tldr; ChatGPT can draft a full technical plan in minutes, but it cannot sign off on it. Developers use the plan as a starting point, review every line, then break the work into tasks for humans or scripts. If you cannot read the plan, you will need an expert to check it or you will stall the first time the generated code misbehaves.
A friend asked me this morning if ChatGPT could “just build the whole app.” I opened my notes from the last project and wrote the answer here so I can stop repeating it.
1. What the model knows
The training data includes most public GitHub repos, so the model has seen every common stack, config file, and bug pattern. That lets it produce a believable plan in seconds. Believable, however, is not the same as correct.
2. How a developer uses it
We treat the first reply as a rough design document.
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Read it the same way we review a colleague’s pull request: check dependencies, security points, and cost assumptions.
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Once it passes review, ask for a task list: routes, components, tests, infra scripts.
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Hand the safe, repetitive pieces to an AI agent; keep the money-touching or security-critical parts for a human.
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Merge, test, repeat.
We followed that flow on the Local Worker Service Platform. The initial plan took an afternoon instead of a week. We shipped the working core in four weeks, then spent the next four weeks testing with the client and folding in feedback. The saved requirement phase paid for the extra QA cycle.
3. What happens if you cannot code
The model will still give you a plan, but you will not know which lines are risky. You have two choices: A) Hire a developer for a one-day review; it is cheaper than hiring them for the whole build. B) Paste the plan into a no-code tool and hope. That works until the first cryptic error appears; after that you either learn debugging or the project stops.
4. Where else it helps
- Error messages: paste the traceback, get a ranked list of likely causes.
- Security review: upload a smart contract, ask where funds can be drained; the model flags the same lines an audit would.
- Legacy upgrades: feed it a 2015 Angular file, request a React equivalent; the output is rough but saves a day of manual rewriting.
5. Bottom line
ChatGPT is a fast, eager junior engineer who never sleeps. It still needs a senior engineer to check its work. If you can play that role, you will move faster. If you cannot, budget for someone who can.
