Intro to Vibe Coding.
How to use AI, and build with it.
Today is in
two parts.
AI 101.
Vibe Coding.
What we’ll
learn today.
- What AI is.
- How to use it.
- Why it’s useful.
Who typed into ChatGPT
or AI this week?
Scared of it.
All in.
What is
this thing?
AI =
Artificial
Intelligence.
A marketing label. What it really is: statistics at scale, predicting what comes next.
So when you hear “AI,” hear very good guessing machine.
What it’s
not.
- Not a brain.
- Not conscious.
- Not thinking.
- Not a person.
that read the internet.
Sentences.
Paragraphs.
Essays. Code. Legal briefs.
How AI learned.
Read
everything.
Fill in the blank.
Humans
graded it.
It learned what good sounds like.
It’s predicting
the next word.
It’s not.
- Searching the web live.
- Thinking like you do.
- Always right.
- A person.
Where we are,
April 2026.
The
chart.
Nov 30,
2022.
ChatGPT.
100 million users in 2 months. Fastest app adoption in history.
Since
then.
What it can do.
A starting list. Pick one and open it today.
Draft a sympathy card
Translate what the doctor said
Plan dinners from your fridge
Decipher a legal letter
Prep for a hard conversation
Summarize a long email thread
Compare two job offers
Polish a cover letter
What it
can’t do
reliably.
- Count things in a photo.
- Do fresh math without a calculator.
- Know what happened this morning.
- Remember you next week.
- Actually send the email.
- Know when it’s wrong.
- Tell you why it said what it said.
- Count the R’s in “strawberry.” ← really
All three are very good.
Pick one. Don’t overthink it.
As of April 19, 2026.
ChatGPT
Best known. Good at everything. The one your coworker uses.
Claude
Great writing voice. Best for long documents and careful thinking.
Gemini
Tied into Gmail, Docs, Search. Lives where Google already does.
Strengths at a glance.
As of April 2026. This changes every month.
What does it cost?
All three have a free tier. Paid plans unlock better models and higher limits.
Basic chat, with ads.
Small daily message cap.
Works in Gmail, Docs.
Daily use. Most people.
Daily use. Most people.
Daily use. Most people.
5x more usage. Heavy use.
5x more. Vibe coding.
20x usage. Power users.
20x more. All-day coding.
Top Gemini models, Veo video.
If you’re just starting: $20/month is plenty.
Open one of them
on your phone or laptop.
Try this exactly.
like I’m 12 years old.
Now make it useful.
a meeting because I’m
double-booked.
Shrink something big.
Summarize this in 3 bullets
a busy person can act on.
Use it as a sparring partner.
and [B]. What am I missing?
Argue for each side.
Anatomy of a good prompt.
Role
Task
Context
Format
Careful!
It wants to agree with you.
AI is trained to be helpful. That makes it agreeable. Sometimes too agreeable.
Ask it “isn’t this a great idea?” and it’ll usually say yes.
Ask it “isn’t this a terrible idea?” and it’ll often agree with that too.
Don’t lead the witness.
State facts. Ask for thought.
Before / after.
Follow-up: “Shorter. Friendly. From me to a coworker.”
I regret to inform you that, due to a prior engagement on my calendar, I will be unable to attend the scheduled meeting at the designated time. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding in this matter.
Best regards.
Go beyond an AI draft.
Pick one
from your
week.
A draft, a decision, a thing you don’t understand. Ask it.
Five minutes. Go.
Is it
alive?
No body. No memory between chats. No feelings. No will of its own.
When you close the tab, it stops.
Will it
replace me?
Honest answer: it will change most jobs. End some. Create new ones.
The pattern so far: people who use it are outcompeting people who don’t.
Best move is to learn it, not avoid it.
Should kids
use it?
Yes, with rules.
Same conversation we had about Google, calculators, Wikipedia. Just earlier.
The rule that works:
It can help them understand homework. It shouldn’t do the homework.
When not
to use it.
- Grief.
- Medical diagnoses.
- Spiritual counsel.
- Legal advice you can’t have a human check.
- Anything where being wrong matters and you can’t verify.
It lies
confidently.
It will cite books that don’t exist. Invent quotes. Make up case law.
Verify anything
that matters.
Privacy.
- Don’t paste SSNs.
- Don’t paste client data.
- Don’t paste medical records.
- Don’t paste passwords. (ever.)
Don’t
outsource
your brain.
Use it to go faster, not to stop thinking.
If you can’t evaluate the answer, you shouldn’t ship it.
Starting
Monday.
- Use it once a day for one week.
- Try a second tool by Friday.
- Follow one person who teaches this.
Ask it a question
you already know
the answer to.
You now
know.
What it is.
Autocomplete trained on the internet.
What it’s great at.
Writing, thinking, summarizing.
Where it lies.
Anything specific, recent, or numeric.
How to drive it.
Role, task, context, format, follow-up.
You just used AI.
Vibe Coding.
Stretch your legs. Back in ten.
What I used
to do all day.
Senior designer. Week-long loop.
What I do
all day now.
Same role. Same hours. Different loop.
Part 2 needs
a desktop app.
The browser versions won’t run vibe coding. Download the real app first.
As of April 2026.
Claude works on both. ChatGPT and Gemini are Mac-only for now.
Vibe Coding:
Talk to AI, get working software.
No syntax. No setup. Just words.
The new tools.
v0
Describe a page. Get a page.
Lovable
Describe an app. Get a live app.
Bolt
Full-stack, in your browser.
Cursor
An editor that writes code for you.
Claude Code
Ship whole features from a chat.
I’ll show you.
One sentence → a real page.
It’s a
teammate,
not a toy.
Claude Code and Cursor aren’t for toy apps. They work on real projects:
- • Reads your whole codebase.
- • Edits the right files.
- • Runs your tests.
- • Opens pull requests.
You review and steer. It does the typing.
What you could build
this week.
A personal portfolio
A family-recipes site
A weekend utility
A small automation script
A landing page for your idea
A birthday card website
An event RSVP page
A shared grocery list
Context windows.
How much the AI can read at once, in one conversation.
(about 70 pages)
(about 500 pages)
(about 2,500 pages)
(about 700 pages)
(about 2,500 pages)
(about 5,000 pages)
Start a fresh chat. Old chats don’t help.
Break it into smaller chunks, one per chat.
Paste only what matters. Not everything.
Power tools,
when you’re ready.
Skip for now. Come back when Claude Code feels normal.
Subagents.
Spin up a smaller Claude to go research something in parallel, and report back.
GitHub workflows.
Automations that run on your repo: tests on every change, deploys on every merge.
Git worktrees.
Have two versions of your project checked out at once. Try risky changes without breaking the main one.
Coding from your phone.
Claude Code runs on mobile too. Ship fixes from a coffee shop, or an airplane.
Talk, don’t type.
SuperWhisper or Wispr Flow turns speech into prompts. Faster than typing, once you get used to it.
Try it.
Open Claude (or any tool) and ask it to build something small. A page, a utility, a fun app.
Stuck? Raise a hand.
Ten minutes. Go.
Hire me.
Or bring me
back.
I help teams use AI — as a designer, a speaker, or a vibe-coding partner.
Got an idea for another class? I’m wide open. Text or email.
- A team workshop on AI at your company.
- A deep-dive on vibe coding for non-engineers.
- A 1:1 session to unstick a project.
- Something I haven’t thought of yet.
Questions?
Keep going.
The full talk, my writing, and projects — all in one place.
Claude Code,
step by step.
How code
actually works.
The whole web is just files in folders. Here’s the mental model.
A website in a browser.
You visit a site and see words like “Hello World” on screen.
Those words come from code.
The browser reads code files that tell it what to display.
Code lives in a folder.
Code files are stored in a folder, just like any other file on your computer.
Big sites = big folders.
Angel.com is one large folder, with smaller folders inside for each page.
Media lives in a database.
Videos and images sit in a database. The code just references them.
Your first
Claude Code app.
Start to finish. You’ll need the Claude desktop app installed first (Section 3).
Create a project folder.
In Finder or File Explorer, make a new folder. No spaces in the name.
Open the Claude app.
Go to the Code tab at the top. Different from regular chat.
Connect your folder.
Click “select folder” under the chat box. Pick the folder you just made.
Give your instructions.
Type: “Make a hello-world website, fastest way possible.”
Set auto-accept edits.
Click the dropdown that says “Ask Permissions”. Change to auto-accept.
Hit enter — watch it go.
Claude plans, writes code, and builds your app.
Allow for session.
If Claude asks permission, pick “Always allow for session.”
Open the link.
Claude gives you a link. Paste it in your browser — hello, world!
claude.md file.A memory file for your project. Claude reads it every time, so you don’t repeat yourself.
What it is.
A plain-text file with context and instructions Claude should always follow.
What to include.
Your role, project goals, things to avoid (“never use emojis”, “I’m not a developer”).
Start from a template.
Copy a starter claude.md from a Google Doc. Paste into Claude Code.
Ask Claude to save it.
Say: “Make this my claude.md file.” Claude creates and stores it for you.
Install the
Claude desktop app.
The web version of Claude can’t run Claude Code. You need the desktop app.
Go to claude.com/download.
Pick Mac or Windows. Click the button.
Download lands in Downloads.
Double-click the file. On Mac, you’ll see a popup.
Drag to Applications.
Drag the Claude icon into the Applications folder shortcut.
Open Applications.
Find Claude in your Applications folder. Double-click to launch.
Follow onboarding.
Sign in with your Angel Google account — not personal Gmail.
Answer “What do you do?”
Say you’re not a developer. Explain your role simply.
Pick a role description.
Choose the one that fits you best from the dropdown.
Go to the Code tab.
At the top of the app, click Code. This is where Claude Code lives.
Install Kode CLI tools.
When prompted, say yes. Takes 10–15 minutes. Keep your laptop plugged in.
You’re set up.
Switch to the Chat tab if you hit a snag — Claude can help debug.
Connect GitHub.
Back up & share your code.
Cloud storage,
for code.
It’s what most developers use. Two jobs:
- Back up your work. Roll back if something goes wrong.
- Share with others. Build together on the same code.
On your computer.
Local, private, on disk.
On GitHub.
Cloud backup, shareable.
Access GitHub on the web at github.com, or via the desktop app you download.
Five steps to get your project into the cloud.
Go to github.com.
Click “Sign up”. Create an account with your Angel Gmail.
Set up 2FA now.
Do this the moment GitHub prompts you. Use Google Authenticator. Skip it and you’ll get locked out of your own account later.
Pick your project.
Use an existing Claude Code folder, or create a new hello-world one.
Ask Claude to back it up.
“I have a GitHub account. Can you help me back up my project?”
Follow the instructions.
Claude walks you through it step by step. Project is now backed up.
Share a project
with a coworker.
Once your project is on GitHub, you can invite others to collaborate.
Back up to GitHub first.
Follow Section 4 before sharing. You need the project pushed.
Log in to github.com.
You should see your project listed on the left side bar.
Open project → Settings.
Click your project name, then the Settings tab at the top.
Click Collaborators.
Find it in the left sidebar. This is where you add people to the project.
Click Add people.
Opens a search box for finding coworkers.
Search by email.
Use their Angel email or GitHub username. They must already have an account.
Click Add [email].
Confirms the invite. GitHub sends it to them.
They accept.
Your coworker gets an email. Once they accept, you’re collaborators.