I've been using Claude Code within VS Code for the most part... it's funny, but from time to time, I forget to click the Claude icon, and start interacting with the default GitHub copilot on the side. I tend to find myself quickly frustrated with the interactions only to realize I wasn't working with Claude/Opus. As soon as I switch, I'm almost always back on track within 10-30 minutes.

That said, it helps to be in tune with your own body and mind. You need breaks now and then and with AI interactions, you will be "ON" more than just working through problems on your own. The AI can work through the boilerplate that lets your mind rest at a relatively blazing pace, leaving you to evaluate and iterate relatively quickly. You will find yourself more "worn out" from the constant thinking faster.

IIRC most people burn out after 4-6 hours of heavy thought work... take a long meal break, then consider getting back into it or not. Identify when it's okay to stop for the day... you may be getting good progress, but if you aren't in the right mindset it's you that may well be introducing mistakes into things.

Beyond this, I tend to plan/track things in TODO.md files as I work/plan through things... keeping track of what needs to be done, combined with history, and even the "why" along the way... AI makes it easy to completely swap out a backend library pretty quickly, especially with a good testing surface in place. But it helps to track why you're doing certain things... why you're making the changes you are on a technical level.