I cut my dev tool costs from $240/month to $40 (workflow + prompts included)

I used to run like 6-8 different tools. Claude Code was running me $200+/month alone, then Codex at $20, Cursor at $16/m (already bought the yearly plan at $192), some random stuff, and a few other single-purpose tools I can't even remember the names of anymore.

Few of them were Windsurf, Cline, Roo Code, Kiro - they all look interesting but honestly at this point I don't even need them.

Now: Cursor at $16/month, and CodeRabbit at $24/month. That's literally it.

Went from a dozen mini tools doing one thing each to just 2 that cover everything. And I'm way faster than before.

# Here's what my average day looks like now:

* Start with Cursor in chat mode, usually GPT-5 or Sonnet 4.5 depending on what I'm building. Lay out the whole plan.
* Take that plan, analyze it myself, break it down into smaller chunks, edit what doesn't make sense. Then get the first version coded up.
* Write tests, debug, check everything, optimize what needs optimizing.
* Push it through CodeRabbit, take all the feedback and recommendations from its line-by-line reviews.
* Throw those notes back into Cursor's agent mode, let it refactor based on CodeRabbit's review​
* Rinse and repeat step 3.
* Final one last CodeRabbit review pass to make sure everything's clean, then commit.

I used to be switching between like 5 different windows, copying code between Claude Code terminal, Codex, some external testing tool, back to the browser for docs... exhausting just thinking about it.

# Prompts & Setup I Use Daily

Here's my base .cursorrules with tweaks for Laravel/Vue: .

**CodeRabbit Integration Prompt** (for Cursor Agent mode):

    Review the current uncommitted changes using CodeRabbit CLI with: coderabbit --prompt-only -t uncommitted
    
    Then analyze the feedback and fix any critical issues. Ignore minor nits unless they affect performance or security.
    

**Pre-Commit Self-Review Prompt:**

    Before I commit this code, review it for:
    - Edge cases I might have missed
    - Potential race conditions or memory leaks
    - Missing error handling
    - Test coverage gaps
    Give me a concise list of issues ranked by severity.

**Feature Planning Prompt:**

    Break down this feature into 3-5 manageable phases. For each phase:
    - List specific files that need changes
    - Identify potential blockers
    - Suggest testing approach
    Keep each phase under 200 lines of code changes.

**Cursor Rule for CodeRabbit** (add this to your .cursorrules):

    # Running CodeRabbit CLI
    CodeRabbit is installed in terminal. Use it to review code. 
    Run with --prompt-only flag: coderabbit --prompt-only -t uncommitted
    IMPORTANT: Don't run CodeRabbit more than 3 times per feature to avoid review fatigue.

These save me probably 30+ minutes daily by avoiding back-and-forth.​