Vibe coding for companies: what your own software can really do today

Most people know vibe coding from videos in which someone builds an app in ten minutes. That's like judging a house by its bare shell.

In many companies, an entire process depends on a file like “Holiday_planner_final_v7.xlsx”. No off-the-shelf tool fitted, so someone built their own. That is exactly where vibe coding comes in.

What vibe coding is

You describe in plain language what a piece of software should do. An AI tool like Claude Code writes the code. We check, test and run the result. What you get is normal code that also runs without AI.

Our example: CANDY DASH

We have been working with CANDY DASH for two months. Six in-house tools now run behind one login. People from our team built them, without hiring outside developers.

• CANDY WORK for time tracking, leave and expenses. Replaces our HR tool.
• CANDY PIPE for deals, contacts and invoices. Replaces our CRM.
• CANDY TASK for projects and tasks. Replaces our project management tool.
• CANDY STASH for the warehouse and the planning for TECH FLAT. Replaces our rental software.
• CANDY NOTES for meeting notes that turn into tasks.
• CANDY PROPOSAL for proposals from templates.

The tools work together. An inquiry in CANDY PIPE becomes a proposal in CANDY PROPOSAL, and once the job is won, the next tasks are waiting in CANDY TASK. Everything runs on our own server in Germany for €8.49 a month. That's the server alone. Backups, AI usage and staff time are extra.

“It’s software that works the way we work, instead of us working the way the software expects.”

Tim Harms, Senior Tech Manager at FUTURE CANDY

This website and our team’s digital business cards were built the same way. We also built a confidential communication app for a client. The CANDY DASH project page shows all the tools with screenshots.

What you can build

CANDY DASH was built for an agency. Your software will look different, because your processes are different. Typical candidates:

• Inspection reports and checklists in industry, trades and facilities
• Field reports with photos in trades, service and care
• Inventory and rentals in technology, labs and local authorities
• Registrations and members in associations, education and events
• The old Access database nobody dares to touch anymore

Where it stops

These days, a first version comes together quickly. The real work is running it: sign-in, permissions, real data, backups and updates. In our setup, an encrypted backup goes to a second machine every night. A script checks every five minutes that each tool responds. And a security check runs every Monday.

Some things we deliberately don’t build: accounting, email and software that needs regulatory approval. For those, a subscription is still the better choice. And while building, we only work with test or anonymized data, because code and descriptions go to the provider of the AI tool.

Build or buy? Five questions

1. Does the subscription fit your process, or do you adapt to the subscription?
2. Does the process live in Excel, Word or emails today?
3. Are liability, regulatory approval or specialist knowledge involved? Then you are better off renting.
4. Who will look after the software in two years’ time?
5. Where should the data be stored?

How we start

With the Vibe Coding Scoping & Build Day. For one day we build one of your processes live with your team, on test data. Afterwards we decide together which subscriptions and spreadsheets you replace with your own software. We then build that software for you and run it, or hand it over to your IT. If you like, a Train-the-Trainer workshop shows your team how to develop the tools further themselves.