Introduction: The Rise of AI-Powered Developer Workflows

AI in development has moved past simple autocomplete. Today's tools are agents: they read repositories, run tests, edit code, and execute commands. Developers no longer want isolated suggestions — they want workflows that plan, act, and iterate.

This post shows how to pair Claude Code, an execution-first coding agent, with GLM-5, a model built for long-form reasoning and agent orchestration, to create a practical AI developer workflow you can adopt today.

What you'll learn: how these tools complement each other, a reference architecture, step-by-step setup, real-world use cases, productivity gains, best practices, and important guardrails.

Modern developers are optimizing productivity by combining AI tools with smart workflows. In our detailed guide on using Claude Code with GLM-5 for an AI-powered workflow , you’ll learn how to reduce costs, boost coding efficiency, and create a scalable AI development environment.

AI-powered automation is becoming essential for modern software. To understand how AI fits into a full-stack workflow, explore our tutorial on building an AI-powered web app with GLM-5, Node.js, and React.

What is Claude Code?

Claude Code is an agentic coding assistant that functions inside terminals, IDEs, and CLIs. Unlike a text-only assistant, it can read a repository, modify multiple files, run commands, and report back results — effectively acting like a coding teammate with command-line access.

Core Capabilities

Multi-file edits and refactors across a codebase
Debugging: reproduce bugs, run tests, and propose fixes
Git workflows: branch, commit, open PR drafts, and rebase
Execute commands and automation scripts from the environment
Automate repetitive tasks: code scaffolding, linting fixes, and CI tweaks

Pro Tip: Treat Claude Code as a trusted environment actor — scope its permissions and use small, testable commands when starting.

What is GLM-5 and Why Developers Care

GLM-5 is an open-weights model family optimized for agentic workflows: long-context reasoning, task decomposition, and orchestration across multi-step processes. It excels at planning, splitting complex goals into concrete steps, and maintaining context across iterations.

Key Strengths

Long context handling — keeps track of multi-step plans
Workflow reasoning — breaks goals into ordered tasks
Agent orchestration — coordinates other agents or tools
Cost-efficient deployment options for running locally or in private clouds

Why Combine Claude Code with GLM-5?

The big idea: Claude Code executes and manipulates the codebase; GLM-5 plans and orchestrates. Put simply, GLM-5 decides what needs doing, and Claude Code does it.

Benefits

Automated development cycles that iterate faster
Smarter task planning and decomposition
Faster debugging and systematic refactoring
Scalable agent loops that run under human supervision

Architecture of the Ultimate AI Developer Workflow

At a high level the stack looks like this:

GLM-5 — orchestration: plans tasks, keeps context, and issues high-level steps.
Claude Code — execution: edits files, runs tests, commits changes, reports results.
Local dev environment — repository, runtimes, secrets manager.
APIs & integrations — CI/CD, issue trackers, observability.

Workflow loop:

Developer states a goal.
GLM-5 breaks the goal into tasks and priorities.
Claude Code executes steps (edit files, run tests, open PRs).
Results are fed back; GLM-5 re-plans as needed.

Step-by-Step: Building the Workflow

Step 1: Setup Claude Code

Install the Claude Code CLI or IDE plugin and authenticate using a scoped token.
Create a project policy file (CLAUDE.md) that defines allowed actions: file access, shell commands, and Git operations.
Start in a non-production repo or a feature branch for first runs.

Step 2: Integrate GLM-5

Choose deployment: managed API or local containerized model.
Implement a lightweight orchestration layer (serverless function or service) that queries GLM-5 for task decomposition.
Design prompts that instruct GLM-5 to return ordered task lists with acceptance criteria.

Step 3: Create the Automation Loop

Define the developer goal in a single sentence.
GLM-5 returns subtasks and testable success criteria.
Claude Code executes the first subtask, runs tests, and reports output.
GLM-5 evaluates results and issues the next step or rollback instructions.

Pro Tip: Keep each subtask small and idempotent to simplify verification and rollback.

Real Use Cases for Developers

Full-Stack App Generation

From a spec, GLM-5 outlines backend modules and frontend components. Claude Code scaffolds files, wires routes, runs tests, and iterates until unit tests pass.

AI Agent Development

Build agents that monitor production metrics, apply automatic fixes, or open PRs for human review. GLM-5 coordinates agent strategies; Claude Code implements code changes.

Codebase Refactoring

Refactor large projects by creating a prioritized task list (find usages, update APIs, run migration scripts) and delegate execution to Claude Code under GLM-5 supervision.

DevOps Automation

Generate CI/CD templates, create deployment scripts, and run environment checks. Claude Code can patch pipelines and validate builds automatically.

Productivity Gains: What Developers Can Expect

Before: manual debugging, repetitive scaffolding, context switching, slow iteration. After: automated workflows, faster cycles, consistent refactors, and fewer context switches.

Reduced time-to-first-commit for new features
Fewer regressions due to automated test loops
Higher-quality PR drafts with suggested changelogs and test rationale

Best Practices for Using Claude Code + GLM-5

Prompt Engineering Tips

Be explicit about success criteria and tests.
Prefer structured outputs (JSON lists of tasks) from GLM-5 for machine parsing.
Use short iterative rounds instead of large, unconstrained edits.

Workflow Optimization

Keep execution logs and diffs for audits.
Use version control checkpoints before each automation run.
Limit agent permissions; use ephemeral credentials for external systems.

Limitations & Considerations

AI needs developer oversight — do code review and test automation before merging.
Execution errors can occur; design safe rollback strategies.
Manage secrets and permissions carefully when granting runtime access.
Plan for cost and infrastructure when running large models like GLM-5 at scale.

Future of AI-Driven Development

The shift is from writing lines of code to designing reliable agent workflows. Developers will become system designers, building the guardrails and objectives for AI agents to operate safely and effectively.

Final Thoughts

Combining Claude Code's execution capabilities with GLM-5's orchestration creates a powerful pattern: plan with a reasoning model and execute with an environment-aware agent. Start small, iterate, and scale the parts that deliver immediate ROI.

When to adopt: adopt this workflow for repetitive engineering tasks, large refactors, or when you need faster feature iteration with consistent quality.