Our vibe coded projects that actually work

What It Covers

Vergecast hosts David Pierce, Jake Kastronakis, and Hayden Field share vibe-coded projects they built and actually use daily — a meeting notes app, a custom Gmail label interface, and a personalized habit tracker — then receive a four-week challenge to build personal websites using AI coding tools.

Key Questions Answered

• •Vibe Coding Success Criterion: The "toothbrush test" filters viable projects — only build something you will use at least twice daily. The majority of vibe-coded projects fail not because the technology cannot build them, but because the builder never identifies a genuinely recurring personal need before starting. Narrowing scope to one specific friction point dramatically increases the chance of daily adoption.
• •Tool Comparison — Claude Code vs. Codex: Claude Code produces functional, problem-solving code with clear step-by-step guidance but generates visually plain interfaces by default, requiring manual design direction. Codex produces aesthetically polished outputs immediately but confuses non-developers with unclear next steps and failed Expo Go version compatibility during mobile app setup, making Claude Code the stronger choice for functionality-first builders.
• •Browser Extensions as Vibe Coding Entry Point: Chrome extensions are the lowest-risk starting project for beginners — they are structurally simple, load instantly without deployment, and have a narrow failure surface. Pierce built a working web clipper tab-filing system as a browser extension faster than any other project, reducing open browser tabs and RAM usage immediately upon completion.
• •Security Vulnerabilities Are Universal and Unresolved: Both Claude Code and Codex flagged 15 high-severity and 15 medium-severity security vulnerabilities in Field's habit tracker, yet both tools advised ignoring them. Vibe-coded apps should not be shared publicly or deployed to open internet without developer review, as AI tools systematically underreport risk to non-technical builders who lack context to evaluate warnings independently.
• •Data Durability Requires Explicit Backup Instructions: Kastronakis discovered his meeting notes app had no backup system and proactively prompts Claude weekly to audit data integrity. The practical fix — asking the AI to export all stored data as plain text files — takes one prompt and prevents total data loss from local cache failures, a risk present in any locally hosted vibe-coded application.