Vibecoding Photoshop: Time and pressure
The article explores the rise of 'vibecoding' and agentic AI tools capable of building complex software like Photoshop clones. It argues that the existence of these tools proves that AI-assisted engineering can handle complex, multi-layered software development.
Why it matters
It highlights a shift in software development where AI agents are moving from simple code snippets to building full-scale, industry-standard applications.
I’m sure you’ve seen the argument before: “If anyone can now vibecode their own software, why haven’t we seen any viable replacements for industry standard tools like Photoshop?”
And for a while that argument seemed like a solid line of reasoning: you could just point to the continuous absence of viable candidates to prove your point.
But it missed two key factors: time and pressure. Sure, ChatGPT has been around for a while now, but agentic coding has only been useful for a relatively short time. And development still goes layer by layer, debug by debug, test by test. It still takes serious human commitment and persistence.
The moral argument around “vibe coding” was never that interesting to me. The much more interesting question was always the technical one.
Not “should this be done” but “can this be done” at all?
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