I Built This App in Under an Hour After Avoiding It for Two Weeks

another day, another playbook to remind myself what living in my head does.

The Avoidance

I wanted to build this thing for weeks. And I just kept on not building it. Like actively not building it and building other things instead.

And honestly, the reason is hilarious.

I had this idea that I’m not a worthy tech person if I vibe code. And on top of that, this isn’t even a real project. It’s too lame. Why would I vibe code something this simple?

So I just... didn’t.

The Imposter Syndrome

Here’s the thing about vibe coding: it seems like real devs hate it. Vibe coders are having fun and it seems like people hate that. Other vibe coders are making apps and hundreds of thousands of dollars and people really seem to hate that.

There’s this whole connotation in the space right now. Like if Claude Code does most of the work, did you even really build it?

And I bought into that. I’ve been trying to become a full-fledged programmer forever but the major thing holding me back was my own validation in my stuckness. I just never felt like a real programmer.

So I acted like one by not programming. Classic.

The reframe? I stopped reading into what people were saying. who cares. the thing works and I needed it. and tbh I think it’s cool af.

The Actual Build

I was watching a bug hunting video tonight (like bugs in programs not real bugs) and wanted to take a quick note while the video was playing. Yeah it’s like a one second switch and I could pause it too but I wanted to take notes right there on the screen.

So I did pause the video. But I went to Claude Code instead.

Started speccing it all out (that’s what the cool kids are calling it). I asked Claude Code to build this and then asked it to ask me things in return about functionality if I wasn’t clear. We went back and forth once or twice on the way things worked.

And literally an hour later I had a working transparent writing app. A month’s worth of anxiety turned into “I have a working app for this exact thing working exactly the way I wanted it to.”

The Real Enemy Was Never the Code

It was just the story I was telling myself about what “counts” as building.

Two weeks of “I should” instead of one hour of “I did.”

Sure the app might be lame, but not building it out was way worse.

Note to self: The proportions of this post mirror the problem. Weeks of avoidance, minutes of building. That’s the pattern. That’s always the pattern.

Next time, skip straight to building.

If you want to check it out you can do so here on my yt channel and you can download it here from my github. If you need help loading it up, don’t be afraid to ask!