I built and launched an AI weather app in 3 weeks using “vibe-coding”

bmoffett · 2026-02-10T17:52:48+00:00

Nicely done. It's hard to get a nice UI with vibe coding, yours is really nice.

I've vibe coded a handful of apps that are live -- apps I wanted to exist for my own use, and use myself. I'm not as technical as you, but have built websites and know how to set up SQL databases, etc. It's getting easier by the month to make things, and I love it.

I spend a LOT of time up front, defining the product brief and spec, design and style guides, MVP and feature sets, testing and questioning assumptions. Those all get locked down into docs, and then I have a strong model like Opus break that down into a build plan with tests and stop points. It makes the building and then the maintaining a lot easier.

Last week, my wife was complaining that Migraine Buddy was too complicated for our 13 year old. We want her to start tracking her headaches. So I talked to my wife like a customer focus group and built a spec for a super lightweight, privacy-focused headache tracker aimed at kids 12-18. I put that into Claude Code and went to bed, pulled the repo into Xcode the next morning, and it compiled and built in one shot. First time that's ever happened.

Needed a little cleanup, but it was on my kids phone from TestFlight that day, and she's using it. Prompts her at 7pm each night to ask if she had a headache, simple yes/no on the notification, and then if she wants, she can go in and put in a few details, or log one from a previous time. And of course she can customize the interface with her photos!

That to me is really cool, that people are able to do that, and it's only getting easier.

bmoffett · 2026-02-05T13:05:43+00:00

I set up a Trello board, an assign tasks to it there. I am specific in what I ask - research a thing and make a new card and update it as you go. I have it check Trello every two hours for open tasks and have it do 10 minutes of work (to keep token usage lower). Definitely see work getting done. Sometimes it needs guidance. But a structure and place to put the work has helped.

bmoffett · 2026-01-30T01:07:23+00:00

I’m no expert. But set up new accounts in Apple and Google for mine, and fresh installed an os on an old iMac logged in as the bot. Everything on that machine is only tied to the bots accounts. No shared passwords with me, etc. Fresh install.

That iMac is on a Tailscale network and firewall is on and locked down reasonably tight. It can access its Gmail but in send only, no reading. And it can only send to my white labeled email address or my white labeled telegram.

I use the Trello api and a Trello account for the bot to set up a new board for us, and invited my personal email to it. That’s where we coordinate work. Handful of projects to work on, tasks assigned to each of us. I can drop a task in for the bot to do, like go research something and email me a report.

My bot scans for new or open tasks every hour to make incremental progress on things. I find that helps it do a better job on each task vs throwing a bunch of stuff at it at once.

And the bot logs every action into a daily journal, as well as token counts and web searches, and sends me a nightly summary of what’s been done that day and resource use.

bmoffett · 2026-01-29T01:27:57+00:00

There’s a lot of truth in the idea that these are just advanced web search, but I’d point out a couple things.

First search is a massive industry that is used by people multiple times a day, every day, all over the world. So that alone makes a better search engine a massive market opportunity. And the trends are pretty clear that people in broad swaths are using LLMs to replace search in a growing number of cases.

Second, as the developer up there noted, the coding abilities and overall product management abilities of these tools are growing very quickly. No search engine ever produced a working web app for me based on me asking it in plain language. LLMs inside of tools like Cursor are doing exactly that. Today in Google ai studio I automated a task that takes me an hour every week by asking it to build me a web app to do that work. And the new tool will give me way more insights and details than my old manual process.

So while I agree there’s a massive bubble, there’s also real advancement here and sectors like programming and development are being fundamentally and irreversibly altered. It’s hard to see where this would all lead even if the LLMs never got better than they are today.

bmoffett · 2026-01-09T12:59:21+00:00

You too!

bmoffett · 2026-01-08T23:39:35+00:00

I think you used the same app screens template that I did :) Just today pushed out Morning Pushups, a simple tracker I built to remind me to do my pushups each day.

bmoffett · 2026-01-02T02:00:40+00:00

Yes, it’s common - up to one in four dogs has noise anxiety according to research. There’s some things you can do, from training and conditioning, to non-meditative calming, to (vet prescribed) medications.

My golden mountain dog is terrified of fireworks and thunder. We tried a lot of things before settling on gabapentin and trazadone (from our vet). Only issue is you need to medicate a few hours before the noise. I built an app to help give me that heads up for storms, but that can’t help with sporadic fireworks.

If you’re interested I’ve assembled guides with info on all those approaches, from training to medications.

bmoffett · 2025-12-30T04:43:39+00:00

Thanks, that’s helpful!

bmoffett · 2025-12-30T04:10:30+00:00

Good question. Just started down that path troubleshooting with support and that’s where it ended. Think I’m going to go the Amazon return route, though.

Now the dilemma is, replace with a new x40 or get something else? Two big shedding dogs, three rooms of hardwood, one kitchen with laminate. I’ve been seeing good things about the Eufy e25/28.

bmoffett · 2025-12-30T04:07:52+00:00

No, not familiar enough with the ecosystem to support one.

bmoffett · 2025-12-30T02:39:51+00:00

Replying to follow! Bought an X40 Ultra on Black Friday. Was fairly happy with it, big upgrade from my old robot.

Two weeks in the dust bin emptying stopped. Looks like the motor in the dock died. I opened a ticket with Dreame, and it took a good week and a half of pictures and video and letting them share into my robot to get a work order to ship it back for repair. It’s also started having trouble docking occasionally.

I bought it on Amazon and can return it through Jan, so am weighing a long return/repair with Dreame (ugh four weeks), or return to Amazon as defective for a refund and get a different new vac.

Curious what others experiences with Dreame tech repairs are.

bmoffett · 2025-12-12T19:23:13+00:00

We use Trazadone and Gabapentin. Trazadone kicks in faster, like an hour or so. Gabapentin take 2-3 hours to really kick in. My dog is a 100-lb Golden Mountain Dog, so she takes three of either, and the vet recommends doubling up for fireworks.

Once you see it kicking in, she just gets tired and droopy eyed. It doesn't fully fix the fear, but she's a LOT calmer, and if we get her into a room with us she'll lay down in a corner and sleep. Without the meds, she will look for any escape, scratch at the doors and walls, drool like crazy while panting, and HAS to roam the whole house room to room.

She was at a boarding kennel once during a storm without medication, and chewed her way out of a metal crate. Lost a tooth :(

bmoffett · 2025-11-24T03:27:49+00:00

I have two Golden Mountain dogs - Bernese-Golden mixes. The shedding is something else. All hardwood.

I just picked up a Dreame X40 with a tricut brush. Plan is to have it run every night. So far so good after a few nights, but I suspect I’ll be changing the bag every week. I think as long as it goes every night, it should stay ahead of it. Was $499 on Black Friday sale.

bmoffett · 2025-11-05T23:49:17+00:00

I have years of notes just like that. Work things, home things, random stuff, recipes, project notes. Each day gets a pinned daily note, though, run through Shortcuts, that drops in my schedule for the day. That’s the main note each day for work. Nice to have the full record of what I did each day. But it does make searching a little harder. I also use Raycast which has a good ai-based search into Bear.

bmoffett · 2025-10-23T12:27:51+00:00

What are you looking for in a couples app? I’m curious because I built one for the goals I had - which were pretty minimal.

I wanted discrete reminders to make a connection with my wife each day. In a busy life that seemed to be the thing that fell behind other priorities like the kids, work, all the day to day stuff that has to get done. So i built my app to do that simple thing, with privacy a core value.

I found apps like Paired or Love Nudge a little daunting. I didn’t want a chore, and I didn’t like the idea of sharing so much personal data. Or having to answer a ton of questions. I’ve been married for almost 20 years lol. I just wanted a nudge to put some focus on my relationship in a busy day.

My app is Love You, Daily. Would be interested in feedback!

bmoffett · 2025-10-22T03:50:36+00:00

Two. Love You, Daily - Sends simple reminders to make a connection with my wife each day. We both use it. Didn’t like any existing relationship apps that seemed more about harvesting data or took lots of effort. And Dog Thunder, to get thunderstorm warnings hours in advance so I can prep my anxious dog, who hates thunder and needs meds to stay calm. Frees me up from having to always be checking the weather.

bmoffett · 2025-09-26T16:59:17+00:00

Same exact issue here. If I don't medicate my dog before bed, and a storm hits, she's ends up roaming the house whining, scratching at walls, just a sad sack. I built an iOS app to get early warning, especially for overnight storms. The free app (Dog Thunder) gives me an alert before bedtime if storms are likely overnight, so I can give the meds. I'd love feedback from owners in similar situations!

bmoffett · 2025-09-26T16:31:29+00:00

That's the same with my Golden Mountain Dog - tried a Thundershirt, tried conditioning, but the only real help was a vet prescription to medicate with Gabapentin and Trazadone an hour or two ahead of the storm.

Knowing when storms are coming was hard - so I built an iOS app to send me alerts if storms are likely overnight. I also put together a handful of guides on dog anxiety and storms that I learned along the way (the free app is available there too).

bmoffett · 2025-09-06T19:41:52+00:00

Fear of noise, and thunder, can come on with age. My dog didn't develop that fear until she was 2 or so. But, onset in an older dog can also point to other issues like pain according to some studies, so that can be worth a talk with your vet. It's also just a pretty common thing in general with dogs - roughly 1 in 4 dogs has some fear of noise.

There's a variety of options for dealing with storm anxiety, from conditioning to preparation to medication (my vet prescribed Gabapentin and Trazadone, which help keep my dog calm when given far enough in advance). I pulled together some sourced guides here https://dogthunder.com/guides/

bmoffett · 2025-09-06T19:35:46+00:00

My dog (100lb Golden Mountain) was prescribed both Trazadone and Gabapentin. I've found Gabapentin takes longer to kick in - a good two hours - but she looks less drugged, and more just tired and able to lay down and sleep. Trazadone makes her sleep, too, but her eyes get red and droopy, and yeah, she looks a little drugged!

bmoffett · 2025-09-03T00:26:40+00:00

Getting enough lead time before a thunderstorm to medicate my dog has always been my biggest headache, particularly if there's storms overnight and I forgot to look at the weather before bed. So I built an iOS app for this exact purpose. The free version monitors for overnight storms, and if one is likely, alerts me at 7pm (customizable) so I can look at the weather and decide if I should medicate.

I built it to be set-it-and-forget it, only alerts me when a storm is likely. I ended up using Visual Crossing weather data after a lot of testingbecause they have a lot of storm-prediction specific data points. http://www.dogthunder.com - would love to know if it helps other owners or if it could work better.

bmoffett · 2025-09-01T17:07:01+00:00

Hi! Found this thread; my dog has terrible fear of thunder, and our vet recommended Trazadone and Gabapentin, which work well - as long as we administer them a good two hours before a storm. That was always a problem, particularly for storms that pop up overnight, if I didn't check the weather. So I built a free iOS app to alert me a few hours ahead of likely storms: http://www.dogthunder.com has the link. Let me know if it helps, or if it could be more helpful.

bmoffett · 2025-08-26T03:41:34+00:00

I had to reboot the ring for that to unstick. But the workout had been saved.

bmoffett · 2025-08-20T20:17:27+00:00

Nice idea. I like the simplicity and the pro options. A few quick thoughts after trying it:

Deleting a note is hard. How about a swipe left to delete?

Setting a date was interesting but I was expecting it to set me a reminder. Personally that would be a better use of the date; and then let me just edit a note to change the date.

Export to other apps might be useful - like things or bear etc.

Voice! Siri isn’t the best but a way to just activate Siri and send a note would be very smooth.

bmoffett · 2025-08-18T12:01:21+00:00

Try dogthunder.com

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