r/8sqhc994

20 brainstorming + 6 writing-plans passes in 28 days. The plan is the leverage; the code is just typing.

44 worktree spins in 28 days. Isolated agents on a fresh baseRef so parallel edits never collide.

272 chrome-devtools MCP calls last month. Screenshot the real DOM and check the work before calling it done.

'Committed' is an interim step, not done. Verified work (tests + adversarial pass green) fast-forwards into main.

Why it's there: Max reasoning on every turn. I'd rather pay tokens than re-loop.

"effortLevel": "xhigh"

Why it's there: Auto-approve, backed by a curated Bash allow-list — git, curl, python3, ffmpeg, open, wc, mkdir, pip3 — not a blanket --dangerously-skip-permissions. It's curated, not sandboxed: curl and git still allow real network access.

"permissions": {
  "defaultMode": "auto",
  "allow": [
    "Bash(git:*)", "Bash(curl:*)", "Bash(ffmpeg:*)",
    "Bash(python3:*)", "Bash(pip3 install:*)",
    "Bash(wc:*)", "Bash(mkdir:*)", "Bash(open:*)",
    "WebSearch",
    "Bash(git -C ‹redacted:path› log --oneline -5)"
  ]
}

Why it's there: The spine of the whole workflow — brainstorming, writing-plans, parallel agents, worktrees, finishing-a-branch. 40+ invocations last month.

Why it's there: Every UI screen goes through it — it's what keeps my frontends off the generic-AI look.

Why it's there: Claude drives a real Chrome to screenshot and verify the UI it just built. 272 calls in 28 days — my single most-used MCP.

Why it's there: Laptop-first, no external monitor. The whole rig fits on a plane tray, and I still burn 35M tokens a month.

Why it's there: Mic and headphones in one — same device for calls and coding, and it moves with me between the desk and the couch.

Why it's there: brainstorm -> writing-plans -> execute. Intent on paper first turns a 3-hour flail into a 20-minute build. The plan is the leverage.

Why it's there: Give Claude the chrome-devtools MCP and tell it to screenshot the real page and check its work before claiming done. 'It looks right' is a guess; the screenshot is evidence.

Why it's there: 4+ Claudes in git worktrees off baseRef=fresh. Real parallelism without the branches stepping on each other.

Why it's there: I Claude from iTerm2 at the desk and from the iOS app Code tab when I'm away — same sessions, remote-controlled and push-notified.

Why it's there: Claude Max, flat rate. The token count does the bragging; the dollar figure stays boring on purpose.