Building Production Apps with AI Coding Tools: Lessons Learned

The author shares their experience of building production-ready apps using AI coding tools over the course of a year, highlighting the importance of proper context engineering, spec-first approach, and using AI as a daily learning engine.

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The author initially treated AI coding tools like a smarter search engine, leading to frustrating results. They realized the need to shift their mental model and start treating AI like a junior engineer that requires proper briefing. This includes defining requirements first, providing context second, and then asking for code. The author also emphasizes the importance of keeping a running context file for each project, writing mini-specs before implementation, and using AI to continuously learn new skills. With this approach, the author was able to build and ship several production-ready applications in just 12 months, including a Python Resume Generator that uses an anti-hallucination architecture to prevent AI-generated resumes from including fabricated information.