The vibe coding project that's consuming my life

I've abandoned the platform that built my business.

I’ve spent the past few months working on a fun coding project with a great vibe. I’m building a network of news aggregators by prompt engineering.

If the news aggregators are successful, I’ll monetize them with display ads or use them to build a newsletter.

That’s a few months off, though. Right now, I’m focused on building and launching my series of aggregators.

I usually build my content websites on WordPress. WordPress helped me write a profitable blog, which turned into a business. Additionally, I can use the extensive ecosystem of WordPress plugins to create landing pages, sell products, and customize my sites.

I’ve mixed feelings about using that platform for web projects today.

WordPress hosting, once you get meaningful traffic, isn’t cheap. Many WordPress plugins can slow down both the front-end and back-end of a website. The backend of a WordPress dashboard often looks like a billboard for SaaS products. I also hate writing in the clunky WordPress editor. WordPress sites are regularly hacked and break.

So, I’m using Cursor AI and Claude code to vibe code my aggregators, and I’m hosting the project on GitHub and Netlify. That’s cheaper, faster, and more secure than WordPress. I’ve complete control, no vendor lock-in, either. However, it’s harder to hand a project like this to a virtual assistant for help.

I don’t consider myself a coder or a developer. The project is as much about me learning how to build with AI as it is about achieving a specific traffic or revenue goal.

Using Claude code, ChatGPT, and tools like Cursor, anyone can take their idea for a web app, plugin, or tool and build it… without spending thousands on developers or getting a computer science degree.

Vibe coding is fun. When I start a session, I stick on a set of headphones, play some EDM and two or three hours whiz by.

I describe your project and write the prompt, and AI executes. And we go backwards and forwards ideating. It’s like having an expert co-pilot who handles flying a plane while I focus on where we’re going.

I haven’t focused this much on ONE project since I wrote my last book, I Can’t Believe I’m a Dad!​

It’s also intense.

Using AI, whether for a coding project or otherwise, is a classic case of Pareto’s Principle.

I’ve ticked off one item on my To Do list with AI and unlocked a chunk of free time. And then I think, “Now I can do this other thing that’s on my list…” and whoosh, I fill up that free time with even more things to do.

Work expands to fill all the available hours.

You can check over one of my vibe coding projects The Ai Flash Report.

(I’ll share a few YouTube videos about my vibe coding process in a few days)

If you’d like to learn more about how I approach prompt engineering, check out PromptWritingStudio.