Hello and welcome to the Vergecast, the flagship podcast of Codeex. I'm your friend David Pierce, and today on the show we are revisiting our vibe coding challenge. About a month ago, I gave two of my colleagues a challenge to go off and develop a website to solve a problem that they had in their real life. This is just a way for us to experiment with some of the vibe coding tools, push things along, try new things, and see what we, admittedly regular people when it comes to this stuff, might be able to make in a vibe coding world. It's been a month. I'm very excited to check in. I also, if I'm being completely honest, am unreasonably proud of the things that I've made, and I'm very excited to show them off and brag about them. It's going to be very fun. We're going to get to that in just a second, but first, here's everything else happening on The Verge today. This is 90 seconds on The Verge for Monday, August 10th, 2026.
Mark Zuckerberg just published a huge 6,500-word manifesto on how he sees the future of AI. Most of what's in there is not surprising. He loves America. He thinks agents will make everything amazing for everyone. You know the drill. He said he's in favor of more government oversight of AI models, but doesn't think it's worth trying to keep foreign models out of the US altogether. Thought that was interesting. Every AI CEO seems to love a manifesto right now. And I only bring this one up because it's from a CEO whose products are part of so many people's lives every day. And actually because there's one line in here I quite like. He says that invention, not automation, will be the greatest contribution of super intelligence. I'm into that.
Meanwhile, big news in App Store world. The first non-Google Android app store is now available in the Play Store. It's called Aptoide and it's a game store. Android has always supported these third-party app stores, but they came either pre-loaded, like the Amazon App Store on Fire tablets, or you had to sideload them. But after years of legal fighting with Epic, which is the company that makes Fortnite, Google is now required to let those app stores into the Play Store itself. This is a big change to the whole app economy. And by the way, there's a very similar fight playing out as we speak with Apple and iOS.
Finally, Verge contributor Georgina Torbit has a story about a company called Reflect Orbital, which recently won FCC approval to launch a mirror satellite, which is exactly what you think it is, designed to reflect sunlight onto Earth 24 hours a day, either for actual light or to generate solar power. Right now, it's one satellite, but Reflect wants it to be 50,000. Meanwhile, astronomers are worried about light pollution. They're worried about scientific observation, even about what would happen if you pointed your telescope at just the wrong place. This is a test worth keeping an eye on. Just don't look at it too directly. You can read more about all this at theverge.com. That is 90 seconds of The Verge for Monday, August 10th.
All right, let's get to vibe coding. Joining me now, The Verge's Jake Kastrenakes. Hi, Jake.
Hey, good to be here. And The Verge's Hayden Field. Hi, Hayden.
You were in a studio together. My FOMO is incredible. We're just going to move past it. It's going to be fine.
Yeah. I'm sorry we didn't invite you. So about a month ago, we all left an episode of the Vergecast with the same task, which is build a website to solve some problem in your life. Um, I probably should have specified that this was to be a vibe coded thing, but it turns out none of us are technically sophisticated enough to do anything else. Anyway, so we have all been on what I hope has been a fun and fulfilling vibe coding adventure over the last month. Um, we're going to do some show and tell, but first, uh, Jake, let's start with you. Just tell me how the experience has been. How much of your life have you poured into vibe coding over the last month?
Fun and fulfilling is not the words I would have chosen. Like, not at all. So like, let's go back to last month for a second where I told you about a to-do app I made and an email app I made. And those, I had a blast. Um, I had a great time making those and like spent a little bit too much time on the weekend even working on those, right? Like it was fun. I felt like I was building something and getting good feedback and getting somewhere. This was not that experience. And I think the main reason was that I switched from, uh, Claude Code to Codeex. I wanted to try using Codeex this time and it was horrible. It did not go well.
Um, it's bad. I'm not... Codeex is like so unhelpful. It doesn't know what it can do. I had to start a new Codeex chat thread every single time I started this thing up because it would hit into something that it didn't realize it couldn't get access to and it would just be like, that's it, I'm done, nothing I can do anymore. And then I would have to go into a new thread and be like, continue this project, and it would be like, no problem, let's go. And the same thing happened every single time. I have seven different threads that happened over like seven or eight different days of working on this thing. And I would just like... but what I ended up doing was just sort of working away at it until it hit that point and then being like, if it's done, I'm done. We're going to stop here.
I mean, the funniest part about this is I think the thing that I have discovered is that actually what you just described is the way most sophisticated people would tell you to use these things. It's like I got in trouble one time. I wrote a big story about stuff I made and I got a bunch of people who were like, 'Oh, you just had one long conversation to build this thing. What you're supposed to do is actually have a folder full of instructions and you're supposed to have a different chat for every single feature you want to build because that way you can orchestrate all of the agents.' And I was just like, I'm sure all of that is true.
Yeah, my multi-agent swarm didn't materialize.
I'm not about a multi-agent swarm. Uh, Hayden, did you have a miserable time, too? I feel like this is not what I was hoping for, but it's also what I expected.
Yeah, I really did. And it was because... well, I did most of the time and then there were some highlights. Basically, what happened to me was I was really having the everyman's experience in that I tried... I didn't have like access to our enterprise accounts for any of these things at the time. So I was just doing the free. So I tried Claude free. I ran out in like one second. Plus it was horribly ugly. It was the ugliest thing I've ever created in my life. So I was like, I can't... It was so bad that it was so ugly. It did work, but it was so ugly that I was like, I can't even look at this anymore. I have to switch platforms. That's how ugly it was. So then I went to Codeex and I unfortunately couldn't use it without like paying. So then I was like, okay, you know, let me just go to Gemini. And then I had my super long like, you know, nine-hour conversation with Gemini. And it worked great. I mean, like, I did have to have a couple of troubleshooting moments where I don't know, like I would get mad and yell in all caps sometimes. Like, I was really mean sometimes. We really went through every range of emotion. But the good news is I came out with something and you know, it works. So I'm proud.
Hayden, my attitude toward these chatbots has like really evolved in the past month where like two months ago I was like, I'm going to be really polite because these things are made in a bizarre way where they will do more effort if I'm polite and also if down the road they decide to take over the world I'm going to be on their good list. And now I'm just all caps two words like, stop, do this.
Yep. Like disregard. And I'm just like, listen to me please. Mine was worse because I was like acting like a teen. I was like, what the heck is this? I asked you to do this like... I was really like, and it was like, I understand the frustration and I appreciate the candor. Oh my god. But yeah, I used to be... to me like the lowest effort thing is really being polite. So like since it was so low effort I would be polite, but now I would get so angry.
Yes. Yes. I'm like, this is ugly. Like, what are you thinking?
First of all, I agree with all of this. I have become... I wouldn't say I've gotten meaner to my chatbots, but I've become much more terse. I used to say things like, 'Looking great. Can we do this?' And now I'm just like, 'Make it bigger.' Yeah, make it bigger. And then it does. And I'm like, 'No, bigger.' And that's my interactions now. So, all right. Let's get into some show and tell. Um, I think it's very fun, by the way, that we sort of accidentally all use different things. Jake, you made this mostly in Codeex. Hayden, you used mostly, it sounds like, Gemini and anti-gravity. Uh, I did Claude Code, which is the one I paid $20 a month for and is thus the one I'm going to use for all of these things. Um, who wants to go first in some show and tell here? I want to see the thing that you've built. I want you to give me the Shark Tank pitch and then I want to see it. Hayden, I think you should go first.
Okay, I'll go first because I think you'll be mad at me because I did what you told me not to do, but I did publish a real website online, so keep that in mind.
I made a portfolio site solely because my old site was from 2022 and it had like my Morning Brew email address and it was just embarrassing. Like a tech reporter cannot have that old of a site. So, you know, I revamped it.
Okay. What was the starting point? You don't have to give me the exact prompt, but like what was the very beginning of your conversation to make this thing? You're just like, I need a new portfolio site. Go for it.
Yeah. My very beginning was like, I need a new portfolio site. Um, here are some that I like. Um, you know, keep it like sleek, but make it a little bit fun and like include some '90s like Easter egg elements. That was kind of the energy. I unfortunately learned that I was asking for way too much with one prompt, but you know, we did our best here. So, this was mine. This is the homepage. So, my about is just like my bio and then I have this like, you know, Y2K looking resume button, which I was happy about. Um, then I have '90s mode where you can like...
Okay. You just changed it from where the sparkles are black and white to like teal. This is giving like I tried really hard on my Tumblr blog design. That's kind of what I'm getting here.
That's what I was going for with the '90s mode. Like I wanted it to be like, you know, really... I'm going to make it even more fun if I have more time. But yeah, it's hot pink and blue. Um, you know, there's a lot going on. So then...
Did you make all of these color decisions or did you just say do a '90s mode and it did a '90s mode?
I said do a '90s mode and it did it. So there are multiple things I would change. I would probably do like more crazy fonts, you know, but it's good for now. Um, then I have like on all accounts, like no matter what mode you're on, regular or not, I have like a big chunky cursor from back in the day and when you click it has stars coming out of it kind of like the habit tracker I made. It's a callback for our loyal listeners. And then um, I made like a TV and podcast link. So I have a bunch of Vergecast and Decoder episodes on here embedded that you can just listen to which is cool.
So, did you find each of these yourself or did you say go find appearances that I've made?
No, I was horrible at finding stuff. So, I had to do it all myself. That's kind of what took me the longest and all of them would break and I had to embed them different. It was like the most annoying thing in the world. And scrolling all the way back to, you know, last year and stuff in the Spotify episodes was a lot, but I did it. Um, and then yeah, finding all my links that I should include also took forever because it was really bad at scraping sites, which we should be happy about, I guess. But I found all my own links. And um, I like broke them out by, you know, scoops or uh, scenes.
Such a bummer, by the way, because this page you're showing, which is essentially just a list of links, this is the thing that actually this system ought to be the best at doing for you. It was like, 'Hey, go find some of the best, most impactful stuff written by Hayden Field on the internet.' Like, nothing on earth should be better at that than Google Gemini, right?
And I tried that. I tried using other... like I tried all of the platforms on this and they were not good. They were horrible. They found maybe one or two things each and then the rest they could not get.
I don't know. Maybe... I have been trying to do this exact same thing with Gemini a bunch recently where people will keep asking me for Verge articles about certain topics and I'll be like, 'Oh, I should just ask Gemini.' And I'll send it off and it'll be like, 'Here's a bunch of stuff that The Verge has covered that is excellent on this topic,' and it'll summarize what we've covered and then I'm just yelling at it. I'm like, 'Links, give me the links.' It never once gave me the link.
Exactly. It was so unsatisfying. And so yeah, I had to go back and like troll through all the 29 pages of pieces I've done while here and then all my old pieces that seemed... it was crazy, but so made it work. Speaking of which, I have a speaking tab and then a contact tab with just like emails. So no longer my Morning Brew email. We actually have my Verge one luckily. And then yeah, so it's pretty simple.
Tell me about the back end here. Where is this website hosted?
So I used to have a Wix site and I was really sick of it and I couldn't even upload like an index... like I couldn't even upload an HTML file because they are trying to like, you know, have a barrier there and only make you use Wix. So I left Wix and my software engineer fiance luckily told me to use GitHub Pages for free. So, I went to GitHub, made an account, made a page, and then um published it with the domain I already own. So, now it's live on my actual website, which is exciting.
Hey, we love that. That's pretty good. Okay. What was the part of this that took the longest? Like, technically speaking, the most back and forths with Gemini, what was the biggest sticking point?
This is hilarious. The biggest sticking point that took so long was literally this button. This button was...
Yes. It was like a hellscape. I tried everything. It was absolutely horrible. At first, I tried to make it shaped. Like I honestly was fine with the normal looking button. It didn't have to be this cool. I was like, 'Oh, just make it like cloud shaped or like do a scalloped edge.' Like I was like, 'Just make it a little fun.' Like even not a '90s button. Like just a regular button. Just like give it a little shape. It could not get it together. It was the weirdest... like it did polka dots. It did like crazy cutouts. Insane. And that's when I got my most mad. I was like, how can you not understand? And so then I would send it a picture of a cloud. I'm like, make it this shape. I literally just wanted like a scallop. You know what I mean? Just like a fun shape. And it was like, oh, I'm so sorry. Like, oh, you're right. I got it wrong. And then finally, I was like, you know what? Maybe it'll be less complex if I just do something more complex. So then I was like, 'Here are some images of like '90s style buttons. Like please create one.' And it like got it in one second. So I was like, you know, this is a moment. This is an example of jagged systems. It's like it couldn't do the simplest shape, just a normal button with no... but then it could do this like weird 3D thing from the past.
There was this interesting thing that I ran into last time when I was working on my email client where I was using Claude Code and Claude Code's design for the client was like hideous. Like it was very bad. But then they have a separate program called Claude Design. I don't know why these are separate systems. I don't know why they don't share intelligence. But I sent a screenshot of what Claude Code had made into Claude Design. Claude Design was like, that's pretty bad. Let's fix it. And then Claude Design whipped up a whole bunch of code to make it look good and it was like, hand this over to Claude Code. And I'm like, why can't you do this together? Like why is this not one system?
Okay, that's what I'm saying. The Claude Code one was so insanely... I mean I will say it did work but it was so insanely ugly. It was like multiple colors of beige. So many colors of beige. Love beige. And then it looked like it was like a weird manual... like I just... it was cool to... it wasn't in the cool way. It was like... I promise it was just so weird. And then Codex, I will say I wish I could have used Codex because I had seen some cool examples of Codex websites recently. Like I saw someone made like a wedding website with like a cool thing that you could walk around or like a game made out of text. Like there are cool websites I've seen recently but I just couldn't try it because you know you can't use it for free and I was having the everyman experience. So.
That's good. Yeah, I think there is a real... if you want to pour your life into making your personal website, it is sitting there for you. You can do some pretty cool stuff. Um, but I also think you without spending a dime actually landed in a pretty good place. Like that's about all you could ask for from a system like that. That's pretty good.
Thank you. And since I did not update it since 2022, we all know I would not have poured my life into it. So, I'm glad that I was forced to via this.
And you didn't have to use Wix, which no one on Earth should have to in 2026. Uh, let's switch gears. Jake, what did you build?
So, this summer, uh, my wife and I thought it would be a fun idea to sign up for a farm share. You know, the thing where you pay, uh, I don't know, a weekly or bi-weekly fee and some local farms uh ship you some random assortment of vegetables.
Just in case you're wondering, everybody, yes, Jake does live in Brooklyn. Sorry, keep going.
I'm so... Listen, every now and then, you know, we sign up for it and we're like, this is going to be such a good idea. We're going to get like fresh vegetables, all kinds of weird things that we don't usually have.
We're going to try out new things and regret it every single time and just never co-op phase in their life. It's just true.
I honestly... I need to stop myself because I will spend a long time complaining about this specific CSA. Like I've gotten dandelion greens every week, David. Every week. Um, anyway, the problem I need to solve is that they're giving me too many vegetables and they keep coming on days that I am busy and so I'm like, I have all this fresh produce that I can't do anything with. So I was like, all right, let's make a website. I could send it to my friends and they can be like, yo, I'll take those dandelion greens from you, right? It's a nice simple little thing.
So now it's farm to Jake to table is kind of what we're doing here.
