High Spankyxvi,
You can do both but watering is easier when you start in a smaller pot and then transplant it after. When you do transplanting carefully and good they don't even notice it even autoflowers!
You can start with a 1 gallon for 3 weeks and then after transplant it to a 3 gallon. But you can also start in the 3 gallon and be carefull to not give too much water in the beginning!
When you need help just send me a private message! I answerd your other questions how too water. Just use 10% of the pot volume max for the first 2 weeks!
Happy Growing! 😋