I’ve arrived at something similar:

* brainstorm all the ideas, get Claude to write docs + code for all them, and then throw away the code

* ask it to develop architecture and design principles based on the contents of those docs

* get it to write a concise config spec doc that incorporates all the features, respects the architecture and design as appropriate

* iterate over that for a while until I get it into a state I like

* ask it to write an implementation plan for the config spec

* babysit it as I ask it to implement phase by phase of the implementation plan while adhering to the config spec

It’s a bit slower to than what I’d hoped originally, but it’s a lot better in terms of end result and gives me more opportunity to verify tests, tweak implementation, briefly segue or explore enhancements, etc.