AI Navigate

How context engineering turned Codex into my whole dev team — while cutting token waste

Reddit r/artificial / 3/23/2026

💬 OpinionIdeas & Deep AnalysisTools & Practical Usage

Key Points

  • Hitting Codex's token limit revealed that most cost came from context reloading rather than the coding work itself.
  • A lightweight context engine was built, featuring persistent memory, context planning, failure tracking, task-specific memory, and domain-specific mods (UX, frontend).
  • The system evolved from a tool to an experience closer to working with a small development team, improving workflow and token efficiency.
  • A documented iteration process is shared, with a GitHub repo for others to explore and contribute.

One night I hit the token limit with Codex and realized most of the cost was coming from context reloading, not actual work.

So I started experimenting with a small context engine around it: - persistent memory - context planning - failure tracking - task-specific memory - and eventually domain “mods” (UX, frontend, etc)

At the end it stopped feeling like using an assistant and more like working with a small dev team.

The article goes through all the iterations (some of them a bit chaotic, not gonna lie).

Curious to hear how others here are dealing with context / token usage when vibe coding.

Repo here if anyone wants to dig into it: here

submitted by /u/Comfortable_Gas_3046
[link] [comments]