P.S.A. Not Using Context Makes Agent Effectively Free

20$ limits are all you need if you understand hidden context costs.

One of the biggest noob moves is pointing an AI at a codebase - ..period..

They'll spend 10 minutes now checking things that used to complete in 20 seconds.

The fact that you also instantly hit limits and usage costs (quadratic rates that 1 mill context supports) and you'll start yo understand where everyone is basically wasting most of their time and money here.

What you wanna do instead is this:

Make another folder (somewhere else!)

Make 2 scripts there Start and Test

START copies JUST the src file it needs and runs your codex/gemini/qwen etc

TEST just copies that file back and calls your build tool to get timing/correctness etc

The Agent then gets told to use Test ONE! (make a fix/optimization attempt then stop)

This technique ensures you never use 95% of your context window and are NEVER limited.

I run this all night constantly on multiple codebases CONSTANTLY and I've yet to be limited once

By contrast in codex I hits usage limits after just a few short questions (if asked INSIDE my codebase)

Using this technique for a task obviously takes a bit more effort but the difference is pretty startling!

As for issues like agents getting stuck in loops etc - just have them commit if they make progress and write to a journal.txt ether way (so they don't keep trying dead ends).

I've learned a ton about orchestration this year and the one thing that stands out most is THIS: !!!DON'T TRY TO USE YOUR 'AMAZING' MILLION LONG CONTEXT WINDOW!!!

Not only is it how the companies are metering charging and taking your money, it also just slows down cycle times from seconds to minutes as soon as there's a giant codebase involved.

Lastly if your thinking: wait but I need the AI to find the files to work on in the first place !!!, yeah That's what's left of 'programming' for me these days ;D

Enjoy