Vibing with AI Code

Everyone wants a software factory: tickets go in, reviewed and tested code comes out. So how do you actually build one, and where should the human stay? Brendan and Baird walk through the setup they already use on a side project. A recorded planning call becomes a spec, the spec becomes Linear tickets, and Claude Code picks the tickets up. Then they look at what's still missing: automatic pickup, real checks and balances, and a way to run it all without a $145 API bill for a routine task. They agree the code itself can go to the AI. The...

Six months into running his Claude Command Center, Brendan has a confession: the morning brief broke for a week and he didn't notice, because he'd already stopped reading it. This episode is the honest post-mortem on why a personal AI system can genuinely make you more productive and still feel like it's missing the point. Sparked by GrokBot and a conversation with Jesse Hanley of Bento, Brendan and Baird dig into what's actually broken — a system that generates content for you to look at but never acts on your behalf, briefs that insist a task isn't done when the pr...

Baird's been building a reactive, background agentic framework — something that sits around all day surfacing what actually matters instead of waiting to be kicked off — and Brendan compares it head-to-head with his Claude Command Center. The whole episode circles the hardest problem in personal AI systems: cutting through the noise. Both hosts are fighting the same battle from different angles — a morning brief that dumps 30 to-dos when only two matter, figuring out whether a Slack message was actually answered, piecing together a Gmail thread and a Slack message that are secretly about the same thing, and Brendan quietly abandoning his ow...

With Fable's Pro-plan window closing, Brendan and Baird both did the same thing on their own: instead of trying to build with it, they had Fable plan — full roadmaps and individual feature specs — so cheaper models like Opus and Sonnet could execute against a high-quality plan. That kicks off a wider check-in on where AI is actually landing right now. Models feeling far more thorough and meticulous, Opus writing Python scripts to verify Ruby physics it can't run, Claude Code's improved auto-permissions mode finally letting you kick off work and walk away, and why agent loops still aren't the answ...

Brendan dove back into three stalled projects in one day — a personal command center, a video game tracker, and a Rails 8 app he hadn't touched in two months — and both hosts dig into why AI makes restarting old projects so much easier: it remembers where you left off, tells you what's actually built, and (with Fable) plans and cross-checks the reassessment before you write a line of code. They get into when it's worth splitting context (personal vs. project-specific memory), why Fable feels like the best planner but not necessarily the best daily driver, and how tools like Conductor now...

Two years into building daily with AI, Brendan and Baird check in on what's actually still broken. Baird shares an image-processing pipeline (GPT Image 2, Nano Banana) that nails 8 out of 10 images — then randomly crops the sandwich out of frame. Brendan tells the story of Claude claiming it spun up 10 sub-agents when it actually did the work itself and just said so. They dig into why non-determinism is still the real blocker for hands-off automation, why they're skeptical of "just let the agent loop figure it out," and where AI has genuinely transformed their work: killing activation energy, handling the te...

AI design is getting better — but it's also getting more homogenous. First it was the Tailwind default. Now it's the Claude Design default. In this episode, Baird walks through how he rebuilt his personal portfolio site using a design-systems approach with AI skills — and why that process produces something that actually feels intentional. Sponsor Powerful podcast hosting & analytics By podcasters, for podcasters. Since 2016 Brought to you by https://fireside.fm claudecode #claudeai #aidesign #aicoding #aiagents

The hosts discuss the rising costs and tightening limits for AI tools as companies try to recoup massive infrastructure spending. They note signs that features like Claude Code may be removed from the $20/month Pro plan. They compare experiences hitting usage caps faster when using agent-style workflows like the “Get Shit Done” framework, which can burn tokens quickly especially during planning. To cope, they describe mixing tools and models—Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Windsurf, and free alternatives like Kimi—using cheaper models for research or simple tasks and reserving premium models for complex work. They also explore switching costs from too...

In this episode, the hosts share a hands-on update on using Claude Dispatch. They discuss how it works as a separate synced chat that can trigger and check on jobs remotely, create tickets from analysis results, and request new agents. They also reference the current friction around permissions and repository selection. The conversation then shifts to exploring local and lower-cost agentic AI workflows due to usage limits and subscription costs, including experimenting with Google’s Gemma 4 as a local “brain” via LM Studio and using Kimi in Windsurf to build a new local agent app (code-named “Loki”) with chat, tools, mem...

In this episode, the hosts discuss practical challenges with Claude Cowork and scheduled AI jobs, focusing on friction points like needing a laptop to be awake for tasks to run, inconsistent scheduling behavior, and recurring permission prompts that can silently halt background workflows. Sponsor Fireside Powerful podcast hosting & analytics By podcasters, for podcasters. Since 2016 Sign up for our newsletter 00:19 Show Format And Goals 01:25 Claude Cowork Friction 01:59 Scheduling And Permissions 06:43 Dashboard And Tool Sprawl 08:08 Dispatch Mobile Layer 09:46 Live Debug With Claude 15:39 Global Bypass Is Risky<...

AI is powerful but risky in the wrong hands. We break down the real liability and security concerns founders face when using LLMs in local development — from overly permissive "YOLO mode" to production database wipeouts. Plus practical best practices for vibe coders who want to ship fast without blowing up their app. Sponsor Fireside Powerful podcast hosting & analytics By podcasters, for podcasters. Since 2016 Link to The Bootstrapped Founder episode we discussed Sign up for our newsletter 00:00 AI News Overload 00:59 Podscan and Liability 02:21 YOLO Mode Dangers 04:17 Vi...

After a bit of a hiatus, we are back this week to discuss AI-driven productivity and the challenge of staying focused amid rapidly evolving tools. We compare our approaches to using AI to help with productivity. We also discuss using multiple Claude instances to parallelize bug fixes, the difficulty of review/testing and maintaining understanding, and why safer integrated agent-style tools may beat early open-source alternatives. Sponsor Fireside Powerful podcast hosting & analytics By podcasters, for podcasters. Since 2016 00:00 Back on the Mic 00:45 AI Productivity Shift 01:35 Email and Slack Triage 03:43 PARA...

Thinking about switching AI coding tools? In this video, Baird breaks down his experience moving from Windsurf to Claude Code — why he made the switch, what each tool does well, and how they compare for real-world coding productivity. If you’re exploring AI coding assistants, VS Code extensions, or tools like Cursor, Claude, and Windsurf, this discussion will help you decide which is right for you. Sponsor Fireside Powerful podcast hosting & analytics By podcasters, for podcasters. Since 2016 ClaudeCode #Windsurf #AICoding #VSCode #CodingTools #AIProgramming #ClaudeAI #Cursor

Struggling with AI losing track of your prompts? In this episode, we dive into the context problem in AI coding—why large language models forget instructions, how it impacts developers, and practical strategies to manage context windows effectively. We discuss: ✅ How context retention affects AI coding in tools like Cursor, Windsurf, and Claude Code ✅ Proven techniques for managing context in AI development ✅ The future of AI interfaces, IDE integrations, and coding workflows ✅ Insights on pricing shifts, new tools like Kira, and where AI coding is headed Whether you’re a software engineer, AI...

In this inaugural episode, brothers Brendan and Baird discuss their backgrounds as developers and share insights on AI-assisted coding. They delve into their experiences using AI tools like Cursor, Windsurf, and Claude, and explore topics such as AI coding workflows, the initial challenges of vibe coding, security concerns, and the long-term impact on coding skills. The episode also touches on innovative features in the AI world like Claude Swarm and AI-driven app development. Tune in to hear their candid thoughts and see how they navigate the evolving landscape of AI in software development. 00:00 Introduction and Episode Overview<...