Google Search’s AI Mode just built me an app

You’ve probably heard about ambient coding, seen commercials for it during the Super Bowl, or read about AI coding environments like Claude Code or Codex. But if you want to try vibe coding for yourself, here and now, just head over to Google search.

Are you there? OK, now click on the AI ​​Mode button, click on the “+” in the search box and select Canvas. Now ask Google to create something for you: an app, a website, anything. I started with this: “can you give me a working prototype of a t-shirt business website?”

The next thing I knew, Gemini’s gears were turning, his thought process visible in the left column of the page, while another element – ​​the canvas – appeared on the right, with lines of code scrolling quickly down the page.

Suddenly, the code inside the canvas was gone, replaced by something new: a T-shirt commerce website, just like I asked.

Ben Patterson/Foundry

Of course, the t-shirt site produced by Google Search and its Gemini-powered AI mode isn’t a real live website – or at least, not yet. But this could be the start of it, and you could easily copy the code into an AI coding tool like Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, or Google Antigravity.

Then I tried something a little more ambitious: “Make me a dashboard that shows the location of subway trains in the neighborhood.” »

Once again, Gemini’s AI mode came to life, with Google finding ways to integrate live data from New York’s MTA subway into the app I requested. The Canvas panel opened again, and a few seconds later, boom: there was my app, with a bright green “live” indicator and displays of subway lines.

Some things weren’t quite right: I wanted the app to focus on the Carroll Gardens station, not just the generic area, but all I had to do was request the fix (“make the app focus on the Carroll Gardens store”), and Gemini did it.

First released last year as a Google Labs experiment, Canvas in AI Mode is now available to all US users (English only at the moment) and performs other cool tricks in addition to creating instant prototypes for websites and apps. It can also write creative writing samples, create dashboards incorporating live Google search results, and much more. Just use your imagination.

You can interact with your Canvas project using preview mode or click a button to see (and if you want, copy) the underlying code. If you want any changes or revisions, just type a prompt.

Canvas in AI mode may look familiar to Gemini app users, who can also quickly create projects and prototypes with its own Canvas tool. It also reminds me of Lovable, a third-party “no code” tool that specializes in instant website prototypes.

But Canvas in AI mode works best to allow anyone to try vibrational coding themselves, instantly. Go try it.