Vibe coding personal apps in mid-2026

Over the past month, the author has created three personal apps using a technique known as "vibe coding." These apps are meant for individual use and include a restaurant recommendation list, a face recognition system for people, and a custom Spotify player for organizing albums. The apps were built using local-first software, which keeps data primarily on each device with a standardized sync server for transferring data between devices.

The author used Yjs, a popular local-first protocol, to sync data in the background, making the apps fast and efficient. The apps were developed using a Javascript progressive web app (PWA) with a SQLite database for easy hosting and backups. The author used Claude, an AI coding agent, to help with coding, testing, and refactoring.

They found that LLM coding agents can save a lot of hassle and make the coding process easier, but they still need to be guided and refined. The author is currently using the Claude plan on a £18/month budget and has not found a need to upgrade to a more expensive plan.