Your App Subscription Is Now My Weekend Project · Roberto SelbachSkip to main contentRoberto SelbachBlog
AboutYour App Subscription Is Now My Weekend ProjectI pay for a lot of small apps. One of them was Wispr Flow for dictation. That’s $14 CAD/month that I was paying until I had a few lazy days visiting my mother. And then on the afternoon of New Year’s Day, I vibecoded Jabber.Now, don’t get me wrong, Jabber is not “production quality.” I would never sell it as a product or even recommend it to other people, but it does what I needed from Wispr Flow, and it does exactly the way I want it to. For free.At work, I’m often asked to make small videos showing some support agent how something works, or sharing some knowledge with new team members, or just a regular demo of something. In the past, I used to use Loom, which costs $15/month. So after creating Jabber, I got excited and vibecoded Reel.Reel does exactly what I wanted Loom to do: I can record my camera, I can move it around, and I get to trim the video after it’s done (I don’t remember being able to do that with Loom).Then just yesterday, a friend of mine was telling me how he got tired of paying for Typora and decided to vibecode his own Markdown editor. And that gave me the idea of creating an editor for my blog.That’s Hugora! Yes, horrible name, but who cares? It’s just for me. I get to edit my Hugo blog just the way I like. It even shows my site theme.You see the pattern here?All of these $10/month apps are suddenly a weekend project for me. I’m an engineer, but I have never written a single macOS application. I’ve never even read Swift code in my life, and yet, I now can get an app up and running in a couple of hours. This is crazy.Last year, a Medium post predicted:Most standalone apps will be “features, not products” in the long run — easy to copy and bundle into larger offerings.And I think we’re there. I don’t know what that means for the future of our industry, but it does seem like a big shift.I’m still skeptical of vibecoding in general. As I mentioned above, I would not trust my vibecoding enough to make these into products. If something goes wrong, I don’t know how to fix it. Maybe my LLM friends can, but I don’t know. But vibecoding is 100% viable for personal stuff like this: we now have apps on demand.This was Your App Subscription Is Now My Weekend Project by Roberto Selbach, posted on January 18, 2026.ai
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Being Specific when Pairing with BotsSidebarAboutI'm Roberto Selbach, a software engineer. I write about programming, technology, and whatever else catches my interest.Topicsprogramming 36
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Roberto Selbach’s January 18, 2026, blog post, “Your App Subscription Is Now My Weekend Project,” details a shift in his approach to software development and tool acquisition, driven by a combination of personal need and a growing trend within the tech industry. The core of the piece centers around Selbach’s decision to independently create small, utility applications – Jabber, Reel, and Hugora – rather than relying on commercially available alternatives. These applications address specific needs, such as creating quick support videos (Jabber), recording screen tutorials (Reel), and editing his Hugo blog (Hugora), all of which were previously satisfied by paid subscriptions.

A key catalyst for this change is Selbach’s increasingly frequent use of “vibecoding,” a term he employs to describe rapid, often impromptu, software development efforts. Utilizing this method, he’s been able to quickly assemble functional applications despite lacking formal training in macOS application development and having never encountered Swift code. This spontaneous approach highlights a significant industry trend predicted by a recent Medium post: that standalone apps are likely to evolve into modular “features, not products,” easily incorporated into larger offerings.

The post illustrates a potential disruption in the software market, where developers are increasingly focused on providing adaptable tools rather than demanding standalone, fully-fledged products. Selbach’s experience demonstrates that the barrier to entry for software creation is decreasing, fueled by readily available technology and a willingness to experiment.

Furthermore, Selbach expresses skepticism regarding the robustness of his “vibecoded” solutions, acknowledging his lack of expertise in troubleshooting and maintaining them. This adds a layer of realism, recognizing the limitations of this experimental approach, and subtly alluding to the potential role of emerging technologies like Large Language Models (LLMs) in offering assistance.

The blog post’s informal style and focus on personal experience contribute to its appeal, presenting a relatable narrative for college graduates and technical professionals contemplating alternative approaches to software creation and tool acquisition. It suggests a potential future where individuals can readily assemble personalized solutions, driven by a desire for efficiency and control, challenging traditional models of software distribution and consumption. The piece emphasizes a shift towards adaptable tools and the increasing accessibility of software development, reflecting a broader industry trend towards modularity and on-demand solutions.