January 3, 2026
Vibe coders vs bloatware: FIGHT!
Ask HN: What are you working on? (Jan 2026)
HN goes feral: vibe‑coders rebel against bloat, ship tiny tools and wild side projects
TLDR: HN’s monthly “What are you building?” thread became a rally for simple, no‑bloat tools, while a security trainer sparked debate about shallow skills in the industry. Makers shipped everything from AI add‑ons to video synths, proving indie devs will build what big companies won’t—and users are here for it.
Ask HN’s January roll call turned into a full‑on anti‑bloat uprising. The loudest chant? “Give us simple tools that don’t spy on us.” One dev, coffeecoders, went viral with a manifesto: no ads, no pop‑ups, no AI sidebars, no sneaky updates—just a notepad that never touches the internet and a clean, quiet toolbox. The crowd roared back with “same energy”: clones of popular apps, a REST client without analytics, and even a concave split keyboard for the hardware purists.
But it wasn’t all zen. A spicy thread lit up when ThreatSystems launched a security training platform and called out the industry’s “surface level knowledge”—translation: juniors are shipping vibes, not depth. Cue debate: is the problem the people, or the pressure to ship fast? Meanwhile, ahussain summed up the mood of 2026: companies won’t build what we want, so we will.
Amid the rebellion, the showcase glittered. mmarian hit 1,700+ downloads on a LibreOffice AI add‑on—and openly admitted having no idea how to monetize it (relatable). Sym3tri dropped a portable video synth for iPhone; egonschiele shipped a TypeScript library and a cute game he made with his kid (play it). Agent‑builders like zarathustra333 pitched “memory” for AI assistants, while williamcotton teased a new web‑app language. The thread’s vibe? Small tools, big opinions, and everyone’s shipping.
Key Points
- •The thread invites participants to share projects they are currently building or prototyping.
- •A cybersecurity and secure development training platform targets depth gaps for junior-to-mid engineers.
- •TurboOps.io presents a workflow engine with a real-time job status tracker for makers, small businesses, and contractors.
- •TurboOps.io is adding email notifications now and plans evidence features (tracking numbers, job images, contracts) next week.
- •A developer is creating minimalist replacements for daily tools (including iPhone notes), emphasizing simplicity and minimal network use; another is working on an ergonomic split keyboard.