Here's a live test drive... https://www.skool.com/vibe-coders/daily-vibe-what-this-is-and-why-were-doing-it?p=6385d356

@Jacob P yeah I thought it would have ALL of Claude code's features but with the benefit of Claude desktop's UI, but that's not really the case. There's no way (that I could find at the time) to add skills to a .claude skills folder and have it use them. Everything runs in a fresh mounted sandbox session with no preset /commands or /skills (that I could find). I never got to the bottom of how it intends to integrate skills because the second it didn't work I just went straight back to Claude Code 'cause I had work to do! :)

Yeah — I totally get what you’re pointing at, and I don’t disagree with the core sentiment at all. BMAD can absolutely feel like overkill if you’re not building something that genuinely resembles a full-blown SaaS or long-lived platform. If someone is trying to vibe out a small tool, prototype, automation, or one-off idea, dropping them into full BMAD mode too early can feel like wearing a space suit to go get the mail. 😆 That said, one thing worth clarifying is that BMAD v6 (alpha) is intentionally moving in a more scalable direction. There are now primitives and pathways that let you dial the structure up or down depending on the scope. You don’t have to deploy the entire methodology just to ship something small — but I agree that historically, BMAD was very much designed for “this thing is going to live for a while.” Personally, I mix and match all the time. I use Conductor-style workflows when I want something clean, guided, and lightweight. And Jeremy Dawes’ SDLC workflow for skills is fantastic — I end up reusing that pattern well beyond “skills” because it hits a sweet spot between clarity and momentum. So I don’t see this as BMAD versus Cody (or any other toolkit). It’s more about choosing the right level of ceremony for the problem at hand. Cody makes a ton of sense for accessibility and fast iteration. BMAD shines when complexity, longevity, or collaboration enters the picture. Different tools, different altitudes — same mountain. As always thank you for the discussion and I will definitely check out Cody.