I built an AI interior design app with vibe coding — here's what I learned

Hey IH! I'm a 3D artist by trade, but I've been building web apps with AI assistance for the past few months.

It started from two frustrations I kept running into at home.

First: I'd watch a home tour on YouTube and spot a sofa I loved — but had no idea where it was from. Comments went unanswered. Image search didn't help. I'd screenshot it, save it somewhere, and eventually forget about it.

Second: something would break around the house and I'd have no idea how to even search for a fix. I didn't know the right terminology, so I couldn't find the right repair guide. I'd just leave it and hope for the best.

So I built Decodar (decodar.work). Drop a photo or YouTube link — AI identifies the furniture, estimates the budget, and links you to where you can buy it. For repairs, it diagnoses the problem, rates the severity, and tells you whether you can DIY it.

The whole thing was built with Claude Code doing the heavy lifting. I'd describe what I wanted, review the output, and iterate. As someone with no formal CS background, this felt like a superpower.

A few things I learned the hard way:

1. Onboarding is everything. I had no idea how important the first few minutes were. I was showing the full result for free and couldn't figure out why no one was sticking around. Took me way too long to realize the paywall placement was the whole problem.

2. Monetization doesn't build itself. I kept putting it off — "I'll add payments once the product is better." That thinking cost me weeks of potential conversions. Ship the pricing before you think you're ready.

At the end of the day, I just want people to stop giving up on interiors they love. If Decodar saves even one person from that "screenshot and forget" cycle, that's enough for me.

Next up: I'm working on turning this into a mobile app — so the next time you're at a furniture store or scrolling through a home tour, you can just point and shoot.

Happy to answer any questions about the build process or the vibe coding workflow.

What's been your experience building tools that solve your own frustrations?