The Wizard’s Wand – A Vibe Coding Tale

I looked up from the screen and saw the glowing red light of the digital clock. It was 2 a.m.! I felt like I had been pulled into some time vortex. I needed to get to bed! I went back to my computer screen to close things out and send one final instruction to my trusty AI companion. It responded with the dreaded, “Summarizing conversation history…” Yes, time for bed. I closed the laptop and let the latent space of Claude dream up some solutions for me.

I’m addicted. I realize that. We have been handed a new magic wand. With little effort, you can cast a spell and watch your ideas materialize in front of you. Dream of a new experience, a new approach, a new application, and within minutes you see it come to life in pixels on your screen. Incantations in the form of prompts stir the model to life and yield tangible results. Your soul breathes out its desires, and they form into beings from the dust of the digital world. At its core, it’s the act of creation. We dream it, we make it.

Vibe coding isn’t about turning over the reins to the synthetic intelligence that emerges from models forged by data and GPUs. No, it’s about empowering us, the creators of these digital worlds. It’s about raising the floor to a new level of abstraction, enabling us to express ourselves even more. Our ideas become reality even faster. The friction to fix reduces. The barriers to entry come down, and welcome signs emerge.

One of my many distractions over the holidays was entertaining my long list of wishful ideas. One example is VibeScape. Beginning with the holiday mood, I wanted to let AI dream about the seasons and create images I could project on a screen in our living room while we played games, enjoyed the fire, or rested after a satisfying meal. How hard would it be to create that service and even an Apple TV app?

I opened a new prompt and let my digital wishes flow through the coding agent. Soon, we had built a backend service and got it hosted. Then the tvOS app was needed. The agent spun lines of Swift code to life, helped me install the latest simulator, built images, icons, and UI elements. I was ready to see it on our TV, and it did that too. But why not just submit it to the Apple App Store? For those who have done this, you know the digital paperwork required to launch an app is serious effort. Turns out, the coding assistants can help with that too! Soon, it was submitted for review. All of that, in one day. And several days later (waiting on Apple to review), the app was released: VibeScapeTV. And in case you are wondering, yes, part of it is running in my garage. Please don’t tell anyone.

VibeScape wasn’t the only toy I unwrapped with AI. I managed to tackle many other projects too, including resurrecting ancient code and old repos for projects that had been untouched for years. The magic LLM wand helped me bring new life to those dusty digital shelves. Now, to be fair, this isn’t just pixie dust that magically helps you fly. It requires you, your creative direction, human sensibility, and long-term vision of what is needed, how it is architected, and what it “feels like.” That responsibility rests on your shoulders as you use these tools. You can YOLO vibe code your way to some solutions, but will it ultimately deliver the experience and outcome you want? Rarely. You must be engaged. You must be the one wielding the wand.

I know you may be tired of hearing vibe coding stories, but I want you to know it comes from a good place. I believe we are at a critical event horizon, shaping ways of working that we have never seen before. I want you all to be the experts, the masters of your destiny and the wizards of our future.

Do you have your wand? It’s time to get ready. There are multiple tools available to you. Try one, try them all. Start experimenting and creating. My only caveat is that you need to set boundaries. By that, I mean, make sure you set an alarm. If not, you may finally look up from your screen and see that it’s 2 a.m.!