Vibecoding
by How zombie eZabel came back from the dead
eZabel was always a coding side project for me, first. I built it as a way for me to practice my passion for writing software while also building a product, and building a community.
I've gradually grown tired of writing code over the past ten years or so. I noticed it maybe in 2018, when I started to enjoy the people parts of my job much more than the mechanics of building software. But, thinking back, I really started losing interest in programming as a craft years before, around 2013 or 2014. The coding side of my job became more of a chore, and I leaned into the people side more. I changed my path to focus on management a few years later. Looking back now, eZabel followed the same path. I let it die in 2014. I mean, it was already dead. But when the site stopped working, I didn't have the energy or interest in getting it back up.
But eZabel was always in the back of my mind. I love this place. I miss it.
Now in 2026, AI has reignited my love for building software. The programming world has shifted, fundamentally and, at least for me, permanently. Writing code no longer has to be a part of software development. I rebuilt this version eZabel from scratch in about a week using AI tools. And I didn't write a single line of code. I haven't even opened up an editor to look at any of the code. I played Product Manager, Architect, Tech Lead, QA Tester roles a bit. But, I mostly delegated those roles to AI agents. I pointed Claude Code at the old eZabel database and codebase, and let it rip. I thought of new features (like the Lore page, AI summaries, eZabel Gems, improved profile pages, feature flags) and built them in minutes or hours. I had AI spawn a team of testers to find bugs, and team of developers to fix them. Figuring out how use these new tools effectively has been the new coding side project for me. It's also changed my job. I don't mind. I find it energizing!
So, here we are, in 2026, with a whole new eZabel coded by AI. 🤖
Welcome back from the dead, eZabel! We missed you.
I've gradually grown tired of writing code over the past ten years or so. I noticed it maybe in 2018, when I started to enjoy the people parts of my job much more than the mechanics of building software. But, thinking back, I really started losing interest in programming as a craft years before, around 2013 or 2014. The coding side of my job became more of a chore, and I leaned into the people side more. I changed my path to focus on management a few years later. Looking back now, eZabel followed the same path. I let it die in 2014. I mean, it was already dead. But when the site stopped working, I didn't have the energy or interest in getting it back up.
But eZabel was always in the back of my mind. I love this place. I miss it.
Now in 2026, AI has reignited my love for building software. The programming world has shifted, fundamentally and, at least for me, permanently. Writing code no longer has to be a part of software development. I rebuilt this version eZabel from scratch in about a week using AI tools. And I didn't write a single line of code. I haven't even opened up an editor to look at any of the code. I played Product Manager, Architect, Tech Lead, QA Tester roles a bit. But, I mostly delegated those roles to AI agents. I pointed Claude Code at the old eZabel database and codebase, and let it rip. I thought of new features (like the Lore page, AI summaries, eZabel Gems, improved profile pages, feature flags) and built them in minutes or hours. I had AI spawn a team of testers to find bugs, and team of developers to fix them. Figuring out how use these new tools effectively has been the new coding side project for me. It's also changed my job. I don't mind. I find it energizing!
So, here we are, in 2026, with a whole new eZabel coded by AI. 🤖
Welcome back from the dead, eZabel! We missed you.
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