Intranets Today

I’m Kayla. I code. I also chase a good feeling when I work. So I ran a test. For one month, I used a “Rick Rubin vibe” style for my coding. I set the mood first. I kept the rules loose. I listened to what felt true. Then I built stuff. That idea lines up with Rubin’s recent conversation with Dr. Andrew Huberman where he stressed how shaping the environment and leaning on rhythm can unlock deeper creative focus.

It sounds soft, I know. But it changed more than I thought. Not all good. Not all bad. Here’s how it went. If you’re curious about another developer’s month-long experiment, this in-depth log breaks down every day.

What I Mean By “Vibe Coding”

Here’s the thing. Rick Rubin talks about tuning your senses. You listen. You strip away noise. You make the core clear. I tried that with code. That impulse echoes his minimalist production philosophy—removing everything unnecessary so the essence shines—which has shaped records from hip-hop to rock.

• I set a theme for each session. One word only. Like “quiet,” “sharp,” or “warm.”
• I set my room to match. Lamp on. Candle lit. Lo-fi or silence.
• I used VS Code Zen Mode. Prettier on save. ESLint on.
• I worked in 90-minute blocks. First 25 minutes were play. The rest was build.
• I aimed to ship one small thing. One screen. One API. One test. That’s it.

I used a MacBook Pro (M1). Keychron K2 with brown switches. It feels calm. My tools were normal: Git, GitHub, Node, Python, and sometimes Next.js or FastAPI. For an honest breakdown of which vibe-coding tools actually keep developers in flow, I leaned on this overview.

You know what? It felt like clearing the table before drawing. Simple. Clean.

Real Stuff I Built While On The Vibe

1) A tiny landing page in one night

My friend runs a thrift pop-up. She needed a page. I set my theme to “desert.” Warm and wide. I used Next.js and Tailwind. Big type. Sand colors. Lots of space.

I started at 7:10 pm. I shipped at 10:58 pm on Vercel. I kept the page to one main section and one call to action. Lighthouse said 98 on mobile. She shared it next day. It looked light and calm. No fluff. She loved the feel.

The vibe helped me cut the extra stuff. No slider. No chat widget. Just the core. If you want more concrete examples and snippets, this hands-on guide lines up closely with what I practiced.

2) A bug in our queue worker that kept biting us

We had a hanging job in a Node service. Logs looked fine. But runs stalled at random times. I felt stuck. So I took a walk, no phone, five blocks. Came back. Read the code out loud. I heard my voice slow on one line. It hit me: a missing await in a retry path. Two chars. Hours saved.

I wrote one small test for it. Then I added a note: “wait for the promise, even when it feels done.” Kind of poetic. But true.

3) A FastAPI upload route with a hard limit

Theme was “clean edges.” I gave myself a cap of 50 lines for the first pass. I kept the handler plain. File in, checks run, file saved, response sent. It worked for small images. But guess what? The cap was too strict. I forgot big file errors.

A week later, we hit a 15 MB photo. Boom. 500 error. I came back and added real checks, timeouts, and retries. So, vibe helps start fast. But it won’t save you from size limits or boring stuff. You still need that.

4) A React hook that felt bloated

I had a custom hook holding state, fetch, and local cache. It felt heavy. My theme was “light hands.” I asked, “What’s the core?” I split one hook into two simple ones. Then I paired with Sam. We removed a memo that did nothing. Bundle size dropped a hair. But the code read like plain English. That felt right.

What Worked For Me

• Faster flow. I stopped overthinking the first draft.
• Better names. When I felt the goal, I named things clear. Not cute. Clear.
• Fewer tabs. Zen Mode and no Slack pings helped. My 3-hour styling task dropped by about 30 minutes.
• Clear starts. A single theme word cut my choices down. Less thrash.

What Tripped Me Up

• Edge cases. Feel won’t catch all the weird stuff. File limits, timeouts, and retries need cold eyes.
• Team notes. A commit like “soft blue morning” made my team laugh. Not helpful. I now add ticket IDs and a plain line.
• Long hauls. Migrations, auth, and cold refactors are tough with vibes. You need plans. And tea. Lots of tea.

My Simple Playbook (The One I’ll Keep)

• Two modes:
  • Play Mode (25 min): explore, sketch, fake data, throw stuff out.
  • Build Mode (65 min): test, wire types, write docs, name things right.
• “One thing shipped” rule: one screen or one API or one test. No more.
• Checkpoint card after each block:
  • Feeling: one word.
  • Fact: what shipped.
  • Fix: what broke or what’s next.
• Tiny vibe kit:
  • VS Code Zen Mode
  • Prettier + ESLint
  • GitLens for blame whispers
  • Lo-fi playlist or rain
  • A cedar candle (I know, but it helps)
  • 10-minute walk if my brain buzzes

If you want to see how teams craft distraction-free digital hubs, this short primer from Intranets Today is worth a skim.

Sometimes, after a marathon block of flow, I needed a hard context switch—something totally unrelated to code that still carries that same “act on instinct, no overthinking” energy. If your post-commit ritual leans more toward meeting new people than re-watching tech talks, check out FuckPal’s quick-match platform where you can line up a no-strings meetup tonight in minutes, letting you release that pent-up energy before the next sprint.

Prefer a slightly slower, classifieds-style vibe that caters to locals in Bucks County and Lambertville? This rundown of the New Hope Doublelist scene explains how to post safely, sidestep common scams, and meet open-minded neighbors without wading through endless swipe apps.

Who Should Try This

• Solo devs and designers.
• Hackathons and weekend ideas.
• Early feature spikes.

Who might skip? Folks in audit-heavy work. Or brand-new devs with no guard rails yet. Try it with a mentor first.

A Small Digression: Naming By Feel

One weird trick stuck. I’ll write a comment like: “What’s the heart here?” Then I read the file top to bottom. If I stumble on a name, I change it. userThing becomes userProfile or userPrefs. The file breathes. It’s small, but it matters. You can hear it.

Final Take

Will I keep vibe coding? Yes—but not alone. I use it to start. I use tests and reviews to finish. It’s like a sketch before the final drawing. You need both.

Score? 4 out of 5. It made me faster and kinder to my work. It also let sneaky bugs slide if I wasn’t careful. So I pair it with boring tools that catch me when I get artsy.

One last note. If you try it, set one word before you code. Quiet. Sharp. Warm. Then ask, “What’s the core?” Write that. Ship that. The rest can wait.

I’m Kayla, and I finished the Vibe Coding Course while working nights and juggling life. I used my old Dell, a mug of tea, and a lot of patience. You know what? It surprised me. Someone else had a similar eight-week roller-coaster and wrote about it here.

Why I signed up

I wanted real projects, not just theory. Their pitch was simple: friendly lessons, weekly live calls, and a calm mood. Lofi beats, short tasks, clear goals. I liked that.

Also, I needed structure. Left to myself, I doom-scroll. This gave me dates on a calendar, a roadmap, and a group that nudged me. For a feelings-first breakdown of the onboarding experience, you can read another candid diary of the class here.

Setup felt simple, in a good way

On day one, I got:

• A syllabus PDF and a Google Calendar link
• VS Code install steps (Prettier, Live Server—yes, please)
• A GitHub starter repo and a Replit fallback for folks on Chromebooks
• A Discord invite with channels like #wins, #help, and #portfolio

No fluff. No maze. I hit play and got going. If you’re leaning on browser-based coding, this hands-on take with Replit and Vibe Coding explains the workflow in depth.

If you’re curious about how well-designed internal platforms can streamline learning and collaboration, take a peek at Intranets Today for some eye-opening examples.

Real stuff I built (the fun part)

I learn by doing. They get that. Here’s what I actually made.

• Mood Tracker (Week 1–2)
  I built a small web page with HTML, CSS, and a tiny bit of JavaScript. When I picked “happy” or “tired,” the background changed to a color blend. I saved my mood to localStorage, so it stuck after refresh. Simple, but it felt like magic. My mom used it and said, “This looks like an app.” I’ll take it.

• Weather Snack (Week 3)
  We used fetch to call the OpenWeatherMap API and show temp and a little emoji. I messed up my API key at first. It kept throwing 401. In Discord, Mia (a mentor) pointed out my missing “&units=metric” and an extra space. I laughed. Then it worked. It felt so good to see live data move.

• Guess the Number (Week 4, Python intro)
  Console app. I used a while loop and random. I added a cheeky hint if you guessed off by more than 10. Tiny thing, big smile.

• To-Do App with Drag and Drop (Week 5–6)
  I didn’t think I’d get drag-and-drop. But we built a to-do list where you can reorder tasks and store them in localStorage. One bug: my tasks vanished if I added an empty one. Fixed it with a simple “if (!text.trim()) return;” guard. Felt pro.

• Mini Portfolio (Week 7–8)
  Three projects. A simple about page. A contact form that sends to my email with a free service they linked. I used Figma for a quick wireframe and then matched the look in CSS. It’s not fancy, but it’s mine. I pushed to GitHub and used GitHub Pages to publish.

If you want even more code examples, this guide packed with real snippets walks through additional mini-projects.

How they teach (and the “vibe” part)

There are two live calls each week. Short. Friendly. Not lecture-heavy. Jordan, the main instructor, explains code with small stories. Like, he said a function is “a tiny kitchen.” You pass in ingredients. You get a dish back. That image stuck. Music producer Rick Rubin even gave the method a spin for 30 days—his reflections are worth a read.

The videos are clean and calm. Lofi in the background during build time. This sounds silly, but the sound kept me from stressing. The course felt like a coffee shop study hour, just with more hand-holding.

They also used:

• Cheatsheets for arrays, loops, and async (my fave)
• A “then vs await” quick guide that saved my brain
• Real reviews on your pull requests. Short notes, not harsh

It felt slow at first. Then Week 5 hit and I had to breathe. Arrays and async can punch you. But they paused, re-explained, and gave another short task. That little reset helped.

What bugged me

Not all sunshine. A few things annoyed me.

• The video player had 1.5x speed, but no transcript on day one. Auto-captions only. They added real captions later, but still.
• One quiz had a typo in a loop question. I flagged it; they fixed it the next day.
• The React intro used create-react-app for one lesson. That’s dated. They switched to Vite after feedback, but I had to redo a setup.
• Time zones. Live calls were late for me. Replays worked, but I missed chat energy.

None of this broke the course, but it did slow me down. For a brutally honest, week-long critique, the team at Base44 documented their own hiccups here.

Who it’s for (and who it’s not)

If you’re brand new, this fits. If you like calm lessons and small wins, even better. If you need heavy algorithms or job-prep drills, you’ll want another track on top, like LeetCode or a CS book. This is project-first, not theory-first. If you’re still weighing the general philosophy of “vibe coding,” this industry overview of vibe coding’s benefits and drawbacks can help you decide.

Price and value

I paid $299 on a spring sale. Prices change, so check. You can always see the current tuition listed on the official Udemy course page. For me, it was worth it because I got:

• A small portfolio I can show
• Comfort with VS Code, Git, and GitHub
• A few real-world tasks: APIs, forms, storage
• A habit: 45 minutes, most nights

Could you find free YouTube content? Yes. But I needed structure and feedback. That’s what I paid for.

Little tips I wish I knew sooner

• Use Prettier from day one. Messy code drains you.
• Ask for help early in Discord. Folks are nice and quick.
• Keep a “bug diary.” Note what broke and how you fixed it. Patterns pop.
• Practice fetch with tiny APIs first. Weather, jokes, cats—you pick.
• Do the warm-ups even when you’re tired. It keeps the groove.

One unexpected benefit of scheduling strict 45-minute coding sprints was that my breaks felt earned—and I used them to explore hobbies completely unrelated to code. If you’re looking to spice up your downtime and maybe even practice a little conversational Spanish, you might enjoy browsing a roundup of dating apps that focus on Latina communities: this guide to the best Latina fuck apps lays out which platforms have the most active user bases, strongest location filters, and free-to-use chat features so you can connect quickly and safely.

If you’re based in Oklahoma and prefer a straightforward, Craigslist-style personals board for quick local meet-ups, the Durant area still has an active community—here’s a detailed walkthrough that explains how to create eye-catching posts, navigate safety features, and pinpoint the busiest posting windows so you can maximize responses without eating into your study time.

A tiny taste of the kind of fix I made

My to-do app was losing tasks on reload. I forgot to JSON.parse the saved list. Once I added parse on load and stringify on save, it stuck. Small fix, big win.

Final take

I came for calm and clear. I got that, plus a few real projects. The course isn’t perfect. But it’s kind, steady, and hands-on. I’d call it a solid starter with a friendly feel.

Would I take it again? Yeah—especially if they keep the playlists and keep tightening the lessons. If you want gentle structure and real building, the Vibe Coding Course is a good bet. I walked away less scared of code, and more ready to ship small things. And that’s the whole point, right?

Note: This is a creative first-person story told like a real review. It shares hands-on style details and concrete examples for clarity.

What I built (and why it felt human)

I made a tiny tool called Checkouts in a Day. It’s a simple paywall and customer area for small indie sites. Think: a one-page checkout, a receipt email, and a private page that customers can reach after paying. I wanted warm copy, calm colors, and a flow that didn’t yell at folks. A lovable vibe, even when money is on the line.

I coded fast, but I didn’t rush. Soft edges. Clear words. Fewer clicks. That was the goal.
If you’d like the expanded back-story on how I actually kept a lovable vibe while coding for revenue, I broke it all down in a separate deep-dive.

The stack that did the heavy lifting

• GitHub Copilot for code help (snippets, tests, tiny fixes)
• Next.js 14 with the App Router
• Stripe for payments and subscriptions
• Supabase for auth and a small Postgres table
• Vercel for hosting
• Postmark for email

Yes, that’s a lot of names. But they play nice together. And when tools play nice, the vibe stays kind.
While sketching the very first prototype inside Replit, I logged every hiccup; those field notes turned into a hands-on Replit vibe-coding review if you’re curious.

If you're curious how internal teams craft equally seamless experiences behind the scenes, I recommend browsing the case studies over at Intranets Today.

Setup, in plain talk

Here’s the flow:

• A user lands on /pay.
• They pick a plan: Starter $9/month, Team $19/month.
• Stripe pops a clean checkout page.
• On success, my app stores the Stripe customer ID in Postgres.
• A welcome email goes out with a link to /account.
• The account page shows receipts, plan, and a big “need help?” button.

I kept the copy short. “Thanks for being here.” “Need a hand?” Real words. No fluff. It matters.
For a broader look at how a month-long experiment with paid “vibe-coding” gigs actually felt, check out this candid 30-day field report.

Real examples from my build

I’ll share the exact bumps and wins. Numbers and all.

1. Stripe checkout session bug

• Problem: First try threw “No such price” in logs.
• Cause: I used price_abc in dev and price_xyz in prod. Whoops.
• Fix: I moved price IDs to env vars: STRIPE_PRICE_STARTER and STRIPE_PRICE_TEAM.
• Result: Success rate on checkout went from 87% to 98% that day. The last 2% was folks who dropped off.

2. A tiny copy tweak that paid off

• Old button: “Proceed to Payment”
• New button: “Pay $9 — cancel anytime”
• Change: 7 words.
• Result: Conversion on /pay rose from 2.1% to 3.4% over 2,302 visits in 9 days. Same traffic sources. Same price.

3. Refund path that calmed people down

• I added a “Get a refund” link to the receipt email. It opened a pre-filled form.
• Before: 6 back-and-forth emails on average.
• After: 1 email or none.
• Result: Churn stayed steady, but angry mail dropped by half. And you could feel the tension fade.

4. Speed makes trust

• Largest Contentful Paint: 2.9s → 1.8s after I:
  • Split out Stripe SDK load to after user action
  • Put hero image on a lighter JPG
• People don’t say “thanks for fast.” They just buy. Or at least, they complain less.
  If you’re wondering how other frameworks like Bolt stack up speed-wise when you’re chasing the same gentle vibe, my hands-on Bolt review digs into the quirks and quick wins.

5. A/B test that surprised me

• Headline A: “Start fast. Sell today.”
• Headline B: “A gentle way to get paid.”
• Winner: B by a hair. +0.6% checkout start rate. Not huge, but it fit the brand. It felt like me.

6. Early revenue, week by week

• Week 1: $124 MRR (9 Starter, 1 Team)
• Week 2: $297 MRR (16 Starter, 6 Team)
• Week 3: $431 MRR (22 Starter, 10 Team)
• Refunds: 3 in total, all polite. One person wrote, “Loved it, not the right time.” That email made my day.

7. Support that kept the vibe

• I used a shared inbox tag “first 24h.”
• Goal: reply within 1 hour if I’m awake.
• Result: 83% of folks got help in 45 minutes. No scripts. Just clear steps and screenshots.

Was the coding vibe lovable?

Mostly, yes.

• Copilot saved me about 30% time on boring bits. It wrote the first draft of a Stripe webhook handler. I still edited it, of course.
• Stripe stayed boring and solid. Webhooks can be fussy, but once the secret was set, it was fine.
• Supabase auth was smooth. I liked that I could see rows live and fix a typo fast.

You know what threw me? Emails. DNS and domain records can feel like a puzzle. Postmark was stable once set, but getting DKIM and SPF right took me two tries. I wrote myself a checklist so I’d never forget again.

What I loved

• Gentle copy lifted revenue more than fancy code did.
• Clear refund path cooled folks down.
• One clean account page beat three busy ones.
• Small logs with real words (“No such price — check env”) beat walls of stack traces.

What bugged me

• Webhook retries stacked up during a short outage. I had to add idempotency keys to be safe.
• Stripe test cards are great, but Apple Pay in the test mode felt clunky on my phone.
• I hit a rate limit on Supabase once because I forgot to batch a job. My fault, but it hurt.

Quick tips if you want the same calm feel

• Put price IDs in env vars. Label them like a human would.
• Say the price on the button. It builds trust fast.
• Keep a single “Help” button on the account page. Don’t hide it.
• Add a refund link in the receipt email. It saves time for both sides.
• Cache the product list. Don’t fetch it every load; you’re not a slot machine.
  I distilled even more takeaways after wrapping up an **8-week vibe-coding course**—worth a skim if you want the longer arc.

Even outside the SaaS bubble, the same low-friction, trust-first mindset shows up in consumer spaces where people decide in seconds whether to stick around. A good example is the casual-dating arena—platforms here live or die by how quickly they move a curious visitor into a safe, private chat. One such app, SnapFuck, strips the sign-up flow down to just a few taps and leans on playful copy to keep things comfortable, making it a handy case study in how clean UX fuels engagement.
If you’re curious how a location-based personals board applies the same “friction-light, trust-heavy” principles for daters in Ohio, the Doublelist Sandusky breakdown digs into the micro-optimizations that keep locals posting and replying with minimal hassle, offering inspiration for anyone designing breezy onboarding flows for hyper-local audiences.

Who this fits

• Indie devs who want clean money flow without stress.
• Tiny teams who need fast checkout and a friendly tone.
• Makers who believe good words beat loud ads.

If you want wild growth charts, you won’t like this. If you want steady, kind revenue, this is your lane.

Final word

I cared about the feel as much as the funds. Coding can be sharp and cold. Money can be, too. But when the tone is warm, people breathe. They click. They stay.
And if you’d rather peek at what a full vibe-coding class feels like day-by-day, here’s a candid class diary that pulls no punches.

So yes—lovable vibe, coding, revenue. All three can sit at the same table. And when they do, the

Quick outline

• What I used and why
• Real prompts and fixes Claude gave me
• What worked, what broke, and my final take

Why I even tried this

I like fast web backends. I also like trying weird stacks on quiet Sundays. So I spent a week building a tiny API with vibe.d (the D language web framework) while pairing with Claude. (Quick sidebar: the framework lives on its official site, and Claude itself is built by the team at Anthropic.) Coffee, lo-fi beats, and way too many sticky notes. You know what? It felt good.
If you want an expanded journal of that exact seven-day sprint, check out my blow-by-blow week in the trenches write-up.

I’ll be straight. I thought Claude would choke on D. It didn’t. Well… not always.

My setup (nothing fancy)

• MacBook Air M2
• DMD and DUB installed
• A fresh folder named vibe-play
• Claude Desktop on Mac (for chat and Artifacts)
• Terminal and VS Code (standard theme because my eyes needed mercy)

What I built, for real

I made a tiny JSON API with one route, then added another route with a query param, and a super small HTML page.

Here’s the first server Claude helped me shape:

import vibe.core.core;
import vibe.http.server;
import vibe.http.router;
import vibe.data.json;

void hello(HTTPServerRequest req, HTTPServerResponse res) {
    res.writeJsonBody(["message": "hi"]);
}

void main() {
    auto router = new URLRouter;
    router.get("/hello", &hello);

    auto settings = new HTTPServerSettings;
    settings.port = 8080;

    listenHTTP(settings, router);
    runApplication();
}

My DUB file looked like this:

{
  "name": "vibe-play",
  "targetType": "executable",
  "dependencies": {
    "vibe-d": "*"
  }
}

Run steps I used:

• dub init vibe-play vibe.d
• dub run

Then I hit it:

• curl http://localhost:8080/hello
• Response: {"message":"hi"}

Fist pump moment. Small, but still.

Next, I asked Claude for a route with a greeting. It gave me this, and it worked:

router.get("/greet", (req, res) {
    auto name = req.query.get("name", "friend");
    res.writeJsonBody(["greet": "hey " ~ name]);
});

curl "http://localhost:8080/greet?name=Kayla" gave me {"greet":"hey Kayla"}. Cute.

Real prompts I used (and what I got back)

• Me: “I’m getting module not found: vibe.http.router.”

  • Claude: “Add vibe-d to DUB and run dub. Also check import paths.” It even showed the exact import lines to keep.

• Me: “Server starts, but nothing responds. It just hangs.”

  • Claude: “You likely skipped runApplication(). Add it after listenHTTP.” Yep. That was it.

• Me: “JSON looks weird. How do I return a clean body?”

  • Claude: “Use res.writeJsonBody and pass an associative array.” That fixed my messy string output.

• Me: “I need a tiny HTML test page.”

  • Claude used Artifacts to render a quick static page. I copied it into index.html and tested it in the browser. The page looked simple and clean.

Here’s the tiny page it gave me:

<!doctype html>
<html>
  <body>
    <h1>Test Page</h1>
    <button id="btn">Say hi</button>
    <pre id="out"></pre>
    <script>
      document.getElementById('btn').onclick = async () => {
        const res = await fetch('http://localhost:8080/hello');
        document.getElementById('out').textContent = await res.text();
      };
    </script>
  </body>
</html>

I opened it, tapped the button, and saw the JSON. Simple joy.
There’s also a longer breakdown with copied-and-pasted snippets in this hands-on vibe coding guide.

The wins (and they felt real)

• Fast fixes for DUB and imports. I pasted errors. Claude gave short steps. Not walls of text.
• Clean route examples. The code ran. No magic, just solid patterns.
• Gentle refs to gotchas. It reminded me to call runApplication() more than once.
• Good at “small ask, small answer.” I kept prompts short. Claude kept replies tight.

For an even deeper dive into the small tooling tricks that actually keep you in flow, my personal take is collected over here.

The rough parts (still worth it)

• Old API names sneaked in. Once, it suggested a call that vibe.d changed ages ago. I pointed out the compile error. Claude corrected itself fast.
• Guessy version advice. It tried to suggest a specific vibe-d version. My fix? I asked for “latest stable via DUB” instead. That kept it clean.
• State confusion. Over a long chat, it forgot a minor choice I made. I moved that choice into the prompt each time. Problem solved.

Keeping that lovable vibe while still shipping code is harder than it looks—this short reflection captures the tension pretty well.

Day-to-day feel

It felt like pairing with a calm junior dev who reads docs faster than me. I still drove. Claude watched the road. It flagged things I missed, and it wrote decent first drafts.

While we were jotting helper functions named sugarWrap() (pure syntactic sugar, pun fully intended), a teammate jokingly asked if I’d ever looked into how the word “sugar” shows up in non-coding contexts. That curiosity detour led me to this clear, legal-minded explainer on whether modern “sugar” arrangements cross any red lines: Is Being a Sugar Baby Illegal? — the piece walks through state-by-state rules, common myths, and practical considerations, so you can satisfy your etymology itch without falling down an endless search-engine rabbit hole. On a related tangent, I needed a real-world set of user-generated listings to stress-test my JSON parsing; checking how modern personals boards lay out their posts was perfect research, and the Doublelist feed for North Carolina’s Gastonia area made a surprisingly tidy case study: Doublelist Gastonia page — skimming it lets you see live listing titles, timestamps, and anti-spam conventions in action, giving you a ready-made data pattern you can mimic for mock APIs or sample datasets.

A few tips that helped me

• Keep prompts short and clear. “Add a /greet route with a name param.”
• Paste the exact error. Don’t paraphrase.
• Ask for “run steps” after big changes.
• Save the working snippet in a note. Copy/paste beats memory.
• When Claude guesses, ask it to “use current docs” or “stick to vibe.d stable patterns.”

Final take

Would I use Claude again for vibe.d work? Yep. It made the small stuff easy, and it kept me moving. It’s not perfect. It pulled an old import once. It also rambled when I asked open questions.

But for hands-on coding, the vibe was right. Light, fast, and helpful. I also compared notes with an earlier class write-up on how it actually felt, which you can skim right here.

Note: This is a fictional first-person review for creative purposes.

You know what? Mood matters when I code. If the vibe feels right, I get in flow. If it feels off, I get stuck. So I built a little setup that helps me think, move fast, and feel calm. Here’s what I use, how I use it, and where it gets weird. I’m hardly alone in chasing that flow—here’s my take on what actually keeps me there if you want the philosophy before the gear.

(For a deeper dive into the philosophy behind these picks, I unpack them step-by-step in this full field report.)

My main editor: VS Code, dressed just right

I keep coming back to VS Code. It’s steady, and it feels like home. Every so often I fire up a browser IDE to compare speeds, and this hands-on with Replit’s vibe-coding mode captures pretty much how that experiment usually feels.

• Theme: Tokyo Night Storm
• Font: JetBrains Mono (with ligatures)

On a real weeknight, I worked on a Next.js app. TypeScript, Tailwind, the usual soup. I tossed in these extensions:

• Prettier
• ESLint
• Tailwind CSS IntelliSense
• GitLens
• Error Lens
• Material Icon Theme
• Peacock (so each project gets its own color—silly but helpful)

One tiny win: I had a tricky regex for dates. I wrote a small comment, and GitHub Copilot filled it in. I still checked it by hand. But it saved me ten minutes and a headache.

What I love:

• Snappy search
• Easy extensions
• Peek view for quick reads

What bugs me:

• Can feel heavy with too many add-ons
• The settings rabbit hole eats time

When I want speed: Zed for clean, quiet focus

Zed feels like a fresh notebook. It’s fast and plain. I used it for a small Rust CLI I made to batch rename photos. LSP was quick, and the inline hints felt light. It doesn’t have every plugin, and that’s the point on days I want less.

What I love:

• Fast on big files
• Calm UI
• Great for pair work

What bugs me:

• Fewer extensions
• Still catching up on little features

AI buddy: Cursor for deep refactors

Cursor looks like VS Code but with chat that sits next to your code. If you’d prefer a broader primer before you dive into the AI side of things, this guide walks through real snippets step-by-step. I asked it to refactor a gnarly React form. It split the logic, named things better, and even left notes. I still rewrote bits. But it got me past the “ugh” part.

Curious how another large-language-model teammate compares? I logged a week of trench work with Claude and jotted the messy details in this diary.

What I love:

• Strong refactor help
• Good at code comments
• Keeps me moving

What bugs me:

• You need to watch privacy settings
• Sometimes it explains with too many words

Terminal with a pulse: Warp for blocks; iTerm2 for old-school panes

I bounce between these two on Mac. I once tried strapping a totally different shell onto my workflow, and Bolt’s vibe coding experiment taught me a few tricks I carried back here.

• Warp: I like the command blocks. I can copy one chunk and send it to a teammate. The inline AI is fine for quick flags I forget. I used it to ship a hotfix and could scroll blocks to see my path.

• iTerm2: I split panes like a mad chef. Top left for logs, top right for tests, bottom for git. Catppuccin Mocha theme, because yes, theme joy matters too.

CLI toys I keep:

• zsh + Starship prompt
• zoxide for “jump to folder fast”
• fzf for fuzzy search
• ripgrep (rg) to find strings in a flash
• bat for pretty file reads
• eza instead of ls (nicer output)
• delta for clean git diffs
• lazygit when I’m tired of typing full git commands

What I love:

• Warp’s block history makes bugs easier
• iTerm2 splits help me “see the song” of my process
• rg + fzf feels like magic

What bugs me:

• Warp can feel busy if I don’t slow down
• iTerm2 setups break when I sync laptops

Sound and focus: calm brain, steady hands

I’ll be honest. Noise shapes my code brain. For a peek at the exact apps that live in my headphones during a typical sprint, this day-in-the-can write-up breaks it down hour by hour.

• Brain.fm for a focus session
• LoFi Girl when it’s late and the street is quiet
• Dark Noise rain when Slack gets loud
• Sony WH-1000XM5 for noise cancel

I use a 50/10 timer with Be Focused. I tried 25/5 but felt rushed. Fifty minutes feels like one strong sprint. Ten minutes to breathe and stretch. During those ten-minute breathers I’ll sometimes peek at a local bulletin for humans instead of code—say, the laid-back meetup threads on Doublelist Grand Island which makes it ridiculously easy to line up a post-work coffee or find a trivia buddy without wading through the noise of bigger social networks.

What I love:

• Lower stress, fewer mistakes
• Timers keep me kind to myself

What bugs me:

• Brain.fm can feel same-y after hours
• Timers beep at the worst moment sometimes

Light and keys: the desk also codes

This part is simple, but it counts.

• Philips Hue “Arctic Aurora” scene at night
• Keychron K6 with Gateron Browns, PBT caps
• Logitech MX Master 3S (thumb wheel is life)

I write better when the light is cool and the keys are soft. Warm light makes me sleepy. Wild, right? I even flirted with a more design-centric spin recently—here’s how a month of Figma-first vibe coding felt.

Little helpers that save my day

• Raycast: I trigger scripts, open repos, and toggle lights. I even have a tiny script to start my dev server and open logs.
• Obsidian: daily notes, code snippets, and quick “gotchas.” I tag them by stack.
• CleanShot X: bug screenshots with arrows and blur. I record a tiny GIF for repro. No one reads long bug notes. A GIF? They get it.
• Arc Browser: split view with docs on one side and a staging tab on the other. Saves me alt-tab time.

What I love:

• Raycast feels like a command center
• Obsidian search is instant
• CleanShot X keeps bugs visual

What bugs me:

• Arc can eat memory on big days
• My Obsidian tags get messy if I rush

A real day: bug hunt story

I had a Next.js page that froze on back button. Classic. I ran dev in Warp, split a pane with logs, then searched with ripgrep for “router.back”. Found a custom hook that blocked history. In VS Code, GitLens showed who last touched it (hi, past me). I rewrote the hook with Cursor’s help, then wrote a Jest test Copilot suggested. CleanShot X made a short GIF of the fix. I pushed with lazygit. Timer buzzed. I took a walk. The fix held.

It wasn’t perfect. I tweaked the test twice. But the flow felt smooth. The tools got out of the way. That whole chase reminded me of the rough edges I hit during my trial of Base44; this candid week-long log shows the warts and wins if you’re curious.

Side note: when I’m in full detective mode, I sometimes spin up a throwaway branch just to break things on purpose and learn what really snaps. If that “chaotic-good” style of sandboxing sounds like your jam, the cheeky guide at Fuck Around and Not Get Caught lays out practical tactics for experimenting boldly without torpedoing production or your reputation.

My quick picks by mood

• Need calm: Zed + rain in Dark Noise + Hue cool light
• Need speed: VS Code + ripgrep +

I’m Kayla, and yes, I really use Cursor every day. I code front-end stuff for work and for fun. And lately, I’ve been “vibe coding” with it. Sounds silly, right? It’s not. It’s fast. It’s messy. It’s kind of fun.
(For the blow-by-blow of my very first session, see my article: I Tried Vibe Coding in Cursor—Here’s What Actually Happened.)

Let me explain.

What I mean by “vibe coding”

I keep my logic. I keep my layout. I ask Cursor (Cursor) to change the feel. The vibe. I type a plain note like, “Make this button feel cozy, like a cafe,” and it tweaks Tailwind classes (Tailwind CSS), copy tone, spacing, and color. Not perfect. But often close.

I press Cmd+K on Mac, select code, and give a short prompt. Cursor shows a diff. I accept or tweak. That loop is the magic.

You know what? It feels like telling a friend, “Make it softer,” and they just… get it.

Real example: Cozy cafe navbar

I had a bland Next.js navbar with Tailwind. Gray on gray. Boring.

My prompt:
“Cozy cafe vibe. Warm browns, soft cream, rounded corners, small shadow. Tailwind only. Don’t change links.”

Cursor changed classes like this, and the diff made sense:

• From: bg-gray-50 text-gray-800 border-b border-gray-200
• To: bg-amber-50 text-stone-800 border-b border-amber-200 rounded-b-xl shadow-sm

It also bumped spacing from px-4 to px-6 and set hover to hover:bg-amber-100 with transition ease-out duration-200. It even suggested font-semibold for the active link. Not bad at all. I kept it.

Real example: “Spring picnic” cards

I had three product cards. I asked:
“Spring picnic vibe: mint, cream, raspberry accents. High contrast. No neon. Keep structure.”

It swapped:

• slate colors → emerald-100, emerald-500 accents
• harsh shadows → shadow-md with shadow-emerald-200/50
• square corners → rounded-2xl
• bland CTA → “Add to basket” (cute but still clear)

It went a bit heavy on rounded-full in badges, so I pulled it back to rounded-md. Two clicks. Done.

Real example: Empty state copy, but gentle

I had a dry empty state:
“No results.”

Prompt:
“Sound warm and helpful. Like Duolingo, but not childish. One line.”

Cursor suggested:
“Nothing here yet—try a different filter or add a new one.”

I liked it. It also nudged the text to text-stone-600 and the icon to text-stone-400. Calm, not sad.

When it got weird (and how I fixed it)

• Tailwind soup: It stacked too many classes. I said, “Limit to 10 classes per element. No inline styles.” That helped.
• Wrong tokens: It guessed a font var that didn’t exist. I pinned it with, “Use only Tailwind colors. No custom vars.”
• Over-eager: It tried to rename props. I added, “Don’t change props or types.” It listened.
• Color contrast: It made mint-on-cream that failed WCAG. I told it, “Meet AA contrast,” and it picked emerald-700. Much better.
• Imports: One time it added a font import I don’t use. I rejected that chunk in the diff. Easy.

My quick workflow

• I circle one component.
• I press Cmd+K.
• I give a two-line vibe prompt with guardrails.
• I review the diff. Accept or nudge.
• I hit Cmd+K again with a short follow-up like, “Less rounded. Keep colors.”

Short, tight loops. Feels great.

For a broader look at how small UX tweaks snowball into big usability wins, check out Intranets Today.

For a deeper, code-heavy walkthrough, grab The Vibe Coding Guide—My Hands-On Take with Real Snippets.

Prompts that worked best for me

• “Cozy cafe vibe. Warm browns and cream. Tailwind only. Don’t change structure.”
• “Playful but grown-up. Duolingo energy, not childish. One-line copy.”
• “Spring picnic palette: mint, cream, raspberry accents. High contrast. No neon.”
• “Only adjust styling. No logic changes. Keep props and types.”
• “AA contrast at least. 10 Tailwind classes max per element.”

Want to peek at the gear I lean on the most? I broke down my favorites in The Best Vibe Coding Tools I Actually Use.

What I love

• Speed: I can test a mood in 30 seconds.
• The diff view: I keep control. No mystery.
• Writing style shifts: Tone changes are spot on.
• Little polish: Transitions, shadows, and spacing get nice fast.

I didn’t expect it, but I use it like a quick art director. It sets a mood. I refine.

What bugged me

• It sometimes over-styles. Too many classes.
• It can guess fonts you don’t have.
• It may rewrite variable names if you don’t set rules.
• Contrast checks need a push unless you ask.

Not deal-breakers, but you should set guardrails.

Where it shines

• Hackathon fronts
• Marketing pages
• Empty states and microcopy
• Onboarding screens
• Theme switching (light to “moody dusk” was fun)

Speaking of interfaces that absolutely live or die by their vibe, dating and hookup apps are an extreme case study. They have to communicate excitement, trust, and intent in just a few seconds. A niche, high-energy example is Fuck Asians – Best Asian Hookup Apps where you can observe how bold color palettes, concise microcopy, and attention-grabbing CTAs work together to drive rapid engagement. Even if romance isn’t your product space, dissecting those patterns can spark transferable ideas for persuasive UI and onboarding flows in any domain. For a contrasting, hyper-local spin, check out the streamlined classifieds style of Doublelist Elko to see how minimal UI, straightforward search filters, and location-based messaging lower friction for users looking to arrange quick meet-ups in a specific city.

If you’re a Replit fan, you might enjoy my separate write-up, Replit Vibe Coding—My Take, Hands On.

Where I still go manual

• Pixel-perfect brand work
• Design systems with strict tokens
• Complex layouts with many breakpoints

Cursor can help, but I need tight control there.

A small surprise

I asked for an October “spooky” vibe, but only in copy. Cursor gave me:
“Boo—no results roaming here. Try another path?”
Cheeky. I toned it down to:
“No results found. Try a new filter.”
It listened and kept the layout clean. Nice balance.

Wish list

• A slider for “how strong is the vibe?”
• Built-in AA/AAA contrast checks
• A way to lock brand tokens so it never strays

My take

Vibe coding in Cursor stays in my toolkit. It’s like having a fast stylist who knows Tailwind and reads the room. Not magic. But it saves me from staring at a gray box for an hour.

Score? 8/10 for daily front-end work. Higher if you love quick mood shifts.
If you care about how these tools fit into long, focused flow states, I unpack all of that in My Take on Vibe Coding Tools—What Actually Keeps Me in Flow.

Tiny tips before you try it

• Say the vibe, the rules, and what not to change.
• Keep prompts short. Two lines win.
• Ask for contrast. It matters.
• Limit class count.
• Accept the diff, then do a small follow-up pass.

If you enjoy that feeling of, “Hmm, make it softer,” this will click. I didn’t think I’d like it. Now I use it every week.

Hi, I’m Kayla. I write code late at night with lofi on, cat asleep, and a mug of mint tea. I want tools that feel like a chill pair-programmer. Not a drill sergeant. So I’ve tried a bunch of AI tools for what I call “vibe coding.” You know—flow, small nudges, fewer tabs, more focus.

Here’s what actually worked for me, with real stuff I built.

For a quick reference, I’ve parked my running cheatsheet of these tools and prompt tricks on Intranets Today. If you’re just after the shortlist of what’s on my daily roster, I keep an up-to-date roundup of the vibe-coding tools I actually rely on right here.

My Setup, So You Know Where I’m Coming From

• Machines: ThinkPad X1 (Linux), MacBook Air (M2)
• Editors: Cursor, VS Code, and a little Neovim
• Stacks I use a lot: Next.js/React, Python (FastAPI), Node, a tiny bit of Go
• Work mix: side projects, small client apps, and weird little UI toys

I care about speed, context, and tone. If the AI sounds like a robot manager, I’m out.

---

Cursor: The Best “Flow State” Editor

If you want smooth, this is it. Cursor feels like VS Code with a brain and good manners. The inline “edit this part” tools are the star.

Real example:

• I built a small Next.js weather widget in 40 minutes. I pasted my rough HTML with Tailwind classes and said, “Make this mobile-first, keep the glassy look, reuse my colors.” Cursor rewrote the layout, fixed my janky spacing, and added a neat loading shimmer. I clicked “Accept,” then “Oops, too bright—tone it down.” It adjusted again. No tab dance.

What I love:

• Context is sticky. It “remembers” the file vibe.
• Multi-file edits feel safe. It shows diffs I can scan fast.
• Good at Tailwind, React, and small refactors.

Where it trips:

• It will sometimes loop on long changes and edit the same block twice.
• If you’re offline, you feel it.
• It can be too confident on libs it “thinks” I use.

Vibe score: 9/10. It stays out of my way and keeps me in flow.

---

GitHub Copilot Chat: Great Autocomplete, Solid Fixes

Copilot feels like a quiet teammate who finishes your sentences and explains errors if you ask.

Real example:

• I wrote a tiny Go CLI to call the Stripe API. Copilot filled flags, error wraps, and even the basic request code. When I hit a 403, I pasted the log into Chat. It said, “You used the test key; the route needs live or a mock.” Facepalm. Fixed in two minutes.

What I love:

• The inline ghost text is fast and usually right for small stuff.
• Good at test stubs and boring glue code.
• Chat is helpful for error messages and quick docs reads.

Limits:

• Can be generic on tricky logic.
• Rate limits hit at odd times for me.
• Sometimes it repeats advice I already tried.

Vibe score: 8/10. Autocomplete king. Less artsy, more practical.

---

Windsurf (by Codeium): Big Plans, Big Changes

Windsurf is bold. It proposes a plan, then touches many files at once. Great when I want structure. (If you want another perspective on a similarly “all-in” editor, I spent a weekend with Bolt and wrote a hands-on review over here.)

Real example:

• I had a Bash script that cleaned CSVs. I asked, “Turn this into a Node tool with a config file and tests.” Windsurf made a plan, built a CLI with yargs, set up Jest, and added a sample config. I did one pass and shipped it the same night.

What I love:

• Project-wide awareness. It treats the repo like a whole story.
• The plan view calms me. I see the path before changes land.

Limits:

• On my MacBook Air, fans spin. It can feel heavy.
• It sometimes over-engineers. Not every script needs a factory pattern.
• On Windows, I had some path weirdness with test runs.

Vibe score: 7.5/10. Best when I want “adult supervision” on a messy repo.

---

Claude 3.5 Sonnet: Calm Brain for Tough Stuff

I use Claude in the browser and with Aider in the terminal for diff-based edits. It reads long files like a champ and keeps a gentle tone I like. (I kept a full week-in-the-trenches diary with Claude that you can read here.)

Real examples:

• I pasted a 400-line React component and said, “Make it smaller and keep button logic the same.” It split it into three clean parts and added nice comments.
• I also asked for a spicy headline style for a landing page. It kept my brand voice, but less cringe. That balance is hard.

What I love:

• Long context, clear reasoning, readable refactors.
• Great at naming and error phrasing. Like a kind editor.

Limits:

• Slower on giant codebase chats.
• It won’t run my code, so I still test everything.

Vibe score: 8.5/10. My “thinky” buddy. Pairs well with Cursor.

---

Replit Ghostwriter: Fast Browser Builds

When I want to make a toy and share it fast, Ghostwriter is simple. (My deeper hands-on take is here.)

Real example:

• I built a little CSS glitch art page for my portfolio. I said, “Give me a neon glitch hero with click to distort.” In five minutes, I had a live link. I tweaked colors in the same tab. Sent it to a friend right away.

What I love:

• No setup, quick deploy, fun for experiments.

Limits:

• You live in Replit’s world. Feels tight for bigger work.
• Not my pick for private client code.

Vibe score: 7/10. Great for playful bursts.

---

Continue + Local Models: Quiet, Private, Good Enough

Continue.dev in VS Code lets me point at local or hosted models. I use a lightweight Llama model when I’m on a train with spotty Wi-Fi. (I also tried Base44 for a week—warts and all—and wrote up that adventure here.)

Real example:

• I set the style to “friendly, short answers, code-first.” I asked for a Jest test for a file upload helper. It wrote a decent test. Not genius, but good enough—and offline.

What I love:

• Privacy and control. It feels calm.
• You can swap models by mood or hardware.

Limits:

• Local models miss hard logic.
• You need to tune prompts more.

Vibe score: 6.5/10. I like it for quiet days and travel.

---

A Quick Day in the Life: Three Wins, One Mess

• Morning: Cursor helped me fix a flaky Jest test with a race condition. I typed, “Make this wait for the mock server to settle.” It rewrote the await logic. Test went green.
• Lunch break: Claude rewrote a gnarly regex into two small helpers with names I’m not ashamed of. I could breathe again.
• Evening: Copilot autocomplete filled 80% of a FastAPI endpoint and the pydantic model. I wrote the edge case by hand. Flow felt smooth.
• And the mess: Windsurf made a plan that added a layer I did not need. I rolled it back and asked for “simpler, keep files flat.” The second plan was perfect. So yeah, be firm with it.

If you’re curious what happens when you hand the steering wheel to an AI entirely—as a so-called “AI CEO” for a week—I chronicled that chaotic experiment here.

---

Settings and Prompts That Keep the Vibe

• In Cursor: I keep suggestions short and turn on “preview diffs.” I often say, “Small change, no new deps.” That phrase saves me.
• With Claude: I set the tone—“Be concise, keep naming plain, explain once.” It listens.
• With Copilot: I accept small chunks, then test. Nudge, test, repeat. That rhythm works.

Little prompt I use a lot:

• “Keep style, reduce lines by 20%, no behavior change.”
• “Explain the bug in one sentence, then show the patch.”

---

Before I wrap, a quick side note on energy: marathon coding sessions can tank your focus if your body’s running on fumes. I’ve been poking around resources on how hormones play into sustained mental performance, and one rabbit hole led me to this thorough [

Hi, I’m Kayla. I build apps, themes, and odd little toys on my desk. Lately, I’ve been using something folks call “vibe coding.” It sounds silly. It’s not. It helped me ship cleaner work, faster, with less stress.

Industry watchers have weighed in too—TechRadar describes vibe coding as an AI-assisted way to generate and iterate on code rapidly while warning about the debugging and security trade-offs involved (TechRadar).

Need the formal definition? What Is Vibe Coding? gives the quick rundown.

You know what? It also made my code feel like music. Weird, right? Let me explain.

Producer Rick Rubin’s own creativity rituals even nudged me into a 30-day vibe-coding sprint—so yes, the music metaphor runs deep.

So… what is vibe coding?

Vibe coding is feel-first coding. You shape the mood first, then the logic. It’s like picking the playlist before you start a road trip. The code still has rules. But the flow sets the rules in a way your eyes, ears, and brain enjoy.

The name itself only took off recently—Andrej Karpathy popularized the term in early 2025, a bit of history captured neatly on Wikipedia.

In practice, I watch how the app breathes. I look at rhythm in the UI. I match colors to the task. I tune animation timing like drum hits. I keep naming simple so my mind can hum along. It’s still engineering. It just keeps human energy in the loop.

I used:

• VS Code with a calm theme (One Light, most days)
• Prettier for steady code rhythm
• Tailwind CSS for quick style changes
• Framer Motion for soft motion
• Figma for color tests
• p5.js and Tone.js for tiny visual and audio cues
• Sonic Pi for live music sketches
• Node-RED for home office signals

For a deeper, code-heavy walkthrough, check out the Vibe Coding Guide with real snippets.

How I used it this week (real examples)

1) A Pomodoro timer that breathes with me

I built a small web timer for 25/5 work sprints. I added a slow “inhale/exhale” ring using Framer Motion. The ring grows for 4 seconds and falls for 4. Color shifts from a foggy blue to a mellow green near the end. No harsh red. My heart rate (from my Apple Watch) even felt steadier.

Did it help? I wrote a blog post draft in two sprints, with no doom-scrolling in between. That’s a win.

Tech mix: React, Framer Motion, Tailwind. I set easing curves to easeInOut for a soft feel. Hex picks: #8FBFE0 (start), #8CE1A8 (finish). Simple names like ringGrow and ringFade kept me sane.

2) A Shopify product page that feels like a shop, not a spreadsheet

I tweaked a client’s product page. The copy went friendlier. The images got a slight delay on hover, so they don’t jump at you. I added a shimmer loader that looks like light on fabric.

Numbers after two weeks:

• LCP fell to 1.8s (from 2.4s)
• Bounce rate down 12%
• Add-to-cart up 8%

Was it only the vibe? No. I also cut an extra script and trimmed images. But the feel changes kept folks around long enough to load the good stuff.

3) My desk lights now tell me if I should talk or not

I work from home. I wired a tiny LED strip under my shelf with a Raspberry Pi. Node-RED checks my Google Calendar. If I’m in a meeting, lights go warm amber. Heads-down mode? Deep blue. Break time? Soft coral. It sounds cute. It is. But it stopped the “are you free?” taps from my partner.

Small thing, big calm.

4) A live sketch: code, beats, and shapes

At a local meetup, I ran Sonic Pi for a simple lofi beat. Then I linked p5.js visuals to the beat count. Circles pulsed to the kick. Lines swayed to the hi-hat. Folks smiled. No big stage. Just a laptop and a projector. And yes, I pushed the code to GitHub later with tidy names and notes.

Vibe here wasn’t fluff. It was timing plus clarity.

Where vibe coding shines

• Focus sticks. My brain doesn’t fight the UI. It glides.
• Naming gets cleaner. If the mood is calm, names get short and clear.
• Onboarding feels gentle. Users stay longer.
• Debugging gets faster. Rhythm makes odd spikes stand out.
• Team talks improve. We can point to “pace,” not just pixels.

When you push vibe coding into real-time or intimacy-focused chat products, subtle consent cues and privacy hints become even more critical. Designers of adult-friendly conversation platforms often study how users negotiate tone, emoji use, and anonymity norms—the deep-dive over at Sexting Forums guide illustrates these community patterns and shares moderation strategies and interface tips you can borrow to keep your own chat UI respectful and engaging.

For instance, if you’re prototyping a location-based matchmaking or casual-meetup feature, spend five minutes studying how a live classifieds board structures its calls to action—Doublelist’s Bonita Springs section provides a real-world template of minimal UI, clear consent cues, and quick post creation that can inspire your vibe-coding decisions.

Where it trips up

• You can polish past the goal. Pretty is not the goal. Useful is the goal.
• Some teams may roll their eyes. Show small wins. Keep it real.
• Motion can hurt folks. Use “prefers-reduced-motion.” Keep color contrast high.
• Hard stops still matter. Time-box the vibe pass. Then ship.

My small recipe

Here’s how I run a vibe pass without getting lost:

1. Pick one mood word. Calm, crisp, or bold.
2. Set a 30-minute timer.
3. Tune three things only: color, spacing, and motion.
4. Name things like you talk. Not like a robot.
5. Cut one feature or line. Lightness is part of the vibe.
6. Ask two users one question: “How does this feel to use?”

If I have more time, I check sound cues, empty states, and microcopy.

Tools I leaned on (simple stack)

• VS Code + Prettier
• Tailwind CSS
• Framer Motion
• Figma
• p5.js / Tone.js
• Sonic Pi
• Node-RED + Raspberry Pi
• Lighthouse for speed checks
• Axe for accessibility checks

Need a gear checklist? Here are the best vibe-coding tools I actually use.

I also put the approach through its paces inside Cursor—here’s exactly what happened when I tried.

Bonus tip: I sometimes browse inspiration pieces on Intranets Today to see how larger teams weave these vibe principles into their internal tools.

Is it just design fluff?

No. I used vibe coding in back-end code too. I shaped logs like short, clear sentences. I grouped tasks in tidy bursts. I wrote cron jobs that batch on calm hours, so alerts don’t ping at 9 a.m. Mondays. The “feel” here is mental load. If my future self smiles when reading the logs, I did it right.

Who should try it?

• Front-end folks who ship UI all day
• Product teams who want less churn and more flow
• Teachers showing code to kids (they get this fast)
• Streamers who build live and want a show that breathes

If you’d rather follow a structured path, I spent eight weeks in the official course; this recap shows the highs and lows: I took the Vibe Coding course for 8 weeks—here’s what happened.

Maybe avoid it if you’re in a strict, audited app and your team hates motion. You can still bring calm names and clear logs, though.

Tiny gotchas I hit

I once used soft gray on gray. It looked elegant on my monitor. On my friend’s old laptop? Mush. I fixed it with stronger contrast and a manual “High Contrast” toggle.

Another time, I added a cute pop when a form saved. It made a screen reader talk over itself. I pulled that sound and added a clean toast with ARIA labels. Lesson learned.

Final take

Vibe coding made my work kinder. To me. To users. It’s not

You know what? I didn’t expect to like it this much. I tried DeepSeek for coding last week. It had this calm, steady vibe that matched my style. Not loud. Not needy. Just helpful.

By the way, DeepSeek Coder is an AI-powered coding assistant that offers features such as intelligent code suggestions, error detection, and code optimization; still, reports have indicated that DeepSeek may produce less secure code for groups that the Chinese government disfavors.

I write a lot of JavaScript (React) and some Python for data tasks. I used it inside VS Code with inline hints and a chat side panel. I kept my linter on and my tests close. If you're curious about how to choose the best AI companion for vibe coding while you sip tea at your desk, check out this guide. For a bigger walkthrough with code samples, skim through this vibe-coding guide complete with real snippets. Let me explain how it felt, with real bits from my files.

A tiny search bug it fixed fast

I had a search box that fired too many requests. Users typed fast. Old requests kept landing late and overwrote the new results. Classic race. I had a hack with a counter. It worked… until it didn’t.

My code looked like this:

let current = 0;

export async function search(q: string) {
  const id = ++current;
  const res = await fetch(`/api/search?q=${encodeURIComponent(q)}`);
  const data = await res.json();
  if (id === current) setResults(data);
}

DeepSeek suggested I switch to AbortController. Simple. Clear. No lecture.

Here’s the patch it gave me, tight and clean:

let controller: AbortController | null = null;

export async function search(q: string) {
  if (controller) controller.abort();
  controller = new AbortController();

  const res = await fetch(`/api/search?q=${encodeURIComponent(q)}`, {
    signal: controller.signal,
  });
  const data = await res.json();
  setResults(data);
}

It also nudged me to handle errors without noise:

try {
  // ...fetch code
} catch (err) {
  if ((err as any).name !== 'AbortError') {
    console.error('search failed', err);
  }
}

Was that new to me? No. Did it save 15 minutes and a sigh? Yup.

Style that matches my “vibe”

Here’s the thing: I like small functions and steady names. I avoid clever tricks in hot paths. DeepSeek stayed in that lane. It kept my spacing. It didn’t force semicolons. It used the same test style I already had. That sounds small, but it keeps me in flow.

When I said “keep it boring,” it did. When I said “explain like I’m five,” it slowed down and gave plain words. Not snarky. Not cute. Just clear.

A Python off-by-one I missed

I had a moving average helper. It gave wrong values past the first window. I was tired. Coffee was cold. DeepSeek spotted the bad index and gave a fix with guard rails.

My buggy code:

def moving_avg(nums, k):
    if k <= 0:
        return []
    window = sum(nums[:k])
    out = [window / k]
    for i in range(k, len(nums)):
        window += nums[i]
        window -= nums[i - k - 1]  # oops
        out.append(window / k)
    return out

The fix (with simple checks):

from typing import List

def moving_avg(nums: List[float], k: int) -> List[float]:
    if k <= 0 or k > len(nums):
        return []
    window = sum(nums[:k])
    out = [window / k]
    for i in range(k, len(nums)):
        window += nums[i]
        window -= nums[i - k]
        out.append(window / k)
    return out

It also asked if I wanted rounding. I didn’t. It didn’t push it.

Tests it wrote that I kept

I love when tools write the boring parts. I had a tiny React util that slugifies titles. I needed quick tests. I said, “Write 4 small cases. No big libs.” I’m always comparing the tools I actually keep in rotation, and I found a thorough rundown of the best vibe-coding tools I actually use helpful for framing my expectations.

Function:

export function slugify(s: string) {
  return s
    .toLowerCase()
    .trim()
    .replace(/s+/g, '-')
    .replace(/[^a-z0-9-]/g, '')
    .replace(/-+/g, '-');
}

Tests it gave me (Jest + RTL not needed here):

import { slugify } from './slugify';

test('simple words', () => {
  expect(slugify('Hello World')).toBe('hello-world');
});

test('trims and collapses spaces', () => {
  expect(slugify('  a   b  ')).toBe('a-b');
});

test('drops symbols', () => {
  expect(slugify('C# & Go!')).toBe('c-go');
});

test('dedupes dashes', () => {
  expect(slugify('a---b')).toBe('a-b');
});

Nothing fancy. Just done.

Where it tripped me up

It wasn’t perfect. A few things bugged me.

• It tried to bring in a helper I don’t use: lodash once, nanoid once. I said “no new deps,” and it chilled.
• It wrote TypeScript types that looked like art. Pretty, but hard to read. I asked for simpler types, and it backed off.
• It guessed a wrong import path on a deep feature flag file. Not a huge deal, but I had to fix it.

A small one that made me laugh: it changed a map to a for-of loop. My linter flipped. It apologized when I asked it to “keep map, no loops.”

Speed and flow

Was it fast? Fast enough that I didn’t stare at the screen. Most hints showed up before my brain lost the thread. I liked that it wrote short diffs first, then asked if I wanted the “long version.” I usually said no.

I also liked that it didn’t flood me. One hint. Then a beat. Then more if I asked. That rhythm matters. That steady rhythm is exactly what keeps me in flow, which lines up with my deeper take on vibe-coding tools.

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A tiny refactor it nailed

I had this little React hook that tracked window size. It was chatty and ran more than needed.

Old:

import { useEffect, useState } from 'react';

export function useWindowSize() {
  const [size, setSize] = useState({ w: window.innerWidth, h: window.innerHeight });

  useEffect(() => {
    const onResize = () => setSize({ w: window.innerWidth, h: window.innerHeight });
    window.addEventListener('resize', onResize);
    onResize();
    return () => window.removeEventListener('resize', onResize);
  }, []);

  return size; // re-renders a lot
}

DeepSeek made it gentler with a tiny throttle. No new lib:

“`ts
import { useEffect, useRef, useState } from 'react';

export function useWindowSize() {
const frame = useRef<number | null>(null);
const [size, setSize] = useState(() => ({
w: typeof window !== '

I’m Kayla, and I build little apps for folks who don’t like boring tools. I tried Vibe Coding AI inside VS Code and my browser for two weeks. It felt like pairing with a chatty junior dev who reads docs fast, but sometimes guesses. Helpful? Yes. Perfect? Not quite. Let me explain.
If the term “vibe coding” is new to you, that quick primer lays out the philosophy in a few sentences.
If you’d like the full diary-style breakdown (with every late-night aha! and face-palm moment), I posted it over on I coded with Vibe Coding AI for two weeks—here’s the honest tea.

What this thing is (and how it fits)

Vibe Coding AI sits in VS Code as a side panel and a little inline helper. It can:

• Chat about your code with context
• Write snippets as you type
• Explain errors in plain words
• Draft tests, docs, and even Git commits

It also runs in the browser, which helped when I reviewed a repo on GitHub. I liked the split view: code left, help right. Felt tidy.
For more on how Vibe compares to other assistants you can run straight from your editor, check out my desk-side rundown, The best AI for Vibe Coding (from my desk, tea in hand).

You know what? Setup was simple. Sign in. Pick the folder. Done. No weird YAML dance.

Real work I shipped with it

If you’re curious how a CTO-level perspective differs from mine, there’s a fun leadership spin in I tried Vibe Coding AI CEO for a week—here’s how it felt.

1) A tiny Flask API (with a CORS snag)

I had to spin up a “hello” API for a dashboard. I asked, “Make Flask app with /api/hello that returns JSON.” Vibe gave me:

• app.py with a route
• A quick test using pytest
• A basic Dockerfile and a .dockerignore

It even explained how to run it:

• pip install flask pytest
• flask run

I hit a CORS error from my React front end. Vibe saw the error in the terminal and said, “Add flask-cors.” It gave me:

from flask_cors import CORS
CORS(app)

It worked. Took 12 minutes, coffee included. I smiled. Simple wins feel big on a Monday.

2) A React table that didn’t fight me

A client needed a table with a sticky header, sort on click, and keyboard nav. I asked, “React component with sticky header, Tailwind, sort by name and date.” Vibe drafted a clean component, used useState for sort state, and added aria-sort for screen readers. Nice touch.

Bug time: on mobile, the header clipped. Vibe guessed the fix with overflow-x-auto and top: 0 sticky styles. I still had to tweak the z-index. No big deal. The speed boost was real.

3) The regex that cooks phones (the numbers, not the gadget)

I’m bad at regex when I’m sleepy. I asked for a pattern that grabs US phone numbers and strips weird stuff. Vibe gave:

/(+1[-.s]?)?(?d{3})?[-.s]?d{3}[-.s]?d{4}/

It also showed a replace flow that keeps only digits. I dropped it into a Node script. Done. My brain said “thanks, friend.”

4) SQL: fast-ish, but trust, then verify

I had a Postgres query on events. I needed counts per day for last 30 days. Vibe wrote:

SELECT date_trunc('day', created_at) AS day, count(*)
FROM events
WHERE created_at >= now() – interval '30 days'
GROUP BY 1
ORDER BY 1;

It worked. Then it said to add an index on created_at. Fine. But it hinted at a partial index that didn’t fit our data. I ran EXPLAIN ANALYZE and caught the miss. Lesson: test the advice. Use Vibe like a helper, not a judge.

5) Jest tests that I actually kept

I had a date helper: formatDate(date, tz). I asked for Jest tests with edge cases. Vibe wrote cases for:

• Null input
• DST shifts
• Bad tz strings
• Snapshot for a stable date

It mocked the clock with jest.setSystemTime. I liked that. One test failed on Windows CI due to locale. Vibe suggested to pass an explicit locale param. Good save.

6) PR polish and commit notes

My favorite bit? I let Vibe read a PR and write a summary. It called out a silent API change in a TypeScript type. That note saved a support ticket later. It also writes commit messages that aren’t cringe:

• feat(api): add /api/hello with CORS and tests
  Short. Clear. Ship it.

(If tooling is your jam, I’ve also shared the hit-list of add-ons I keep pinned in my day-to-day setup in The best Vibe Coding tools I actually use.)

Where it tripped

• Context amnesia: On big repos, it forgot file history. I had to say, “Use src/api/user.ts and src/db/index.ts.” Long chats got fuzzy.
• Confident guesses: It invented a config key that didn’t exist for Webpack. Looked right. Wasn’t. I caught it fast, but still.
• Rate slowdowns: Around late afternoon, replies felt laggy. Not always, but enough to notice.
• Privacy nerves: It sends code to the cloud. I masked secrets and skipped private keys. That’s on me, but worth saying.

Little joys that kept me using it

• Quick fix hints inline. ESLint errors became one-click fixes with a tiny note that taught me why.
• Comments and docstrings. Short, tidy, and not too stiff.
• Error explains. It turned scary stack traces into 1-2 lines I could act on.
• Prompt templates. “Write tests,” “Explain this,” “Refactor for clarity.” Like buttons for my tired brain.

For devs who prefer to learn by copying real, working snippets, I compiled a walk-through with copy-paste-ready code in The Vibe Coding Guide: my hands-on take with real snippets.

If you’re the kind of maker who loves showing off wins with slick screen-grabs, you might also dig Sexy Snaps—it’s a quick read on turning ordinary screenshots into scroll-stopping visuals while keeping your private bits (code or otherwise) safely blurred.

Tips that made it better

• Be blunt. “File: src/utils/date.ts. Add Jest tests for DST.” Short beats cute.
• Paste small chunks. Big blobs confuse it.
• Ask why and how to test. Not just “write code.”
• Keep your own notes. I used TODOs in the file so it stayed on track.
• Run the code. Always. Trust, but verify.

For a broader look at how AI coding assistants fit within company intranets and developer workflows, check out Intranets Today and skim IBM’s industry take on vibe coding for a big-picture view.

Who I’d hand this to

• New devs who want guard rails and good habits
• Solo devs who need speed on boilerplate and tests
• Busy seniors who hate writing commit messages and docs but care about quality

If you lead a team, pair it with code review rules. It will help folks ship faster, but someone still needs taste.

(I also jotted down the mindset and flow-state tweaks that keep me productive in My take on Vibe Coding tools—what actually keeps me in flow.)

The verdict (and my gut)

Vibe Coding AI saved me hours on setup, tests, and slog work. It also tried to sound sure when it wasn’t. That’s fine. People do that too. I’d give it an 8/10 for day-to-day dev, higher if they fix the context drift.

Would I keep it? Yeah. For quick tasks, test stubs, and PR notes, it’s gold. For core logic, I still slow down, write it clean, and ask Vibe to review my draft. That mix felt right.

And yes—late at night, with my fan humming and a cold chai on the desk, it felt like I wasn’t coding alone. Funny how much that matters.

If, after closing the laptop, you’re craving some actual human conversation and you happen to be near south Georgia, you can hop onto [Doublelist Valdosta](https://onenightaffair.com/doublelist-valdosta