Vibe Coding with AI: Why Cursor + Claude Code Changed My Development Game
Building this website taught me that the future of development isn't just about AI writing code—it's about AI understanding context, amplifying creativity, and enabling rapid iteration while humans focus on strategy and refinement.
When I say "vibe coding," I mean development that flows with your creative energy rather than fighting against technical friction. Cursor + Claude Code creates this flow state where ideas translate to reality faster than I've ever experienced.
Why Context Engineering is Everything
The Traditional Problem
Most AI coding tools operate in a vacuum. You give them a prompt, they generate code, and then you're on your own to integrate it, debug it, and make it actually work within your broader system. It's like having a brilliant intern who doesn't understand your company culture.
What I Needed
I wanted to build a professional portfolio site that showcased my AI strategy work while being interview-ready. I needed something that could understand my design vision, maintain consistency across pages, and evolve with my professional narrative—all while being built efficiently.
Claude Code's Context Superpower
Claude Code doesn't just see individual files—it sees the entire project architecture, understands design patterns, and maintains consistency across implementations. When I said "make this page match the homepage style," it didn't just copy CSS classes. It understood the design language and applied it thoughtfully.
Traditional AI Coding
- • Single-file focus
- • Pattern repetition without understanding
- • Manual integration required
- • Inconsistent styling and structure
Claude Code Approach
- • Full project awareness
- • Design system understanding
- • Automatic consistency maintenance
- • Context-aware decision making
The Speed-Quality Paradox Solved
Here's what I discovered: AI works incredibly fast, but the refinement process is where the magic happens. Claude Code gives you speed and quality because it understands refinement as part of the development process, not a separate phase.
Real Example: Homepage Optimization
When I told Claude Code "optimize this homepage for interview applications," it didn't just change some text. It understood the strategic shift needed:
- • Lead with my name and professional credentials
- • Quantify achievements with specific metrics
- • Add a clear value proposition section
- • Include what I'm looking for professionally
- • Maintain the design aesthetic while shifting the messaging
Endless Opportunity: Agent-Speed Development
Spinning Up Agents at Thought Speed
What blows my mind is how quickly you can spin up specialized agents with Claude Code. Need to research a specific technology? Agent can search, analyze, and report back. Need to update multiple pages with consistent styling? Agent handles the systematic application across files.
Information Gathering Agent
"Research how Next.js handles static generation and suggest the best approach for this portfolio site." → Instant research, analysis, and implementation recommendations.
Style Consistency Agent
"These two pages don't match the homepage style - fix them." → Systematic analysis and updates across multiple files with perfect consistency.
Content Creation Agent
"Write an insight article about AI readiness frameworks based on my experience." → Professional-quality content that matches my voice and expertise.
Permission-Based Autonomy
One of the most sophisticated aspects is how Claude Code asks for permission before making significant changes. It's not just executing blindly—it's collaborating. It shows you what it plans to do, explains why, and gets approval before proceeding.
Collaborative Intelligence in Action
When I asked to publish the AI readiness article, Claude Code didn't just dump markdown into a file. It analyzed the existing site structure, understood the content patterns, converted the content to the right format, updated navigation, and showed me each step for approval. It's like having a senior developer who explains their thinking.
You Still Need to Understand Architecture
AI Builds, Humans Architect
Here's the reality check: AI can build components incredibly fast, but you still need to understand system architecture, user experience flow, and business requirements. AI might create a contact form, but it's just a form sitting there unless you architect the full user journey.
What AI Excels At
- • Rapid component implementation
- • Pattern application across files
- • Code consistency and styling
- • Boilerplate generation
- • Integration with existing patterns
What Humans Must Provide
- • Strategic vision and business understanding
- • User experience design decisions
- • Architecture and system design
- • Quality standards and acceptance criteria
- • Context about constraints and requirements
The Refinement Process is Everything
This is where the magic actually happens. AI gives you a strong first draft incredibly quickly, but the value comes from the iterative refinement. With Claude Code, this refinement happens in conversation—you're not starting over, you're evolving.
Rapid Generation
AI creates initial implementation based on context and requirements
Human Review
You test, evaluate, and identify specific improvements needed
Contextual Refinement
AI applies feedback while maintaining consistency and understanding intent
Real Examples from Building This Site
Example 1: Font Readability Crisis
The Problem: I uploaded a screenshot showing that some text was too light to read on the insights page.
Traditional Approach: I'd have to manually hunt through CSS files, find all instances of gray-300 text, evaluate each one, and update them individually.
Claude Code Approach: It analyzed the screenshot, identified the readability issues, systematically found all problematic text colors across the entire page, and updated them to slate-600/slate-700 while maintaining the design hierarchy.
Result: Fixed 15+ text color instances in minutes with perfect consistency, no broken design hierarchy.
Example 2: Professional Positioning Overhaul
The Context: "I'm sharing this with interview applications, make it really clear who I am and why this page exists."
AI Understanding: Claude Code didn't just change copy—it understood the strategic shift from "experimental researcher" to "interview-ready professional." It restructured the entire homepage to lead with my name, added achievement metrics, created a value proposition section, and maintained the design aesthetic while completely changing the messaging strategy.
Result: Professional homepage transformation that positions me effectively for AI strategy roles while preserving the creative design.
Example 3: Content Creation and Integration
The Request: "Write another insight article about AI readiness frameworks and publish it to the site."
Full-Stack AI: Claude Code researched AI readiness challenges, wrote a comprehensive 12-minute read that matched my voice and expertise, converted it to the site's React component format, updated the insights index page, tested locally, and deployed to production.
Result: Professional-quality content creation and seamless integration with full development workflow in one request.
The Future of Development is Collaborative Intelligence
What I learned building this site is that the future isn't AI replacing developers—it's AI amplifying human creativity and strategic thinking. Claude Code doesn't just write code; it understands context, maintains consistency, asks for permission, and collaborates on solutions.
What This Enables
- Faster iteration cycles from idea to implementation
- Higher quality through context-aware consistency
- Focus on strategy while AI handles implementation
- Learning acceleration through explanation and guidance
What You Still Need
- Architectural thinking for system design
- User experience intuition for decision making
- Business context for strategic direction
- Quality standards for acceptance criteria
The Vibe Coding Mindset
"Vibe coding" isn't just about speed—it's about maintaining creative flow while building production-quality systems. It's development that matches the pace of your ideas rather than being constrained by implementation friction.
"When technology amplifies your creativity instead of constraining it, magic happens. That's what Cursor + Claude Code delivers: development at the speed of thought with production-quality execution."
Ready to Experience Vibe Coding?
This entire site—from concept to production—was built with this collaborative approach. Every page, every feature, every refinement happened through this human-AI partnership.