HACKER Q&A
📣 meistertigran

Are vibe-coded self-contained HTML apps the future of personal tools?


I came across this post today - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44937991 and also myself created https://htmlsync.io and wonder if there are other people who now choose to use vibe-coded self-contained HTML apps to replace other personal tools they were using.

Do you think these self-contained HTML apps in one form or another are going to replace most personal tools?

If not, what do you think is the big limiter?

  👤 rickcarlino Accepted Answer ✓
I want this to be true, but I think a big limiter is patchy support for things like a file system API as well as some special rules that place extra restrictions on HTML files versus webpages served over HTTPS. I have not tried it in a long time but I remember not being able to access things like the location API or the microphone via local file. This puts local files at a disadvantage over web applications. If anyone knows of a definitive list of these restrictions, I would love to see it.
👤 codingdave
No, because vibe coded apps break. And if you are not someone who can write your own tools without vibe coding, you'll hit a wall and stop doing it when they break on you. FWIW, even the link you got your inspiration from is not actually a single HTML page, it is a full node server with a front-end framework... that happens to only output a single HTML page.

I will grant that it is possible that AI-assisted coding will make people who are already software devs create their own tools more often. But not the vibe coding thing, no.

👤 al_borland
I often use single file HTML to make little tools for myself. I did this before vibe coding was a thing. There are obviously limits to what can be done with a single file, but I like keeping things simple so it’s less to manage.

I’ve vibe coded a few little tools like this, but because of the lack of real investment, they don’t stick around like the ones I make myself.