[Kye]

I think it comes down to what motivates your music, and what you prioritize. My focus is sound design, so the quicker I can get melodies written, the better. Now you might reasonably think: "but if you memorize all this stuff, you won't need your handy app with an interactive circle of fifths!"[0]

And that's true! The trouble is, the last time I tried learning using techniques like this, I could never remember it with any amount of practice, and it made me so down about music that I quit for years. If I cared much about melodies, improvising, and/or performance, I might have the drive to invest effort past that hurdle, but I don't. I did have the drive for sound design--which is at least as complicated as foundational western music theory--because the whole thing fascinates me, so that's what I prioritize.

[0] Piano Companion Pro. Worth the lifetime purchase ($12). https://www.songtive.com/products/piano-companion

I come up with chord progressions in my DAW and use them as "ghost notes" to paint a melody over.