How I Conjured a Halloween Events Web App Just by Chatting With AI
I’m not a coder, but I know enough to do some damage. I took courses to learn basic coding skills and managed to pick up rudimentary knowledge of Python and Linux by installing custom ROMs on my Android phones a long time ago. But if I was asked to build something – anything – from scratch, from any language, it would never happen.
When I first heard about vibe coding, I thought it would never be more than an aid to people who knew how to do real things – an aid to already talented coders, making basic tasks even easier for them. Essentially, this is exactly where we are with ambiance coding. But for someone with no experience, “basic” might be all you need to create something you couldn’t do otherwise.
Generative AI tools can turn anyone into a coder. Just like you can create an image in natural language, vibe coding allows you to create websites, mini-apps, tools and more, simply by instructing an AI chatbot like Gemini or ChatGPT.
To test this myself, I tried creating a project using Gemini and Claude, both of which produced satisfactory results, although one required a bit more instruction than the other. Below I’ll talk about my experience with ambiance coding and why building a basic app felt like a great accomplishment.
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What is ambiance coding?
In its most basic form, vibe coding uses AI to create code using natural language prompts and instructions. This code can be used to create a website, application, or function that you can use to perform the desired task.
You can usually do basic flavor coding with your chatbot of choice, but there are more advanced tools for people who know how to work with code and want more control. Google’s AI Studio is one option. It comes with a helpful and Googley, “I feel lucky” button that will generate a project to get an idea of what you can do with AI Studio.
Vibrational coding with Gemini
Gemini has created a solid Halloween events calendar after some adjustments for the month of October.
A friend asked me if there were any Halloween events in the San Francisco Bay Area when their friends were visiting, so I decided to try to create an events calendar for them. The main focus was adult events, from haunted houses to pub crawls and everything in between.
Using Gemini, I added the basic idea, the sources I wanted it to pull events from, and how I wanted to interact with the calendar. The first iteration clarified what I had asked it to do, but also highlighted what I hadn’t asked Gemini when creating the calendar.
I asked Gemini to further refine the calendar by verifying that the events were for this year, that the event details were linked to active pages and not dead links, and that the price was displayed prominently in the event details. Gemini took on most of these improvements without a hitch, but its interpretation of certain requests needed further clarification.
For example, when clicking on a specific calendar event, Gemini first distinguished events only as free or paid. I asked for clearer pricing and it added a range from $ to $$$, showing the price of each paid event. I ultimately requested that specific prices appear on the event details. Gemini replied, “It’s a much more convenient way to plan your evenings!” and updated the schedule accordingly.
My experience creating a solid events calendar with Gemini was relatively straightforward, although I did have to reiterate what I wanted to say for some specific features I wanted to see in it.
Vibe coding with Claude
Even though it wasn’t what I was looking for, Claude was able to correctly answer many of my mood coding requests without having to go back and correct them.
Given how easy it was to create the event calendar with Gemini, I expected to have a similar experience with Claude. I used the same initial prompt to create the calendar. To my great surprise, Claude did wonders.
The layout was different: instead of a calendar view that I wanted, Claude opted for a list view that could be broken down into several categories. It also included a search bar at the top, allowing me to search for specific events, as well as a mini calendar. Although it wasn’t the layout I wanted, Claude’s first attempt added more detail than Gemini, even after tweaking it. Exact starting prices or price ranges were already there without prompting, and even discount codes were prominently displayed if available.
Claude’s initial effort made me want to go further, and that’s when the trouble started. I had asked to add a tab so that there was a different view of the calendar, to match the general look of what Gemini had created. Claude got to work and took a few minutes to respond, then returned an error message. After three attempts by Claude to resolve the issue, it finally worked and the calendar view tab was added.
Claude’s ability to repair himself made me want to go further – another mistake. After asking him to make the calendar more similar to the one produced by Gemini, another error occurred. After three failed repairs, I decided to stop the experiment, because Gemini and Claude did exactly what I asked them to do. I had two solid event calendars – everything else was extra.
Adventures in Vibrational Coding: General Thoughts
Vibe coding allows non-coders to create something they wouldn’t know how to create otherwise. This will give you power if you need something simple with minor to moderate feature additions. For my events calendar, vibe coding not only produced exactly what I wanted, but it did it better and much faster than it would have taken if I had done it manually.
Gemini and Claude did exactly what I asked them to do. Both required more instruction for different aspects of the experiment, so to say one is a clear winner or better than the other would be silly. Both options are more than useful for your basic ambiance coding needs.
The problem is, at least for me, I don’t know what I don’t know. I can ask a chatbot what it can make the code vibrate, but without a clear idea or idea of its real limitations, it’s something I don’t think I’ll use very often. If I knew anything about coding, I think ambiance coding would be even more powerful: it would offload simple things that require less attention.
Some people may become interested in vibe coding after a successful test and really wonder what they can do with it, and that’s great. For me, vibe coding was a good experience, but it kind of makes me want to take another coding course.
