Vibe coding, to me, is the ability to create realistic, visually appealing software without writing a single line of code, and within hours.
One way I use it is to create client demos. A prototype has always been a way to validate an idea before committing to full development. Vibe coding gives you a dramatically faster way to create something you can actually put in front of people.
But speed is only part of the story. You still need to know what to build, what to skip, and when to stop.
In this piece, I’m sharing how I do it, based on my own client work. I cover how I decide what to build and what to skip, and how I go from idea to demo in hours. Then I walk through a real example: a link shortener I built in around six hours. I’ll also cover the mistakes I see most often and the rules I follow with every vibe-coded app.
I hope it will be helpful to delivery managers, product owners, and non-technical leaders who want to test ideas with clients before spending a single developer hour.
Table of Contents
How I Decide What to Build and What to Skip
In any client relationship, you’re ultimately trying to solve a real problem. So the right use case is usually something I hear during a conversation.
It’s not necessarily a direct request. More often than not, it’s a pain point or frustration that resonates with me and sparks an idea. Something where I think: this could help them do things better, faster, or with less effort.
I listen for trigger phrases
I’m looking for things like “I always wanted this”, “I never thought this was possible”, or “a colleague of mine had this great idea”. Those are the moments where you can step in.
Take a simple example. A client mentions they always wanted an app to manage their eBay shop. You come back with something with their logo, brand colours, listings, costs, and a revenue dashboard. Then you let them click through it themselves.
Suddenly, it feels like their product, not a generic demo. And then they ask: what would it cost to build this for real?
That’s the moment. You give them a ballpark range. You’re clear that this is a quick demonstration of what’s possible. And you open the door to everything else: the additional flows, the features they couldn’t find in off-the-shelf software, and the things only a custom build can give them.
I stay on the client’s problem
It’s important to remember what a prototype is for, vibe-coded or otherwise:
It’s a way to get early feedback on an idea.
The goal is to take a spark and quickly turn it into something tangible. Something the client can interact with and decide whether it’s worth pursuing.
In my opinion, what makes a use case wrong is losing sight of the client’s actual problem. If the demo doesn’t speak directly to their pain point, they might appreciate the effort. But they won’t be motivated to act on it. Their attention stays on their own priorities, not yours.
And sometimes, I don’t build at all
I’ve learned this the hard way.
There were cases where my own enthusiasm got the better of me. I’d spend time building something engaging and polished, only to discover during the presentation that I’d misread what the client actually needed.
So now I don’t rush to build the moment you hear a problem.
My advice: Spend reasonable time on initial discovery so that when you do build something, that time is justified. The wow factor means nothing if you’ve solved the wrong problem.
A good conversation can validate an idea just as effectively as a demo. Sometimes it’s the right call to talk it through first, before you pick up the tools.
I always check the technical complexity first
There’s one more check before I build. Does the core of what you’re trying to demonstrate rely on a third-party integration or a complex technical dependency? Then, validate feasibility with a solution architect first.
Why? Say you mock a smooth integration in the UI and later discover it’s not technically viable or financially justifiable. You’ve created a problem for yourself. You’ve sold a vision you can’t deliver.
My rule of thumb: if the key challenge is on the user-facing side, go wild and build the prototype. If the key challenge is under the hood, get the architecture validated before you put anything in front of a client.
My skip list
When I’m optimising for speed and client engagement, a lot goes on my skip list:
- Login flows. They don’t tend to create a wow moment, and neither does password recovery.
- Edge cases. They eat time without adding impact, and that’s time you can’t afford to spend.
- Real data. It’s off the table because of the risk of it ending up somewhere it shouldn’t.
- Security. I don’t invest in it at this stage. This is validation work, not production code.
How I Go From Idea to Demo in Hours
This is how I do it, from a delivery lead’s perspective. It’s not the only way. If you approach vibe coding differently, I’d genuinely like to hear your ideas.
Think about how traditional prototyping works. You engage a designer to create several screens. Then you use a separate tool to wire up the interactions between them, to give the impression of real software. And when you need to change something in the middle of a flow, it creates a ripple effect across every screen it touches.
Vibe coding changes that dynamic entirely.
You become the product owner
With vibe coding, you can simply tell the AI what you want, in plain words, as if you were speaking to a developer. The only difference is that it does the coding for you, several times faster than a developer or designer ever could.
But it’s not enough to simply give AI instructions. You have to know where you’re going. You can prompt AI to act as a product owner, a UI/UX expert, or a domain expert, and it will help you shape the product. Ultimately, though, you’re the one directing it. And the more core skills you bring to that conversation, the better the outcome.
My career has been quite varied. I started as a developer working with animations and interactive web experiences. Then I led a design company, where I developed a strong passion for the creative side of the business. I was essentially a Creative Director. On top of that, I’ve always had an entrepreneurial mindset. That combination is what makes me such a passionate advocate for AI prototyping.
It’s also why, for smaller projects, demo-building is solo work for me. I have a background across product, design, and technical domains and can own the prototype end-to-end. And at this stage, we’re not talking about real implementation — we’re validating an idea.
Step 1: Start with a meta-prompt
My vibe coding workflow always starts with a meta-prompting session, which I’d call prompt scaffolding.
I take the raw client brief and layer in my own product thinking and design instincts. Then I use an LLM to generate a structured spec prompt. That prompt goes into Google AI Studio to kick off the build.
Step 2: Build where you can also deploy
There are various tools you can use for prototyping. Over time, you naturally get attracted to the ones that click with you.
Personally, I really like Google AI Studio. One of its key advantages is that it keeps everything in one place. You prototype, deploy, and make it live — all within Google’s infrastructure — no DevOps knowledge needed.
The result is a real URL you can share with stakeholders, so they can click through and experience the product themselves. That hands-on feel makes a big difference when you’re trying to get early buy-in.
Step 3: Refine as you go
From there, it’s iterative. Once I can see the core of the app taking shape, I start refining. I adjust flows, tweak the UI, and respond to what the AI produces.
It’s less of a linear process and more of a creative collaboration. You follow the momentum of what’s working and course-correct what isn’t.
How I know when it’s done
It depends on the client. You have to read how technical they are and how well they grasp concepts from a description alone. Some need to see something with their own eyes to engage with it.
There were cases where I built an entire admin dashboard just to make the sale. The client hadn’t asked for it. I needed to show the range and potential of what a custom-built tool could do.
Within the same demo, I’d cover the core functionality they asked for. Then I’d layer in more advanced capabilities as a glimpse of where the product could go. That way, you’re doing two things at once: delivering on their stated need and planting seeds for future phases.
For me, a demo is done when the client:
- Understands what they’re looking at.
- Believes it could solve their problem.
- Is ready to discuss next steps.
Polish for your audience
I’m a perfectionist, and I know it. So I try to use that tendency deliberately rather than let it run unchecked.
The practical answer is: know your audience. If you’re working in fashion or retail, the people looking at your demo are visually driven. Design and UX matter more, and polishing pays off. You can prompt the AI to mirror the client’s brand colours, pull in their logo, and mimic the feel of their existing website. That level of personalisation makes a real difference when they’re deciding whether this feels like something that could be theirs.
Now, take the early stages of a large enterprise product, or a client more focused on technical capability than aesthetics. There’s no point in perfecting every form field and every screen transition. That work will be redone many times before anything ships.
The goal is a signal. Be wise about the project’s size and the client’s nature, and let that guide how much polish is actually worth the time.
Real Example: A Link Shortener Demo Built in Around Six Hours
We were working with a non-profit political movement. The engagement was at a stage where it was primarily maintenance and support. There wasn’t a budget for new feature development.
But with AI-assisted development, the economics had shifted. Development speed had improved significantly. And a lot of ideas that had been shelved because of cost were suddenly worth revisiting.
In one of our conversations, I heard that they were still using a redirect tool that was roughly ten years old. It had quirks and limitations that had never been addressed. I thought it would make a great candidate for a quick demo.
From call to build within the hour
This was during my early days of AI-assisted development, so I didn’t go into the call planning to build anything. I wanted to run it as an internal experiment first. It was more of a pet project with broader potential beyond this client: a way of testing a new approach to working with ideas.
Right after the call, I gathered everything I’d heard and started the meta-prompting session. Then I opened Google AI Studio and began. The process was underway within the hour.
Why Google AI Studio for this one? Not because it’s necessarily the best tool for every situation. But for this case, it was the most practical. The goal was to take an idea and turn it into something shareable as quickly as possible. That end-to-end simplicity made all the difference.
What was fast, and what took time
The first result after the initial prompt was remarkable. The AI generated the entire core of the app almost immediately: all the pages, the layout, the sidebar, and the key actions. It was all there. That part genuinely surprised me.
What took the most time, as it always does in software, was the micro-corrections and fine-tuning. Adjusting flows where something wasn’t quite right. Rethinking a decision mid-build, once I could actually see the product in front of me.
Even that had an upside. It’s a form of validation in itself. Changing your mind is cheap when the cost of rebuilding is low.
Within around six hours, I had more than a prototype. It was a working product: a new design, a new logo, a full UI/UX, and complete functionality. I connected it to a client subdomain and deployed it within Google’s infrastructure. By the next day, they could see it live.
Of course, as a system integrator, we stand behind the code we produce. Before anything becomes production-ready, it goes through review by a solution lead and sign-off from the application security team, but that was still a demo
What happened next
This particular case wasn’t a high-ROI project in the immediate sense. But its long-term impact was significant.
It changed how the client approached decision-making. From that point on, we could validate more complex feature ideas faster. We gathered early feedback before any development had started. And we made corrections before a single developer hour had been spent on the final implementation.
That shift in process was the real outcome.
The broader point is this: ideas that had been sitting on the back burner for years because of budget constraints were suddenly viable again. The cost of building them had dropped dramatically.
Where Vibe-Coded Demos Go Wrong
Vibe coding makes building fast. It also creates a few traps, especially for non-technical people.
Mistake 1: Forgetting it’s a prototype
The biggest mistake is also the hardest to avoid. The prototype looks so polished and real that clients forget it’s not a finished product. That gap between perception and reality is genuinely difficult to manage.
You have to be upfront. What they’re seeing is a validation tool, not a deliverable. Turning it into a real product still requires real development.
Mistake 2: Overpromising
I’ve seen it in non-technical people — they can get carried away and overpromise because in the prototype, everything works. Integrations look smooth. Flows look clean. Everything appears to connect.
But the prototype doesn’t reflect the complexity underneath. That’s why the rule from earlier matters. If the core of what you’re building depends on third-party integrations or complex technical dependencies, get a solution architect or solution lead involved first. Do it before you build anything you’re going to show a client. Otherwise, you risk selling a vision you can’t actually deliver.
My three rules for every vibe-coded app
There are a few things a delivery manager should never do with a vibe-coded app:
- Never use real production data. If you want the demo to feel personalised, generate mock data. Real data has no place in a prototype environment.
- Never share it publicly without restriction. A vibe-coded app hasn’t been through a security audit. You can’t guarantee it’s protected, and you shouldn’t treat it as if it is.
- Never present it as a finished product. Be transparent that it’s been vibe-coded. It’s a proof of concept. It may not be fully reliable, it hasn’t been hardened, and it will need proper development before it’s ready for production.
Final Thoughts
Vibe coding has changed how I work with ideas. I can take a spark from a client conversation and turn it into something they can click through within hours. Changing your mind is cheap when the cost of rebuilding is low. And ideas that sat on the back burner for years because of the budget are suddenly worth revisiting.
But speed only helps if you’re building the right thing. Listen before you build, check what’s under the hood, and skip anything that doesn’t create a wow moment. The goal is a signal.
Above all, be upfront: a vibe-coded demo is a validation tool, not a finished product. The wow factor means nothing if you’ve solved the wrong problem.
If you’d like to talk to our team about your own idea, get in touch with Master of Code Global — we’ll be glad to help!