I tried the same ChatGPT prompt Sam Altman used to build a website. It helped me finally learn how to vibe code.

Nine Away, the civilization website ChatGPT built for maine successful 10 minutes to thief scheme a trip. Kelsey Vlamis

Sam Altman taught maine how to vibe code.

I've spent the past respective months reference my colleagues' fantabulous sum on vibe coding and the galore ways regular people, from firefighters to busy parents, are building imaginative solutions to simplify their lives.

I wanted to effort it myself, but my constricted coding acquisition — editing HTML to customize my MySpace page arsenic a teen and a machine subject 101 people successful assemblage that I can't moreover statesman to retrieve — deterred me, truthful I kept putting it off.

That is, until this week, erstwhile Altman, cofounder and CEO of OpenAI, shared connected X a punctual he put into ChatGPT from his phone:

"use each my chat history to fig retired ideas for a agelong play travel pinch 8 friends, scheme the champion 3 options, make a full-stack tract wherever the 9 of america tin coordinate connected what we would want to do successful each spot and determine wherever to go, and past aft we get to group statement make reservations. draught an email successful my gmail one tin nonstop retired to my friends erstwhile the tract is ready."

"Okay," I thought, "I'll springiness it a shot." I copied and pasted the nonstop text, prompted ChatGPT, and, successful nether 2 hours, had a afloat functioning website up and moving pinch 3 travel options good tailored to my interests.

Turns retired the committedness of vibe coding — that I, arsenic a non-coder, could build civilization apps and websites that are circumstantial and useful to maine without really learning to codification — mightiness not beryllium excessively bully to beryllium existent aft all. It conscionable took the OpenAI boss to show me.

The destinations and itineraries ChatGPT suggested were cleanable for me.  Kelsey Vlamis

ChatGPT walked maine done thing remotely technical

I utilized my individual ChatGPT account for the experiment, the $20 a period Plus plan, and had it group to GPT-5.6 Sol pinch intelligence group to "High."

Nine minutes and 47 seconds later, ChatGPT returned 3 destination options, a nexus to download the root codification for a complete website, and an email draft.

The 3 destinations it recommended were shockingly curated to my interests — Santa Ynez Valley, South Lake Tahoe, and Todos Santos — and included 2 that were already precocious up connected my database of places to visit. I was impressed, but highly skeptical; "Does this nexus really incorporate a afloat coded website??"

ChatGPT's consequence included a "README" record that explained what was successful the task and really to instal and deploy it. I ideate for group for illustration Altman and others pinch coding experience, it was arsenic clear arsenic it could be. To me, it publication for illustration gibberish.

I told ChatGPT I had nary thought really to travel those instructions aliases tally the tract locally connected my computer, fto unsocial get it online; that I had precisely zero method coding skills; and that I needed a plain-language, step-by-step mentation of what to do next.

The website allowed each friend to ballot connected a destination and circumstantial activities.  Kelsey Vlamis

I proceeded to travel the steps ChatGPT outlined, immoderate arsenic circumstantial arsenic "Press Command + Spacebar" connected my Mac to hunt for and unfastened the Terminal application, which was fundamentally overseas to me. It talked maine done downloading Python, signing up for GitHub, and hosting the tract utilizing Render. It helped maine trial the tract locally connected my Mac, blowing my mind astatine really complete and functional the codification was, earlier mounting it unrecorded online.

If nary of these position mean thing to you, invited to the club.

I paid Render to big my website for $7.25 a month, but later asked ChatGPT if location were free options. It recommended Cloudflare and said the full process would person been conscionable arsenic elemental if we had started pinch that plan.

ChatGPT knows I'm not a coder, and since this was a petition for a very elemental project, it acknowledged it should've suggested the free option. So location were still immoderate classical AI missteps.

When I reached retired to OpenAI for this story, a spokesperson told maine astir a precocious launched characteristic called Sites, which allows users to create, preview, edit, and big their sites each successful ChatGPT for free pinch a Plus subscription — nary third-party hosting work required.

The instrumentality is successful nationalist beta and was already disposable successful my account. ChatGPT, yet again, said it should've recommended Sites arsenic an option.

I built a website from scratch without penning a statement of code

In nether 2 hours, immoderate of which was spent handling different activity tasks, I had a unrecorded website.

It would let my friends pinch the entree codification to create their profiles, stock their budgets, ballot connected a destination, prime the dates they were available, cheque the activities they were willing in, and remark connected their ain ideas for things to do. It would besides let me, aft everyone had voted, to fastener successful the last destination, astatine which constituent it would populate a caller conception pinch circumstantial tasks that could beryllium assigned and managed.

I didn't constitute a azygous statement of code. The closest I sewage was copying and pasting a fewer short strings of codification from ChatGPT into the Terminal app arsenic directed. I besides didn't customize the punctual astatine each — it was the nonstop punctual a billionaire tech CEO used, and yet it produced a website that I besides recovered useful, pinch the thief of my ChatGPT history.

I couldn't judge I built a website without penning a statement of code.  Kelsey Vlamis

The website wasn't perfect, and location were respective changes I wanted to make. I ended up transferring it into a Sites workspace and, utilizing different chat to thief maine word my prompt perfectly, asked for mini tweaks, for illustration adding the expertise for users to edit aliases delete their comments and moving the entree codification model higher up the page.

ChatGPT worked for 14 minutes and 8 seconds, and deployed the changes perfectly.

Altman's punctual turned retired to beryllium precisely the jump-start I needed to understand really vibe coding really works. Now I besides cognize really to inquire ChatGPT to do things I don't cognize really to do.

"If you show a friend they tin now instantly create immoderate app, they'll astir apt say, 'Cool! Now I request to deliberation of an idea.' Then they will hide astir it, and ne'er build a thing," writer Jasmin Sun, who has a Substack connected AI, wrote earlier this year. "The problem is not that your friend is horribly uncreative. It's that astir people's problems are not software-shaped, and astir won't announcement moreover erstwhile they are."

After 1 vibe-coding exercise, I'm already starting to spot immoderate software-shaped solutions successful my life, and I'm already dreaming of which 1 I want to build next.