Simon Willison details creating a custom macOS presentation app, "Present," in just 45 minutes using Swift and SwiftUI. Frustrated with the risk of browser crashes when presenting a series of web pages, he built an app that displays URLs as slides, offering features like full-screen mode, keyboard navigation, and automatic URL saving. He even added remote control functionality via a web server and Tailscale.
The project highlights the power of AI-assisted coding and expands his skillset, demonstrating how experienced software engineers can quickly learn new languages and tools to solve personal problems. The resulting app is a simple, effective solution tailored to his specific needs.
The project highlights the power of AI-assisted coding and expands his skillset, demonstrating how experienced software engineers can quickly learn new languages and tools to solve personal problems. The resulting app is a simple, effective solution tailored to his specific needs.
Simon Willison explores "vibe coding" - building macOS apps with SwiftUI using large language models like Claude Opus 4.6 and GPT-5.4, without extensive coding knowledge. He successfully created two apps, Bandwidther (network bandwidth monitor) and Gpuer (GPU usage monitor), demonstrating the potential of this approach. The process involved minimal prompting and iterative development, leveraging the LLMs' capabilities for both code generation and feature suggestions.
While acknowledging the need for caution regarding the apps' accuracy, Willison highlights the efficiency and accessibility of building macOS applications in this manner.
While acknowledging the need for caution regarding the apps' accuracy, Willison highlights the efficiency and accessibility of building macOS applications in this manner.
