Dear Reader,

In a tech world obsessed with frameworks, best practices, and shipping at scale, it’s easy to forget that sometimes you’re allowed to build things just because you want to.

You don’t need to be a software engineer with a five-year plan. You don’t even need to know exactly what you’re doing - you just need to care enough to have a go at it.

This is the spirit behind vibe coding - a term that no doubt you’ve seen bubbling up in creative tech spaces to describe coding led by feeling, curiosity, and playful experimentation.

And it’s nicely connected to a powerful idea from Zen philosophy: the beginner’s mind.

What is a “Beginner’s Mind”?

The concept comes from Zen monk Shunryu Suzuki, who wrote:

A beginner’s mind - shoshin - is open, free from assumptions, and fully present. It’s a mindset that invites exploration without ego. You’re not worried about being right, because you’re focused on being in it.

In code, this shows up as:

• Trying things without knowing if they’ll work
• Following instincts over documentation
• Using AI tools to help when you’re stuck
• Caring more about what you’re making than how it’s made

What Is Vibe Coding?

Vibe coding means coding by feel. It’s what happens when you build something that feels fun, looks cool, or solves your problem, without obsessing over how clean the repo structure is.

Examples of vibe-coded projects:

• A countdown to your favourite album drop with neon CSS
• A dashboard that tracks the moon phases in your city
• A chatbot that gives compliments in pirate speak
• A timer that plays lo-fi beats when you’re focused

They’re not enterprise apps - they’re creative tools, personal utilities, or joyful experiments that fit a you-shaped niche.

Why This Approach Lowers the Barrier to Entry

Traditional coding can feel intimidating. You’re told to learn:

• A version control system
• Three frameworks
• Testing
• Deployment pipelines and more…

Meanwhile, vibe coding says “Use whatever tools help you get there”:

• It’s okay to use ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini to scaffold things
• It’s okay if it only works on your laptop
• It’s okay if it’s “bad code” (whatever that means)
• You can always refactor later—or not at all.

This mindset unlocks creative momentum. It gets you building now, rather than waiting until you’re “ready" (a mythical state of being if ever there was one!).

Code Like No One’s Watching

When you stop worrying about whether your project is “good enough,” you start discovering what you actually want to make. When you approach each idea with a beginner’s mind, you stop chasing correctness and start following curiosity.

When you vibe code, you give yourself permission to build something small and cool - and maybe inspire someone else to do the same.

So go make a weird little thing. It doesn’t need to go viral. It just needs to exist.

From Idea to “Weird Little Thing”: Two Real Examples

This week, I put this philosophy into practice with two builds that started from genuine irritations and turned into things I actually use. I started out by posing my problem to Claude's Open 4 model, having it create the base foundation for my apps. Then, when I ran out of credits, I moved to OpenAI's Codex, then later Google's Gemini CLI to iterate and fine-tune.

The ISS Tracker That Solved a Parenting Problem

Late one night, I found myself in the garden with three excited kids, juggling two devices to catch the International Space Station passing overhead. One screen showed NASA’s live feed of Earth from orbit, the other tracked the ISS position in real time. Magical moment, but also chaos - darkness, excited children, and multiple devices rarely end well.

So I built what I actually needed: a split-screen ISS tracker that combines trajectory mapping with the live NASA feed in one interface. Real-time updates every two seconds, GPS location detection for visible pass predictions, keyboard shortcuts for when you’re fumbling in the dark.

The result isn’t just functional, it’s genuinely useful. No more device juggling during those fleeting overhead passes. My kids can now follow the ISS journey across our sky whilst watching the Earth slowly rotate beneath them on the same screen.

Does it look pretty? Not at all. But it gets the job done!

👀 View on GitHub | 🛰️ Demo​

The Pomodoro Timer That Actually Enhances Focus

Every productivity timer I tried felt either sterile or cluttered. I wanted something that didn’t just count down minutes, but actively helped me focus—like meditation meets productivity.

What emerged was a Pomodoro timer with binaural tones and ambient soundscapes. Not just work/break cycles, but Web Audio API-generated binaural beats that sync with your session phases. Rain sounds, forest ambience, customisable colour schemes that shift with your rhythm. Desktop notifications that feel helpful rather than intrusive.

It does exactly what I wanted: creates a focus cocoon around work sessions without the feature bloat of subscription productivity apps.

​View on GitHub | 🍅 Demo​

Speed to Solution

Both projects went from “this annoys me and I don't have a solution” to “I have something of a solution that is enough to get by" faster than researching alternatives would have taken. The ISS tracker repository shows it’s a sophisticated piece of kit—multiple deployment options, keyboard shortcuts, responsive design, but it started with a simple conversation with Claude about combining two data sources.

The Pomodoro timer’s codebase reveals modular JavaScript, proper Web Audio API integration, and persistent settings, yet it began with “I want a timer that helps me focus, not just counts time.”

This is vibe coding’s superpower: AI handles the technical scaffolding so you can focus entirely on solving your actual problem. You’re not learning a framework to build a thing, you’re building the thing to explore what’s possible.

Practical Vibe Coding Tools for Beginners

Want to start vibe coding today? Here’s what helps:

• ChatGPT or Claude – your always-on pair programmer
• Glitch or Replit – instant web app playgrounds
• GitHub Pages – deploy a static site in minutes
• Figma or Pen & Paper – sketch before you build
• JavaScript + HTML/CSS – still the fastest way to express ideas

You don’t need to master everything. You just need enough to build a thing.

Heck, if you don't even want to get your hands even slightly mucky with the above, you use Claude's new Interactive Artefacts feature and make your own drum machine!

​

PS: I heartily recommend Suzuki’s “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind” for your summer reading list.

Jim

Signal Over Noise is written by Jim Christian. Subscribe at newsletter.jimchristian.net.

Ready for AI That Actually Works Together?

Stop switching between disconnected AI tools. In a 90-minute AI Action Plan Session, I'll show you how to set up the kind of orchestrated workflows I use daily - where your AI can read your files, update your systems, and execute complex tasks across all your tools. Let's design your unified AI workflow (or build a weird little thing!)

Book Your AI Action Plan Session Here

Made with ❤️ in Valencia by Jim Christian. For feedback, please reach out to hello@jimchristian.net.