Sharing my experience using Matt’s skill set to run Codex stably on long-term projects

I’ve fully completed two projects with the same workflow, and it’s proven reliable

1. First, set up Matt’s skills and choose an issue tracker. I always use GitHub: automatically creating issues, configuring labels, and pulling in dependencies makes later progress much smoother

2. Use wayfinder / grill-with-docs to align on requirements: clarify what to do, how to do it, acceptance criteria, and termination conditions. A tip: the AI will ask follow-up questions to ensure you’ve thoroughly discussed all details

3. Next, create a prototype for the interface. It will directly write code to build the UI skeleton, and you can iterate if unsatisfied. Many “the effect isn’t right” issues often stem from skipping or insufficiently completing this step

4. Then use to-spec + to-tickets: generate a development plan, break down large tasks into executable tickets, and establish dependencies. Completing one ticket automatically unlocks the next, making progress clear and pace controllable

5. Finally, have Codex create a goal and sequentially call implement to execute according to the plan. Implement includes TDD + code review, ensuring quality without relying on luck

Tip: For each new issue processed, have Codex create an “implement issue xx” task to generate a separate session in the sidebar. The benefit is that each issue has its own context, avoiding cross-talk; moreover, subtasks can even be advanced in parallel if desired

Note: It’s important to mention that I develop based on the TanStarter template. Experienced friends should know that AI excels at learning from a project’s existing codebase. If the prior code is messy, the output will be like gilding the lily; if the existing architecture is well-designed, the code will be fast, high-quality, easy to test, and efficient to execute. I recommend developing on a high-quality foundation, such as TanStarter (http://tanstarter.dev) or MkSaaS (http://mksaas.com)

TanStarter - Ship Faster with TanStack, Cost Less with Cloudflare

Source: https://tanstarter.dev/ Join Discord (3000+ members) (https://mksaas.link/discord)The complete TanStack Start boilerplate for building profitable SaaS, packed with AI, auth, payments, database, storage, email, newsletter, blog, dashboard, SEO and more, fully deployed on Cloudflare Workers

• Private GitHub access
• Lifetime updates
• Unlimited projects

Time saved

Auth, roles and session handling18+ hrs

Stripe / Creem / Waffo payments and webhooks26+ hrs

D1 database schema and migrations14+ hrs

R2 file storage and user file flows14+ hrs

Transactional email and newsletter14+ hrs

AI text, chat, image and TTS demos26+ hrs

Landing, pricing, blog and legal pages30+ hrs

SEO, sitemap, OG images and i18n18+ hrs

Dashboard, admin users and API keys20+ hrs

Cloudflare Workers deployment setup20+ hrs

Setup work you can avoid200+ hrs

What you get

A production SaaS foundation, not just another landing template

TanStarter packages the repeated parts of every SaaS so your first week goes into product logic, customer workflows and launch polish instead of vendor setup.

Private GitHub repositoriesLifetime updatesUnlimited projects

TESTIMONIALS

What our customers are saying

Showcases

What our customers are building

Launch your SaaS with TanStarter and get featured here for free!

MkImage ### MkImage Make any images possible — generate, edit, and transform images with AI models like GPT Image, and Gemini in seconds. (https://mkimage.ai/)HuntifyAI ### HuntifyAI Discover the best AI tools, models, and alternatives, hunted daily. Browse AI for writing, image, video, and more on HuntifyAI. (https://huntifyai.com/)Nbility AI Gateway ### Nbility AI Gateway Nbility provides teams with unified access to mainstream models like OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, centrally handling authentication, quotas, billing, logs, and multi-device synchronization. (https://nbility.dev/)CosyVoice ### CosyVoice Discover CosyVoice, a multilingual zero-shot TTS model, featuring natural pronunciation and high-quality speech synthesis with advanced features. (https://cosyvoice.org/)LetsFindDomain ### LetsFindDomain Check domain availability across 50+ extensions instantly. AI name suggestions, price lookup, WHOIS & competitive research — free. (https://letsfinddomain.com/)ImgEnhancer ### ImgEnhancer Enhance image quality online with AI. Upload a photo to sharpen details, unblur images, upscale resolution, and download clearer results in seconds. (https://imgenhancer.co/)

Newsletter

Join the community

Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news and updates

Indie Fox (@indie_maker_fox): Recently, I’ve looked into Matt’s skill set and experienced the development workflow using this skill set. The main workflow is as follows:

1、grill-me / grill-with-docs: Before starting, interrogate you first; some details need to be thought through and confirmed before writing code. There will be many questions, so generally just follow the suggestions.

2、to-spec and to-tickets: For large tasks, it’s recommended to run these two skills to generate spec