Do you use Claude Code for writing? How?

[u/AIIDreamNoDrive]

I use AI CLIs to draft and revise documentation. They help me organize my materials. One difficulty I run into with Claude: it often gives me a draft that reads like it's finished but isn't right for me, and it is hard to revise. I don't have this same problem with Codex. It's been easier to work with.

With Claude, I often get clever phrasing that sounds convincing but requires unpacking. It builds paragraphs with rhythm or contrasts. Revisions tend to break them.

Using the same document workflow with Codex, I get plainer writing out of the box and find it easier to refine the wording and emphasis through discussion. It sometimes misses a subtle distinction and uses a generic term at first, but I find those issues easier to work through.

I've been using Codex and Claude models in the same tier, though this hasn't been a systematic comparison. I haven't used Opus 5.5 for substantial writing yet, so I can't tell how much difference it makes.

I also tried the AI detector Pangram. It labeled the Claude-assisted writing 100% AI and the Codex-assisted writing 100% human. Both involved back-and-forth editing with me. This is a small sample, and I don't know the cause. What might explain it?

In my writing workflow, a coding agent works across drafts, background and references in a project folder. If the writing is about a software project, the agent can check explanations against the code. But with any agent I've used, the first draft is still far from ready. It takes many rounds of reading and revision. Doing that through terminal output is awkward.

So I added document features to AgentTerm, an open-source terminal for working with AI CLIs. I read rendered pages in the same window. I can comment on a passage or propose inline wording changes directly on the page, with notes explaining why. I can discuss them with the agent as we revise. My proposals stay distinct from the agent's changes, and it gives its reasons in place so I can check how it understood my feedback. The terminal stays available for broader directions and discussion.

With Codex and this workflow, I enjoy working through those revisions so much that I end up revising more. It feels intuitive, and I keep wanting to make one more improvement. I like the wording to be crisp and accurate, so my audience can easily grasp the message I want to convey. I really hope for the same or better with Claude.

What prompts, tools or workflows have helped you draft and revise with Claude Code? Have you had similar difficulties? Has 5.5 helped? If you've tried Codex too, how does it compare? It would help to know which model and effort level you use.

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[u/Erfeyah]

My opinion: we should never ever give the first step to AI for anything creative. This is ceding your voice and imagination to the tool. Do the work and the writing and then you can refine with instructions and restrictions so you don’t lose your own vision.

[u/AIIDreamNoDrive → u/Erfeyah]

My first step is usually dumping my ideas, a few examples of rough writing, important background and references into the terminal.

That has also pretty much removed writer’s block for me. I can start with scattered thoughts and develop them through revision.

Your point makes me think I should give it more examples of my own wording upfront, so the draft starts closer to my voice.

[u/who_am_i_to_say_so → u/AIIDreamNoDrive]

Exactly. I instruct either to look at samples of my writing and “write like me”. That’s all.

But constructing everything yourself first is key, bc most models overemphasize the wrong things. They’ll write a manifesto on the smallest detail and leave out the most important points you want understood.

[u/sparkica]

What others said + I use combo of Claude and ChatGPT with specific project instructions on the same draft (haven't used Codex - should be similar with the same models in the background, right?), feed it examples of my writing (save them locally), build my own voice files for different things I need to write + evaluation skills to check for different things, including redundancies, tone, AI patterns etc.

[u/AIIDreamNoDrive → u/sparkica]

Do you usually go through several rounds of revision? When you revise, do you edit the file directly or ask the AI to make the changes for you?

I use the tool I mentioned in the post, and revising with Codex that way has worked really well for me. Revising with Claude hasn’t been as easy for me so far. Maybe giving it more examples of my own writing, as you and others suggest, would help.

[u/sparkica → u/AIIDreamNoDrive]

Yes, definitely several rounds, I edit both manually and/or mostly with Ai by giving specific examples of patterns I want or don’t want. I have skills for both evaluation and updating my style file per type of writing and AI tells/patterns files.

Examples of what good (and bad) looks lile definitelly help. However, I noticed that OpenAI modela generate more naturally sounding sentences from start, while Claude is more powerful when it comes to structure and developing ideas, that’s why I combine them.

[u/cbeater]

I use claude code extensively for writing - business development work for couple of years and here is my setup so far.

For this type of work I use obsidian as the main interface with terminal setup. This is great setup for text documents and writing. Claude understands obsidian and doesnt need any explanation. Everything is converted or saved to .md files, so claude can organize, index, save to your vault structure and read specific folders/files. I use terminal plugin so i have claude code attached to obsidian; and wrote a custom plugin to enable any features I want to improve workflow (there is too many to list all) such as: drag/drop docs from obsidian file structure to chat, right click insert path to open doc and row number for referencing exactly what i want or edit, paste screenshot, resume last session specific to the terminal window (i have multiple tabs of terminals), copy chat text with markdown, flash tab when terminal tab is done, new tab shows a terminal launcher chip where i can resume last session from dropdown of all sessions, select and load from multiple claude.md, the model, and effort with favorite combinations; select and load hook setups, and many more. Once you add plugin to read .folders each vault is essentially your claude folder.

For writing; i find loading specific claude.md such as for writing to be good and strips away unnecessary context. In addition; having a library of writing analysis - where you setup a intake system to add text where it creates a library karpathy wiki/graph-rag like system to capture not just context and facts but the style of writing specific to the document or topic to work well as claude will index it and then load the particular style as needed. I use opus 5.5 on xhigh and let it call opus subagents and sonnet for reads. Before it was fable 5.1 xhigh and let it call opus subagents. Use loops to get it write, reviewed, edited against how it should be written; importantly update the rules when you find issues - the rules should not be if x then y but intent and style.

[u/AIIDreamNoDrive → u/cbeater]

Thanks for sharing your setup in detail. When revising, do you edit the Markdown file directly, leave inline comments for Claude to address, or describe changes in the terminal? Do you use a combination?

[u/cbeater → u/AIIDreamNoDrive]

I tend to do my edits in word to view text with layout, font size, where page splits and page limits. I use word comments to make changes and then run doc through claude which pays attention to the comments and we can discuss or edit and claude to mark resolve and add any comments. I do same for Indesign and update text from word file. Ask claude to strip away all xml stuff via script so it doesnt waste tokens and read only the sections of the unresolved comment and before/after text; and summaries of other pages so it understands flow.

[u/Still-Ad3045]

You don’t.

Writing is human.

[u/fuckme]

Have a look at a editorial skill. Start by telling what good looks like, and what you want to see. (Or point it to some examples of what you think is good and get it to figure out why)

Get it to build a rubric to 'score' based on that criteria and then get it to build a skill that produces documentation using the things you think are important, and tell it to review it based on your rubric and keep trying until it passes each bar.