# How Max Woolf actually uses coding agents

Ex-BuzzFeed data scientist

**If you take one thing:** `codex exec Luna subagents`, 7–12 cheap critics per pass. instead of the harness's full-price subagent tool, his prompt makes the agent shell out to cheap read-only Codex runs that pitch ideas and then sign off on the result.

- **Agent:** Zed Agent (ide) ([source, 2026-09-21](https://minimaxir.com/2026/09/agentic-iteration/))
- **Agent:** Codex (cli) ([source, 2026-07-18](https://minimaxir.com/2026/07/agent-quota-reset/))
- **Agent:** Claude Code (cli) ([source, 2026-10-02](https://bsky.app/profile/minimaxir.bsky.social/post/3mwueh5ltv22e))
- **Model:** GPT-6 Astra ([source, 2026-09-07](https://bsky.app/profile/minimaxir.bsky.social/post/3muwwfuyoms2t))
- **Model:** GPT-5.6 Luna ([source, 2026-09-19](https://gist.github.com/minimaxir/933cd6354d96e1fbb45bea13e0940952/a09cf9b178bd870050c1d2873405815cca0ef73d#file-ur-prompt-md-L9))
- **Review:** Luna subagents re-check until all satisfied; he watches benchmark diffs ([source, 2026-09-19](https://gist.github.com/minimaxir/933cd6354d96e1fbb45bea13e0940952/a09cf9b178bd870050c1d2873405815cca0ef73d#file-ur-prompt-md-L17))
- **At once:** 7–12 subagents ([source, 2026-09-19](https://gist.github.com/minimaxir/933cd6354d96e1fbb45bea13e0940952/a09cf9b178bd870050c1d2873405815cca0ef73d#file-ur-prompt-md-L9))
- **Harness:** Zed Agent, long Markdown prompt files, prompts queued overnight ([source, 2026-09-21](https://minimaxir.com/2026/09/agentic-iteration/))
- **Rules file:** AGENTS.md for Rust (245 lines) and for Python, shared as gists, ALL-CAPS rules ([source, 2026-09-19](https://gist.github.com/minimaxir/86de3cc8f628079d8337e70924b3411d/b640fcd77e43f00658b8819c4bd8b2d67f6fb867#file-agents-md-L17))

## In their words

> Running a prompt from a Markdown document (right) by tagging the file (left), using Zed Agent.

> I was on the $20/mo Codex plan but with the promise of GPT-5.6 on the horizon and with the frequency I kept hitting the 5-hour limits, I upgraded to the $100/mo plan.

> Testing out Opus 5.5 and does Claude Code really edit files by running Python's replace function?

> GPT-6 Astra verdict: for what I use it for I like it and will likely keep using it. However, it did need a few more AGENTS[.]md tricks to keep it on track.

> These subagents MUST use `gpt-5.6-luna` in Codex, e.g.


Archetype (our label): Rules Lawyer. Newest source: 2026-10-02.
Card: https://www.prehistoriq.com/stacks/minimaxir/ · Data: https://github.com/prehistoriq/stacks/blob/main/data/stacks/minimaxir.json