Ask HN: Have you observed this trend of building "internal vibe-coding apps"? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Have you observed this trend of building "internal vibe-coding apps"?

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15 pointsjoddystreet18 comments

I hear that all around me. Two examples:

- In a powerline construction company, some people (non-devs) vibe-coding internal apps to help with the planification of the construction, like connecting to the land register automatically and mailing all the people on the path of the new powerline. - An industrial company where they vibe coded an internal social network.

In both cases the apps are a bit rough on the edges, but they work and people are happy. I really think we will see more and more arbitrage between buying and vibe-building.

Mailing everyone along the path of a new powerline straight from the land register is such a specific little tool. Does anyone know who fixes these apps when they break, the person who built it or somebody in IT?

>> who fixes these apps when they break

> vibe coded

Another vibe coding

Yeah, I'm a software dev, and I agree. that's exactly the kind of argument I use. But if they are usually quoted 100k$ for such a specific piece of software, they are probably fine vibe coding it and dealing with the eventual bugs or errors later...

The problem is design is a skill for humans by humans. It gets neglected beyond AI's initial rounded corners, stock buttons and forms.

If AI nails design, it's by accident, not because it thought through design strategies relative to business needs, target audience, or any number of other factors.

Unlike its excellent coding skills, AI can't judge whether your eagerly generated features should be scaled back or omitted because of where this "app thing" is placed relative to other "app things".

AI: "You're thinking the right way. Leaderboard now added. Would you like staff to receive regular emails with updates on their leaderboard position?"

I was brought in the other day to discuss building an app to automate audits, and the person pointed at an internal web app that was made by a person in ERP team, and called that amazing. I can see Claude signatures every where, but I just let them go with it.

It's getting real now that everyone can prompt to build things now and call themselves coders. I was even offered help from them.

I have heard of non-engineering folks vibe-coding dashboards/apps and deploying them in god knows what way - all with the support of management. Code is now cheap. Those with good engineering teams will be able to rein it in. Everyone else will be left with heaps of broken or (worse) wrong code. Business or life critical decisions will be made on that. When it’s wrong, do we blame the vibe coder?

This already exists in the form of Excel spreadsheets with macros that go beyond the comprehension of any one person, and so will likely occupy the same niche, with some vibe-coded slop that's deemed useful being assigned to engineers to clean up and maintain.

Honestly, this is a really good step-up for a lot of businesses.

I can affirm that I'm seeing vibe-coded dashboards designed to ingest and run on top of Excel spreadsheets full of macros, VBA, and "Excel Scripts" interlinks.

I... Cannot call this a step up. They're expanding, not replacing.

Sure, but at least Claude is available to fix the slop instead of needing to depend on people who have gone away a long time ago. ultimately if it's valuable they can invest in someone to come in and build things the right way.

I'm afraid I'll believe that will happen, when I believe tech debt doesn't exist. That utopia does not seem on the horizon.

I used the Excel example the other day. What Excel gave us is a tool that was simple enough that people without a lot of technical expertise could wield it in anger, and so folks who have the domain expertise can do something useful with it.

It’s easy to look down on it as fragile, ugly, insecure or whatever, but by and large it works for solving people’s problems.

I see vibe coding the same way. There’s going to be a lot of shit, just like there’s a lot of shit spreadsheets, but I also think there’s going to be a lot of itch scratching.

I think it’s inevitable as AI becomes more powerful and more readily available. It’s a new way for people to think about problems and solutions at work.

Is it always good? No. Is it happening? Yes.

I’ve been working on an open-source platform called Pando (https://github.com/trypando/pando) to help provide a safer outlet for these internal apps.

I don’t think it’s realistic to suppress these apps, so there should be something to point users/employees to.

Just as every office has a computer, every corporate document uses Word, and every data grouping/analysis goes to Excel, AI is the tool of the moment; everyone will use it, and those who don't are stuck with the typewriter.

Regarding internal apps, the big problem isn't creating/building them, it's maintaining them, scaling them, and providing support. In the coming times, we'll see many companies suffering from orphaned, vibe-coded apps that no longer work.

I agree with this. People are vibe-coding apps all the time at work, and who knows where they go, especially when that person leaves the company.

With that said, for apps that require scalability, I don’t see this as the same problem, since that suggests they are widely used, and will be maintained similarly to a product or standard internal tool was, 5 years ago.

But for the rest of them, this is why I made Pando. It’s my way of trying to find a solution to preventing a ton of apps and company data to get thrown around and forgotten about.

Which to be fair is not necessarily better or worse than orphaned, vibe-coded Excel spreadsheets that no longer work.

Are you building one? What are you building? Why?

Seems to be a paid subscriber article?

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