// ZDNET — INTELLIGENZA ARTIFICIALE
How I made a paid Mac app in 11 days with Caude – without writing a single line of code
Claude helped me vibe-code a Mac app and pass Apple’s review in less than two weeks. Come with me on my journey from idea to purchasable App Store product.
At around noon on Sunday, Sept. 20, I came up with an idea for a Mac app. One week later, on Sunday, Sept. 27, also around noon, I submitted my completed app to Apple. Four days later, Apple accepted the tool, and it went live on the App Store.
Also: AI completely changed how I develop iPhone apps … and I think I love it
This is the story of an unrelated assignment by a ZDNET editor, a happy accident, and vibe coding at its best. It began 30 years ago, with a giant library of icons.
When I started my first software company, one of the first products I introduced was Icon Factory for HyperCard. It won several awards. This product supported my company and our employees for years. Those icons were all black and white, as was HyperCard.
Also: After the vibe-coding rush comes the debugging hangover
In 1997, after years of customer requests for colorful Finder desktop icons, we created a three-volume set of 32×32 pixel color icons called Icon Gallery. This was a boxed product of more than 2,000 icons. Icon Gallery sold through retail, mail order distribution, and direct mail.
Icon Gallery was one of the last boxed software products I produced. I’ll be honest with you. I can’t recall when or why I stopped selling Icon Gallery, but it probably tracked with when I stopped physically manufacturing boxed products. That decision, of course, tracked with the rise of the web.
Now, let’s fast forward to a few months ago. While decluttering some cubbies in my office, I found the packaging for a couple of my old software products, including Icon Gallery. I stuck the box on a shelf. Once again, I pretty much forgot about it.
Then, last month, in honor of this year’s big iPhone event, my editor asked me to write a series of historical Apple stories. While writing ‘AI completely changed how I develop iPhone apps … and I think I love it,’ I dug through my server for a screenshot or box illustration of an AI product I produced for the Mac in the late 1980s.