I agree anticompetitive behavior is bad, but the productivity gains to be had by using Anthropic models and tools are undeniable.
Eventually the open tools and models will catch up, so I'm all for using them locally as well, especially if sensitive data or IP is involved.
I can't comment on Opus in CC because I've never bit the bullet and paid the subscription, but I have worked my way up to the $200/month Cursor subscription and the 5.2 codex models blow Opus out of the water in my experience (obviously very subjective).
I arrived at making plans with Opus and then implementing with the OpenAI model. The speed of Opus is much better for planning.
I'm willing to believe that CC/Opus is truly the overall best; I'm only commenting because you mentioned Cursor, where I'm fairly confident it's not. I'm basing my judgement on "how frequently does it do what I want the first time".
I've heard Codex CLI called a scalpel, and this resonates. You wouldn't use a scalpel for a major carving project.
To come back to my earlier comment, though, my main approach makes sense in this context. I let Opus do the abstract thinking, and then OpenAI's models handle the fine details.
On a side note, I've also spent a fair amount of time messing around around in Codex CLI as I have a Pro subscription. It rapidly becomes apparent that it does exactly what you tell it even if an obvious improvement is trivial. Opus is on the other end of the spectrum here. you have to be fairly explicit with Opus intructing it to not add spurious improvements.
Very interesting. I'm going to try this out. Thanks!