How I Use Claude, Codex, and Cursor Without Losing Control

I treat each tool as a specialist. Claude is my reasoning partner for design discussions, gnarly debugging, and writing precise specs. Codex and Cursor are for in-editor implementation where tight feedback loops matter most.

The guardrail is context discipline. I give the model exactly the files and constraints it needs — no more — and I keep changes small enough to review in one sitting. Big, vague asks produce big, vague messes.

Most importantly, tests are the contract. If the AI writes code, it also writes the test that proves it — and I verify that test can actually fail before I trust it.