S1. Ep29 - Build Custom Software for Your Business Using Vibe Coding

Katie: Welcome to the AI Automations for Business Podcasts. We're your hosts, Katie and Null, and we'll be discussing how you can use AI for your business along with the latest news, updates and automations to help you stay ahead of the curve, allowing you to grow and scale your business more efficiently. Please be sure to subscribe and I hope you enjoy this episode. Hello, welcome back to another episode. If we haven't met yet, hi, hello, I'm Katie. And as always, I've got Noel here with me. Hey, Noel. Hello. So last week, you were bananas.

Noel: Very much so.

Katie: Because we talk all about nano banana. And this week, I feel like we're vibe in.

Noel: Very much so, yes, definitely.

Katie: Love it, because we're talking about vibecoded.

Noel: Yes, because if the word for 2025 wasn't agent, then vibe is the other one. Okay.

Katie: Well, I feel like. we've covered both of those quite well on this podcast.

Noel: Definitely, yeah.

Katie: Yeah. So as always, with anything we talk about, we try and break it down for you step by step. So even if you are brand new to AI, automations and something like this by coding, we try and explain it as if you were a beginner and we share lots of juicy facts and tips within this podcast as well. So we really hope that you enjoy. this episode. Okay, Noel. So let's start from the very beginning. What is Vibe coding?

Noel: Well, I guess what it really is, is a way that you can ask AI to go off and build you something, whether it be a software application, that could be like a web app, could be an iOS app, or Android, whatever your persuasion is, or, you know, a website, so it could be like HTML, CSS website, or anything like that, and then just using plain language and then saying to AI, right, go off and build. And then, this for me because for me, I'm not a coder. I've got no idea. Yeah. I used to build your websites years ago with HTML and CSS.

Katie: Did and you were really good at it.

Noel: I did all right. Yeah.

Katie: I mean, there was some choice words spoken at times from when like you were trying to do it, not from me or at me, but just no say his laptop. Yeah.

Noel: Yeah. Lots of swearing you, unfortunately. It's very blue. Yeah. But it's always those things where you just want one thing just to move slightly to the left.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: And then you do the code, you update it, refresh, and it doesn't move. They might go the other way. Yeah.

Katie: But at least with vibe coding,

Noel: if we see that, you know, we can ask the AI. We can describe it to AI and say, well, look, you know, this bit is in the wrong place. It should be over here. Or it's the wrong colour. Update it to this. And it will just go off and do it for you. So, yeah, that's all vibes. b, which is nice and easy. Yeah, okay.

Katie: So it's using AI to create code and then using it on websites or apps, software, things like that.

Noel: Yes, yeah. Anything that you could think users software today, you could vibe code it.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: Yeah.

Katie: Okay, so we briefly mentioned, like, you know, you can create websites, you can create apps. But let's go into that a bit further. So say you want to create an application for something. So I feel like let's create a made-up scenario.

Noel: Yeah, sounds good.

Katie: Okay. I'll let you pick, Noel.

Noel: Oh, oh, no.

Katie: What are you going to create an app for?

Noel: Let's do like an AI agent which can create social media content for us and then show us that content once it's done.

Katie: love it let's do that okay okay so let's do like a step by step then of how we would go about creating this app for us

Noel: so I guess the first step is kind of like understanding what tools you're going to use to build this so there's many different ways of doing it there's lots of applications available that allow you to do it so I would say like the main one is probably lovable That's kind of really easy to do. You know, you just describe whatever you want and it goes off and does it for you, which is really handy.

Katie: It has

Noel: some really good UI libraries in there as also, so it doesn't look rubbish once it's done. So that's kind of handy.

Katie: I mean, that's what we're aiming for. Exactly, yeah.

Noel: That is kind of a paid subscription. I think there's a free option in there as well. I guess Bolt is another one that's very similar to Loveable. And yeah, they're really handy. One I would say with things like Loveable is you can connect into an app called Superbase. So that's basically a database and it also does like user authentication. So it kind of ticks some of those boxes for security and letting the right people in or that sort of stuff. So yeah, I really like that. If you're doing something really simple and basic, then you could use ChatGPT, you could use Clore, Gemini, or any of those sort of, you know, LLN chat models and they can go off and create that kind. for you. I would say the only issue you might have there is complexity. So with like apps that are built in lovable, like there's thousands of lines of code, there's loads and loads of different files within the directory. And it's, yeah, you're not going to be able to really do that in chat chagipt.

Katie: Okay.

Noel: You might be able to do it in codex in chagipt, but yeah,

Katie: maybe. Maybe. Yeah. So that's one of the

Noel: first step.

Katie: The easiest version probably would to use. something like lovable.

Noel: Yes.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: There's also, actually, there is also another option. So you can also have like a coding IDE, they call it. So you've got like cursor. There's also WinSurf. So those are kind of the apps that were normal coders would go in and then write their stuff. And then, you know, they can test it and run it in there.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: And yeah, you can link AI into there. So they've got their own AI agents and things that. So it can go off, build the code, look at your entire code base, and then make sure everything makes sense. So that's kind of another route for vibe coded. Okay.

Katie: Right. So let's say that we're going to use lovable for us.

Noel: Mm-hmm. Yep. Okay.

Katie: Okay. Tick. We know what we're using next step.

Noel: So the next set would be to have a think about what you want to build, because what I find with 5 coding, it's very much the same as like normal prompt engineering. If you put rubbish in, you're just going to get rubbish out at the other end. Okay.

Katie: So the prompt's really important here.

Noel: Very, very important, yes. It can do a decent job with a rubbish prompt. You know, it will do its best to figure things out. But, you know, you kind of want to have that vision in your mind, maybe draw it out in a bit of paper. And then say, well, this is why we want to look like. and then let it go loose and go off and code the app. One thing with Loveball is if you did go down the analogue route and you did scribble it down on a bit of paper, you can take a picture of that and then upload that into the context. So, well, this is the layout of the app and it can look at the image and then go off and do it.

Katie: That's really cool.

Noel: I think if you're also, if you're a bit more advanced, and let's say you're using something like Figma, where you can design all of the UI and things out for your page, you can also import that and it would then code that for you as well. So that can all be done at the first prompt level. So yeah, the more you give it,

Katie: the better your results. So as much detail as possible.

Noel: Definitely, yes.

Katie: Okay.

Noel: But yeah, as soon as you hit enter, off it will go and start building your app for you. It doesn't really really need a lot of prompting after that. It would take probably a couple of minutes to go off and actually create the first build. If it hits any errors, it automatically figures that out and then, you know, reruns it all for you and stuff. So you don't have to be some sort of technical wizard to understand what's going on.

Katie: Right. But yeah,

Noel: but then once it's done, you get that you then see what it looks like. It will show you the page. You can also review it in a different browser tab, whatever, if that's what you fancy. So yeah, it's all there ready to go. And then you can then just sit back and, you know, have a chat with it and then say, well, I'm not quite sure. Maybe I want some rounded edges on this. Maybe I want this function adding. That's where the vibe part comes in. You can just have a two-way conversation with it to then, you know, create the app that you really want.

Katie: That's great.

Noel: Yeah. It's pretty awesome how it works. Okay.

Katie: So what else can you do? So like we've obviously talked about an app. But for example, like we've also said maybe it could create a website. So can we maybe like talk through of how that would look and the steps for that as well?

Noel: Yeah, I guess if you want to do like a website and an app all together, so you're building something from scratch, you could do that straight away. So you could be like, well, build the landing page for this application and then have like access to that login forms and things like that. And then it would then go off and then build the dashboard or whatever the app is in the background. So I would say kind of break it down. So don't tell it to go off and build all of that in one go because it's just not going to, it'll have a good go, but it won't probably look very good or work very well. So if you've got to kind of also break back bit down, so I say, well, let's start off with the landing page. Let's then look at the authentication and then let's look at the app, kind of break it into those chunks. But if you're just going off and you want to build an app, just to test it, see how it works, or maybe show it as a demonstration or something to use yourself within your business, then yeah, just go straight in and build that application straight away.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: Yeah.

Katie: Okay.

Noel: But then I guess the other thing is we can also link this into automations as well. So also include that information. So for our idea where we want to connect it into like an agent, what the, I guess the easiest way to do that would be, to send like a webhook to make.com and then use their AI agent function. So as you're chatting to it, it would then trigger that automation in make, get the answer, and then send it straight back and that sort of stuff. So that's really, really helpful.

Katie: Yeah, it's really cool, isn't it? Yeah.

Noel: But you could have buttons on there to say, right, now I'm happy with our posts that we've created. You could have a button on there to say post it on LinkedIn, and then that could then trigger another automation in Make, which then, you know, publishes that on LinkedIn for you, so you don't have enough to worry about that either or publishes it to your scheduling platform or whatever you want it to do with it.

Katie: Yeah, wherever you want it to go.

Noel: Mm, exactly, yeah. Really cool. Yeah, all things I couldn't have done.

Katie: So another thing that I wanted to discuss it all was, so you know, like a lot of people use booking apps, So whether they're like a NEL-Tech or maybe it's for a gym, a fitness studio, Pilates, and they use maybe it's Buxi or, you know, or many of the similar ones. Would this be able to replace something like that?

Noel: It could do, yeah. Yeah, I think, yeah, you could easily create that sort of system, whether or not it's secure enough, I don't know. I think so, but the theory is, yes, you could definitely do that. Providing you understand how those systems work, you know, like the booking process step-by-step sort of thing, so you've got your calendar, what information am I going to need to put in there? And then how all that data links together to get to the point of sending them an email with a link or send them a text message, you know, confirming that booking.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: As long as you understand that flow, then, yeah, you could quite easily build that within the board.

Katie: So you mentioned about the security part. So what is the security risks at the current moment? So obviously, we're recording this in September 2025 as all things with AI and automations. Things move at rapid speed. But right now, what are those security risks or? the vulnerabilities.

Noel: So for those that aren't coders like myself, the risk is that I don't understand what it's going off and what it's produced. I don't understand that code. So there could be vulnerabilities in the code. It could work normally. It could be fine. But if there's an exploit in there that somebody can get in and then start getting people's information, you know, I wouldn't know where to find that. You know, there's highly paid professionals out there in the world that do that for people, you know, there's obviously a very good need for having that sort of stuff.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: I guess it's kind of like best practices, you know, and just if you know somebody that knows this sort of stuff that, you know, software engineer, they're easy to have a look and figure things out. But, you know, it's just being very careful, I would say. So you could have like, well, let's go back to the Liverpool, you know, you connect into super base and then that does all the user authentication for you and that sort of security science. That's good. That works. But if you try to then do it outside of Lovable, it can be done with, it could also have bits that aren't quite right. Whereas with Lovable, it's already pre-trained. So all you've got to do is a few button clicks and it just does it. So if you do it yourself, potentially you could be in a bit of bother.

Katie: Okay.

Noel: But if you're creating something internally, so if I created a has an app that did, you know, that sort of thing and we just ran it on our laptops, then it's not really, yeah, yeah.

Katie: Yeah, it's when you start sharing it and I guess having people's bank details or credit card details on it, it's at the moment it's not secure enough.

Noel: It can be, yeah, but yeah, yeah, I'd be, for me, I'd be a little worried. Just because, just because I don't know what's going on. And sometimes what I find with vibe coding is as you're, you know, asking it to edit things, let's say you'll say, oh, could we change like the look and feel of the sign up form? So it might go in there and do that. But at the same time, some of the AI models, they get a bit distracted and they're like, oh, well, that bit doesn't quite look right. And then it will start off and then start editing other bits, which could be a part of your authentication process. and then that could break things or, you know, leave things open for vulnerabilities and stuff.

Katie: But it goes off on a side square.

Noel: It does a little bit, yeah, sometimes.

Katie: I love that.

Noel: So as I've asked things to do, I saw this page and this file, and it goes, yeah, that's great. And then it then wanders off and then goes, well, I looked at this file as well, which kind of interlinks. And there was a few other bits in there. I didn't quite like the look off. Even though I've already created it. It's like, no, that worked. And then, yeah. Take attention.

Katie: No side quest.

Noel: Exactly, yeah. It's very frustrated. Yeah.

Katie: Especially if

Noel: it breaks it and then, you know, you hit refresh on your browser and then there's just nothing there. It's like go back to my sweary days or go to HTML.

Katie: Really. Well, I feel like that's giving us a really great overview of what vibes. code in ears and like what we can do with it. I think sometimes like with these things like it's just good to go and have like a play around with them before like, you know, you want to go ahead and create what you do want to go and create.

Noel: Yes. Yeah. It's ideal for this. Yeah, you can sit down and build all sorts of apps within a couple of minutes.

Katie: Yeah. Yeah.

Noel: Yeah.

Katie: It's kind of

Noel: hard to stay focused.

Katie: You go off on your own side, choir.

Noel: I do, a bit, yeah.

Katie: For those of listening and, you know, would love some more support and guidance on this, then we are currently putting a training together on vibe coding within our new membership, which is called AI Business Club. You know, we'll go through all of this in detail with videos on, you know, how you can actually do vibe coding yourself, we're going to have like a beginner's tutorial and one that's a bit more advanced as well. So if you're thinking, oh, you know, I'm just a beginner. I've never done anything like this. Don't worry, we've got you as the same as like maybe you've had a play around with it. But, you know, you just need a bit more information or tutorials. Then again, we've got you. So there'll be those two videos going up very soon in our membership. And we'll leave the links for it below. But thank you so, so much for listening to this week's podcast episode. And we will catch you next time for another episode very soon.