July’s Top Vibecoding Reads

No code, no funding, no problem: curiosity now builds more than credentials ever could

Hi, I’m Karo 🤗.
Each week, I share awesome insights from the world of AI product management and building in public.
Every post comes with my hand-drawn cartoons. They steal the applause, and will likely get a book deal before I do.

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It’s An Absurdly Great Time To Be Creative

Up until last year, there was a wall between you and your ideas. It was called “knowing how to code.”

This year, that wall has cracks, holes, and at least seven Substackers peeking through. Tools like Replit, Cursor, and Lovable are turning creativity into software - fast.

You don’t need to ‘‘be technical’’, or have big funding. You just need curiosity, your creative power and a half-decent prompt.

What follows are real things built by real people (many with zero coding skills), why your turn might be next and what to watch out for.

From Idea to Revenue: How I Built XR Jobs Board With 0 Technical Experience

• Author:

  Krystian Zun
  and
  Xinran Ma

• Small iterative steps to turn a XR Jobs Board idea into a functioning, revenue-generating site.

• 👉 Read here.

I broke Replit, so you don’t have to. How I Built A Showcase Hub Just For Substack Creators.

• Author:

  Karo (Product with Attitude)

• This post continues to get a lot of traction and I’d be remiss not to shout out my own publication.

• 👉 Read here.

How I Vibe-Coded the Proudwork Landing Page

• Author:

  Kenny - Your Freelance Friend

• Transforming a minimalist Canva mock-up into a live landing page. Kenny spent just over $100 and demonstrating a fast, low-code workflow for launching a clean video-hosting site.

• 👉 Read here.

What Is Vibe Coding? A Guide to AI Coding Tools That Deliver Real Business Value

• Author:

  Alex Pawlowski

• If you need a buyer’s guide, start here: feature matrix, pricing notes, and enterprise-readiness scores for Cursor, Replit, v0, and more.

• 👉 Read here.

What people are vibe coding (and actually using)

• Author:

  Lenny Rachitsky

• 50+ useful/fun/clever examples of what non-technical people are building—to inspire your own vibe-coding journey

• 👉 Read here.

Announcing the official Vibe Coding Showcase

• Author:

  KP

• A meta-move: vibe-coding a site that curates the best vibe-coded projects. Great place to browse, and to submit your own experiments.

• 👉 Read here.

Vibe Coding Needs Context Engineering

• Author:

  Inference by Sequoia

• Why vibes alone won’t ship an enterprise app. A lucid argument for moving past prompt tinkering toward systematic context engineering, complete with a four-pillar framework.

• 👉 Read here

Vibe Coding: Not Worth the Risk?

• Author:

  Carly Ayres

• Two real-world fiascos: a dating-safety app leak and an AI agent nuking a production DB - illustrate what happens when security trails the vibes.

• 👉 Read here.

Why I’m All-In On Vibe Coding

I’ll be tracking this space closely — for three reasons:

1. To learn.

2. To share what I learn with others building in public.

3. And because we’re at the starting line of something big - and not every generation gets to say that.

It’s Your Turn Now
Build something small, silly, smart - or all three. Because the wall is cracked and it would be a pity not to peek through.

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Prompts & Workflows To Get YOU Started

• Prompt Builder

• Prompt Evaluator

• Vibecoding in Replit: Anti-regression Agent

• Vibecoding in Replit: Founder’s Agent

• Vibecoding Resources on Github

TL;DR

• The wall between creativity and code is crumbling.

• Thanks to tools like Replit and Cursor, anyone with curiosity and a decent prompt can build software—no tech background required.

• This roundup highlights real projects built by real people (many non-technical), why vibe coding is having a moment, what to watch out for, and how to start your own build-in-public journey.

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Are You New Here And Enjoying This Post?

• You might also like work by these brilliant builders:

  Wyndo
  ,
  Jenny Ouyang
  ‚
  Joel Salinas
  ,
  Luan Doan
  ,
  Daria Cupareanu
  ,
  Ileana
  ,
  Karen Spinner

• Whatever you build, make sure it’s ethical:

  Karen Smiley
  ,
  AI Governance Lead
  ,
  Roi Ezra

• Not sure how to navigate the AI shift?

  Dee McCrorey
  hosts free workshops to help

• And when you're ready to launch your own thing, make sure your privacy policy is solid-

  Jason Rowe
  ’s free tool can help

• Grab 50+ freebies from great Substack writers on stackshelf.app

• Subscribe to join our community

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Got a favorite July read I missed?

Hit reply with the link - just make sure it’s on Substack 🤗

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