I Tried Building a Real App With AI. It Took a Year.
Summary
Alex Hyett recounts building a real habit-tracking app with AI over a year. He details the initial spark, the iterative AI-assisted development, a heavy refactor, and the eventual release, highlighting how AI can accelerate prototyping but requires substantial hands-on engineering to achieve a reliable production app. The piece closes with reflections on the trade-offs between AI assistance and developer skill, and what this means for the industry.