{"id":609,"date":"2026-05-25T08:04:05","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T08:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanhomejournals.com\/?p=609"},"modified":"2026-05-25T08:04:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T08:04:05","slug":"i-built-a-pinterest-inspired-web-app-its-cute-but-it-shows-how-coding-with-ai-falls-short","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanhomejournals.com\/?p=609","title":{"rendered":"I built a Pinterest-inspired web app. It’s cute, but it shows how coding with AI falls short."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Vibe coding is addictive: build one app with AI, and suddenly, you’re tokenmaxxing your way through all the free credits.<\/p>\n

Read more Silicon Valley takes its AI pitch to Pope Leo<\/a><\/p>\n

That’s exactly what happened to me weeks after my experiment with building an Asana-inspired dashboard for my team.<\/p>\n

This time, a friend asked me to build a Pinterest-style web app to help her create moodboards for a creative project. I wanted to see if I could do it within the free limit on the AI coding platform Base44, now that I’ve got more experience with vibe coding.<\/p>\n

The experiment taught me the limits of my own capabilities as a nontechnical user and gave me an indicator of how far free credits on vibe-coding platforms can take you.<\/p>\n

Building Dreamscapes<\/h2>\n

One requirement for my web app, which I called “Dreamscapes,” was to let users create multiple spaces to pin images and other digital materials.<\/p>\n

I also wanted a function so the user \u2014 my friend \u2014 could share URLs for mood boards and story notes with creative collaborators.<\/p>\n

I started by creating a detailed prompt on ChatGPT, then entered it into Base44’s system, and told it to start building an app for me.<\/p>\n

Within Base44’s free credit limit, I found it hard to get the pin boards to work the way I wanted. It took me eight days’ worth of credits to get it to a usable state, making it the hardest vibe-coded project I’ve ever embarked on.<\/p>\n

Eventually, after much back-and-forth, my app had multiple functions.<\/p>\n

Users can create “spaces,” pinboard-esque canvases with custom background colors.<\/p>\n

Within each space are “scenes,” mini templates tailored to creatives looking to plan projects. Users can pick between three options: mood boards, character studies, and timelines.<\/p>\n

Mood boards are the closest option to a Pinterest board in Dreamscapes. It’s still very much a repository of links to things \u2014 an electronic notebook with pretty pastel colors, rather than Pinterest’s continuous scrolling feed with algorithm-based suggestions.<\/p>\n

Read more X is cracking down on content thieves<\/a><\/p>\n

Only knowing the basics of vibe coding isn’t enough<\/h2>\n

Dreamscapes is flawed in many ways.<\/p>\n

I also found myself wishing I were more proficient in coding languages or better at prompting the Base44 AI assistant. Sometimes I found myself struggling to describe exactly what was wrong with the page.<\/p>\n

For example, when the mood board glitched at the edges,\u00a0or the notes function failed to load,\u00a0I burned through\u00a0daily credits because the AI didn’t know exactly what I wanted it to fix.<\/p>\n

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Project Mimic: Testing AI’s ability to replicate software<\/h2>\n
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I tested Claude Design and Canva AI. One had to be coached, the other anticipated my every need.<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

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I used AI to code a scheduling app in minutes. It was easy, but it shouldn’t worry software companies.<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n

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I used AI to code a personal trainer app in one weekend. I see why big apps fear the competition.<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

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I built the same website using Lovable and Wix AI. One took twice as long and told me to solve problems myself.<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

I never managed to get Dreamscapes to a point where it was usable on mobile. Some parts still load in a strange, glitchy way on my iPad, rendering it completely unusable. Within the free-to-use bandwidth on Base44, getting it up and running on the Apple App Store simply isn’t an option, either. Instead, it’s just a mini project that my friend and I can access on a web browser.<\/p>\n

Things might have been different if I had used the paid version of Base44, which would have cost me upward of $40.<\/p>\n

Pinterest, it is not<\/h2>\n

One of the biggest selling points of Pinterest is its sprawling corpus of images, whether user-contributed or pinned from the web. There aren’t any shortcuts to that for a hobbyist vibe coder.<\/p>\n

And, like many software companies, Pinterest itself is embracing AI.<\/p>\n

Ayumi Nakajima, senior director for content partnerships in Pinterest’s APAC division, told Business Insider that Pinterest has now evolved into an AI-powered “visual search and discovery platform, built for dreamscrolling, not doomscrolling.”<\/p>\n

“Our inherent advantage has always been visual, and today, that advantage is powered by AI designed to understand taste, not just keywords,” Nakajima said. “Many AI models rely on what people type into a search bar. Pinterest’s unique difference is that we understand what people are drawn to \u2014 the styles, aesthetics, and nuances that are hard to put into words.”<\/p>\n

Nakajima added that Pinterest’s understanding of taste and what people really want isn’t just algorithm-driven \u2014 the human users and creators on the platform help make it better.<\/p>\n

So, while I’ve made a basic tool that lets my friend pin posts on a digital board, it’s incredibly basic compared to a platform like Pinterest. After all, Pinterest is a social network, and what I’ve made is an electronic scrapbook, at best \u2014 even if it required no coding skills to make.<\/p>\n

Read more Google CEO Sundar Pichai says booing graduates will shape AI\u2019s future \u2014 and live with its consequences<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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