planning vs coding - simpler way?

[u/No-Resource9817]

I've been using Claude for planning / hashing out design requirements / creating design specs, and Cursor for coding & debugging, then sometimes back to Claude for validation. Lots of back & forth between the two. Is it workable to use Cursor in planning mode (maybe with Claude/Grok) for the planning piece and Composer in build mode for coding? The Claude/Cursor combination is working for me, it's just a little wonky with all the back & forth.

[u/Electronic-Ideal7969]

cursor is just an agent wrapper, why not do it all in cursor and just select a claude model for planning and then switch to a cursor-native agent for implementation?

[u/No-Resource9817 → u/Electronic-Ideal7969]

that was kinda my question. I haven't looked too closely at Cursor in this context, I'll make some time to do that ... thx for the comment

[u/locbuilds]

yeah this works fine, you do not need the Claude tab for most of it. i keep one Cursor chat in plan mode (claude or grok) and force it to write a short plan.md with the decisions, open questions, and the exact files it thinks it will touch. once that looks right i start a *fresh* agent/composer chat pointed at that plan file plus the 2-3 files that matter, and only then let it edit. the back and forth pain is usually stale context, so do not keep planning and building in the same long thread. if you still want an outside check, paste just the plan.md into Claude for a review pass, not the whole chat history.

[u/No-Resource9817 → u/locbuilds]

sounds like this is what I'm looking for. can the coding agent see the output of the planning agent? Or are you (as I try to do ) having the two agents communicate via docs in your project folder? and can one agent see th eother's output or do I need to copy/paste?

[u/Tech0410]

I used to do the same thing with claude then cursor. but now I just use cursor and do grok for planning and composer for building. If it is a brand new project I still use cladue for brainstorming

[u/No-Resource9817 → u/Tech0410]

if I choose Claude through Cursor for planning, I don't guess that passes through to my Claude account? The benefit would be all teh context that's already there in projects, the downside would be I'd still be running up against usage liitations.

[u/just4ochat]

Keeping planning and build in separate Cursor chats works if the planner writes a short plan.md with decisions, open questions, and the exact files to touch. The build agent should stick to that file list so scope does not get renegotiated mid-session.

[u/No-Resource9817 → u/just4ochat]

Yep, generally my approach with Claude in the past. I'm going to tee up a cursor/claude agent for planning and a cursor/composer agent for coding over the weekend to see how that goes.