Intranets Today

My Take on “Vibe Coding Tools” — What Actually Keeps Me in Flow

I’m Kayla. I write code, ship web apps, and drink too much tea. I used to think tools didn’t matter. “Just code,” right? But then I had one long, rainy week. I turned on soft lights, put on lofi, and fixed a nasty bug in half the time. You know what? The vibe helped. A lot.

Here’s what I use, what worked, and what bit me. Real gear. Real apps. Real wins and misses.

For a full, step-by-step breakdown of how I dial in those vibes—including lighting presets and keyboard tweaks—you can skim my longer walkthrough on Intranets Today.

Mood First, Then Code

I start simple. Because my brain likes calm.

  • Philips Hue lights behind my monitor. I set “Deep Sea” at night. The glow is soft. Less eye strain. The Hue app can be fussy, though.
  • Keychron Q2 Pro with brown switches. It sounds “thocky,” not loud. (See the in-depth RTINGS review for full measurements.) I did the tape mod. Fun, but not needed. I use a wrist rest or my wrist gets sore.
  • Logitech MX Master 3S. The side scroll saves my thumb when I scan logs.
  • Lofi Girl or Nujabes on Spotify. Low volume. I also use a rain sound app when my neighbor runs the blender.
  • Elgato Stream Deck Mini. One button runs tests, one restarts my dev server, one records a quick GIF with Kap. It feels silly. It saves time.

Does it make me code better? Not magic. But it makes me start faster.
If you’re curious about how your team’s internal portals can amplify these small vibe tweaks, give this primer from Intranets Today a read.

Editor and AI: My Daily Pair

I bounce between two editors the most.

  • VS Code with Monokai Pro or Tokyo Night theme. Font is JetBrains Mono. I turn on ligatures. It’s easy on my eyes.
  • Cursor for AI-heavy work. Copilot is good in VS Code too, but Cursor’s chat is stronger for big refactors.

A real example: last month I built a small admin table in Next.js with TanStack Table. I wrote one column. Copilot guessed the rest of the columns and the sort logic. It got the accessor keys right. I had to fix a date format, but that was it. Saved me maybe 40 minutes.

Another day, Cursor helped me split one big React file into 6 files. It mapped the imports and made the edits. Wild. But it broke two relative paths. I found them fast in the diff view. Win overall, but not hands-off.

What I like:

  • Copilot nails boring bits: map, reduce, tests, small glue code.
  • Cursor shines at bigger changes. The chat can rewrite a module with context.

What I don’t:

  • Both will bluff. I once got a fake TanStack API call. Looked real. It wasn’t.
  • Cursor costs more. Worth it if you refactor a lot, not if you don’t.

If experimenting with AI beyond pair-programming is on your radar, I spent a week letting the new Vibe Coding AI ‘CEO’ steer my tasks—here’s exactly what that felt like.

Fast and Lean: Zed and Neovim

When I want pure speed:

  • Zed is crazy fast. Search is instant. I used it to chase a WebSocket bug. It kept up while logs flew by. But the extensions list is thin. I miss a few lint tools.
  • Neovim (LazyVim) when I’m on a flight. Battery lasted longer than with VS Code. I edited a Flask route and a Jinja template at 30,000 feet. The setup took time, though. And a plugin broke after an update. I had to pin a version.

If you want no fuss, stick with VS Code. If you want speed and you like to tweak, Zed or nvim feels great.

Terminal and Git: Where I Fix My Mess

  • WezTerm with Oh My Zsh and Powerlevel10k. It’s quick. The Lua config made me sigh, but I got it.
  • tmux for splits. I keep tests on the right pane and server logs on the bottom. It feels like a cockpit.
  • GitKraken for messy merges. I like the graph view. It saved me on a Friday.

True story: I shipped a feature branch with 18 commits. Product shifted. I had to rebase onto main, which had moved a lot. GitKraken showed the split. I reworded messages and squashed three tiny commits. I didn’t lose a file. Took 12 minutes. In the terminal, I would’ve sweated more.

APIs, Data, and Little Glue

  • Bruno for API tests. Plain files in the repo. Fast and light. I used it to test a Flask API for a campus food truck schedule. Params, auth, and a saved “happy path” run. One bug: my env file didn’t load once, and it used prod by mistake. My fault, but it still hurt.
  • Postman when I need OAuth flows or team sync. Heavier, but smooth.
  • Docker Desktop with Compose. Next.js + Postgres + Redis up in one go. My MacBook fan spins, though. I pause it when I’m done.
  • TablePlus for SQL. I found a null email field that crashed my cron job. Fixed the migration and moved on.

Tiny Helpers That Feel Big

  • Raycast to launch apps and run scripts fast.
  • Rectangle to snap windows. Left code, right browser. Muscle memory.
  • Toggl Track to time tasks. Keeps me honest. “One more tweak” has limits.
  • Obsidian for notes. I keep a tiny dev diary. I paste my best commit messages there. Sounds nerdy. It helps future me.

Themes and Fonts: Small Things, Big Mood

  • JetBrains Mono or Fira Code. Ligatures make arrow functions easy to scan.
  • Catppuccin Mocha at night. Tokyo Night when I’m tired. Monokai Pro for bright days.

And yes, colors matter. My eyes hurt less. I last longer.

What Bugged Me

  • Copilot will guess wrong. Check everything that touches money or auth.
  • Cursor’s refactor is strong, but the import map can slip.
  • Docker makes my fans loud on heavy stacks.
  • Hue app gets weird after updates. Lights drop my saved scene.
  • Zed lacks some plugins I use daily.
  • WezTerm’s config in Lua scared me for a day.
  • Keychron is heavy. Without a wrist rest, my hands get tired. (Tom’s Hardware’s review points out the same weight and ergonomics trade-off.)

Who This Setup Fits

  • You like calm and fast starts.
  • You write JavaScript, TypeScript, or Python a lot.
  • You want AI help but still read diffs.
  • You don’t mind paying for one or two tools that save you an hour a week.

If you hate setup, do this instead:

  • VS Code + Copilot
  • Monokai Pro theme
  • GitHub Desktop or GitKraken
  • Bruno for APIs
  • TablePlus for DB
  • Rectangle for windows
  • Lofi Girl and a warm light behind the screen

That’s enough to feel nice and ship work.

My Loadout, Quick and Honest

  • Editor: VS Code (daily), Cursor (refactors), Zed (speed), Neovim (travel)
  • AI: GitHub Copilot, Cursor Chat
  • Terminal: WezTerm + Zsh + tmux
  • Git: GitKraken for gnarly merges, CLI for the rest
  • API: Bruno (light), Postman (heavy)
  • Data: Docker Desktop + Compose, TablePlus
  • Vibe: Philips Hue, Keychron Q2 Pro, MX Master 3S, Stream Deck, lofi

Sometimes, the quickest way to reset after a marathon coding session is to step away entirely and recharge in a totally different headspace. If unwinding for you means meeting someone new without any fuss, check out this straightforward guide to finding a casual companion tonight—it lays out the fastest apps, safety pointers, and messaging tips so you can skip the small talk logistics and dive straight into relaxing fun.

Prefer something hyper-local if you’re coding or studying around Appalachian State? The curated postings on Doublelist Boone’s board spotlight nearby matches in the Boone area, letting you line up a low-pressure hangout fast without scrolling through irrelevant big-city listings.

Final Word

Do vibe coding tools make you a better dev? Not by themselves. But they lower friction. They make hard work feel lighter. When my lights glow blue, tests run on one tap, and Copilot fills the boring bits, I start faster. I stick longer. I ship with less stress.

Start small. One light. One theme. One helper key. If it makes you smile while you squash a bug, it’s doing its job.

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