01 · Improv · Vibe-coded app
IMPROV
What if Improv was a tiny story app?
The idea arrived while I was watching The Office. Michael Scott was going to improv class after work, and my brain wandered. What if improv lived inside an app, but people made collaborative stories instead of acting them out?
I wanted it to feel like an evening tea time snack. Small, funny, easy to pick up, and nice enough to come back to later.
10 line stories
Collaborative writing
First vibe coded project
01
A cat walked into a meeting with a tiny notebook.
02
Everyone pretended this was totally normal.
03
Then the cat asked for feedback on its purr deck.
One sentence each. Ten lines max. That is the whole game.
Improv is a collaborative story app. One person starts a room, then each person adds one sentence. The story stops at 10 lines, because short stories are easier to finish, funnier to read, and surprisingly good at making people choose better words.
Start
Open a room with a silly first line.
Pass
Invite others to add the next sentence.
Finish
At line 10, the story becomes a tiny keepsake.
✳ Build path
I chose a simple idea on purpose. I wanted the first build to be memorable, not heavy.
Figma
I sketched the first screens and gave the idea a friendly shape before touching the build.
Claude Code
I used prompting to design, rebuild, fix, and nudge the app toward something fun.
Supabase
Stories, rooms, and users needed a place to live. Supabase handled the backend and database.
Vercel
Then I shipped it, because a tiny app feels better when it is actually out in the world.
Prompt note
Make this feel like a funny group story game. Keep it simple. Make each turn feel like passing a sticky note across the table.
tiny rule
if lines.length === 10 {
closeStory()
}
Add page screenshots
✳ The messy part
The first version was rough. The cat had bigger dreams than the tools could handle.
The first UI felt like a draft wearing a costume.
It took many rounds of prompting, testing, deleting, and asking again. The useful part was learning how specific I needed to be. Vague prompts made vague screens.
I wanted the cat to feel alive.
In my head, it walked, jumped, reacted to users, and behaved like a tiny character. Current AI tools could not reliably make that happen, so I kept the mascot simpler for now.
alive, but not quite yet
What worked
A tiny concept made the build focused. The 10 line limit gave the app a real personality. Shipping early made it feel real.
What did not
The first generated UI needed a lot of care. The mascot idea also needed more control than the tools gave me.
What I learned
Vibe coding feels fastest when the idea has edges. A small app can teach a lot when you design, build, and ship it yourself.