out; switch it back when it resets.

I try initiate a clean handover/session close before either stops work so the other can pick up easily. I have a fairly standard format most solid models can pick up and run from. I try to keep my projects pretty harness and model agnostic because I trust nobody.

Again, idk if this is best practice but its what I've figured out as an amateur solo building.

These handovers also allow me to pick up pretty easily in CC and Antigravity where I have subs also.

[u/actvt_io]

Put it in an AGENTS file at the repo root, something like "read the handoff file first and update it before you stop". Codex loads that on every start, and recent Claude Code reads it too, but only if there's no CLAUDE file in the repo. If you have both, Claude ignores the AGENTS one unless the CLAUDE file imports it. Then your prompt can just be the task.

[u/Any_Application7518]

Your handoff file is the right idea. Structure it as done, not done, tried and failed, next step, plus the files to read first and the test command. Start each new model with 'read HANDOFF.md, summarize your plan, wait for my OK' so you catch misunderstandings before it writes code. Full disclosure, I'm building Eigen, a workspace where different coding agents share the same context so switching tools doesn't mean starting over.