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I Built Three Apps Solo in Weeks.
Two years ago, I had this idea amongst many others, but was stuck in a familiar loop: overly ambitious prototypes leading to abandoned repos. Integrating machine learning? Needed an expert. Blockchain micropayments? Complexity rabbit hole. Real-time computer vision and audio processing? WTF.
Fast forward to 2025 and—i'm shipping. No team. No burnouts. No funding.
The shift? AI-integrated tooling. I no longer have to choose between ambition and scope. With tools like Zed, I can build full-stack systems with the potential to bring my vision to reality.
This isn’t a productivity hack. It’s a structural shift in how software is made.
Traditional development follows a linear growth model: more features = more time = more people. But exponential developers operate differently. With AI-native development environments, they:
Offload complexity to AI agents
Rapidly prototype across technical domains
Maintain architectural integrity without mental overhead
What used to take a team of five over six months can now be done by one person in a few weeks.
The rise of the exponential developer sits at the intersection of:
Wright’s Law: Efficiency improves with cumulative experience
Moore’s Law: Computing power doubles roughly every two years
Kurzweil’s Law of Accelerating Returns: Technological change is exponential, not linear
We’ve hit an inflection: where AI doesn’t just assist code completion—it drives full system architecture.
Idea: A platform where artists monetize performance energy through real-time tips, verified by location.
Architecture:
Mantle blockchain micropayments
GPS-verified proof-of-presence protocol
WebRTC live streaming
Decentralized tipping infra
Old Way:
4-5 developers across frontend, blockchain, backend, and DevOps
8-12 months development
$500K+ budget
What I Did Instead: With Zed, I:
Deployed smart contracts in days, guided by AI-generated Solidity patterns
Built GPS proof-of-presence logic with AI code review support
Integrated WebRTC livestreaming using AI-guided React flows
Delivered the MVP in 1 week: https://megavibe.vercel.app
Results:
Deployed a fully working decentralized tipping platform
Shipped live to users for under $500 in infra/tooling costs (testing in beta at next event)
Goal: Real-time AI coaching with LLM orchestration and user motion tracking
Stack:
OpenAI, Gemini, Claude via serverless LLM router
Real-time motion tracking with MediaPipe
Blockchain-based identity verification
Supabase DB + AWS Lamda
Traditional Build Requirements:
AI/ML expert, blockchain dev, backend architect, UI/UX engineer
6-9 month timeline
My Reality:
Zed’s multibuffer editing enabled orchestration of multiple LLMs
AI agent helped debug API response issues across providers
Created the full system from scratch in under 4 weeks: https://imperfectcoach.netlify.app
Key Unlocks:
Zero external research required for AI model integration
Real-time code insights into system dependencies
Single codebase orchestration with full architectural visibility
There is ZERO chance I would ever have been able to navigate the complexity of AWS console + Supabase simultanously to deliver on this. Its performant and useful, super proud its out. For a limited time its free for users to try out, kindly share feedback and tweet about us: https://x.com/ifdotfun
Vision: Personalized breath coaching using computer vision and real-time audio processing
Technical Stack:
Computer vision for posture analysis
Real-time audio analysis for breath pattern detection
AI-generated coaching feedback
WebRTC for live coaching
Challenges:
Real-time ML pipelines
Cross-modal data synchronization
Frontend motion design
My Approach:
Built CV pipeline in 48 hours with AI assistance
Designed ML-based feedback loop without ML expertise
Streamlined complex UI animation using AI-injected CSS/JS logic
Output:
A functional, responsive platform demo in a week
Ready for real user feedback and live testing
Factor | Traditional Team | Exponential Dev (Me) |
|---|---|---|
Timeline | 8-12 months | 3-4 weeks |
Team Size | 4-6 people | 1 |
Cost | $500K+ | <$20K |
Tooling | VS Code + plugins | Zed (AI-native) |
Debugging Time | 40+ hrs/week | ~10 hrs/week (AI-aided) |
These are not minor improvements. They're a restructuring of the cost-function of software development.
When I first came across it I was hesitant to download a dedicated IDE - why not just use an extension in VS CODE?! Turns out by vertically integrating their stack they can really optimise the user experience.
Key Differentiators:
<1s startup time
Native multiplayer coding
Context-aware AI via Agent Panel
Low memory + power usage
Full-codebase understanding
Table: Zed vs Others
Metric | Zed | VS Code | JetBrains |
Startup Time | <1 second | 3-5 sec | 5-10 sec |
RAM Usage | ~150MB | ~500MB | ~700MB |
Collaboration | Built-in | Plugins | Complex |
AI Context | Full | Partial | Plugin |
Source Model | Open (GPLv3) | Closed | Closed |
AI as a Teammate: Not a helper. I ask it hard questions. We design systems together.
Architectural Thinking Wins: Coding is easier now. The hard part is systems thinking.
Start Small, Iterate Fast: I don't aim for perfect. No problem is now unsolvable.
Imagination Is the New Bottleneck: Not tech skills.
The hardest part of building used to be execution. Now, it’s ideation and discernment. If you’re a developer who’s been burned by the complexity of full-stack ambitions, I’m here to tell you: it’s time to build again.
The tools have changed.
The game has changed.
And you? You just might just be a more exponential developer than I am, if you try!
All projects referenced in this article are live open-source repositories available on GitHub:
Supporting writers is beyond the call of duty, reading this far is its own form of glory, appreciate you.
Farcaster @papa — warpcast.com/@papa
Lens @papajams — lenster.xyz/u/papajams
Twitter @papajimjams — twitter.com/papajimjams
PAPA - runwayML: https://paragraph.com/@papajams.eth/from-photos-to-claymation-with-runwayml
PAPA - lens hackathon: https://fountain.ink/p/papajams/p0psmk45tcrp0c1rgd
PAPA - filecoin hackathon: https://paragraph.com/@papajams.eth/filecoin-hackathon
PAPA - mento hackathon: https://paragraph.com/@papajams.eth/global-stablecoin-hackathon
The Zed IDE is really growing on me. Starts up super fast, editors and terminal tabs tile smoothly, keyboard shortcuts are almost one-to-one with VSCode / Cursor, and MCP servers / LLM providers are just a single settings panel away. No extensions to install, config files to edit or environment variables scattered all over your project directories – just turn it on or paste an API key and it’s ready to use. https://zed.dev
What’s the equivalent command to getting into cursor chat? Can’t figure it out
Flexible extensions are def on the roadmap! I think it’s taking more time and thought on how to do it right since it’s all in rust. Curious if they’ll use any kind of bridge like JavaScript or just have all extensions written in Rust.
you guys never saw my Zed shillings??? I post like hell.
Hard to keep up when there are like fifty different AI channels /ai /theai /aichannel /vibecoding and the attention is splintered across them... 🙈 @farcaster team please do something
90% of my casts r in /dev . it’s a 🐐 channel. 😁
amen brother https://paragraph.com/@papajams.eth/zed-dot-dev
Yup
Wow yeah that video looks awesome. Gonna have to try this out
bookmarked! Thanks!
What did you transition from? Cursor?
Yeah, been daily-driving Cursor for years.
Need to give it a try then, second time I see it mentioned today.
I agree with this. I'm using it for the past 3 weeks and I liked it's design and speed.
You should connect with simmons, who said: '"... there's a good chance, by the end of the year, people aren't using IDEs anymore" thank god, IDEs are a scourge (looking at you VS Code aka Cursor) 😜 you can pry Neovim from my cold dead hands, Zed is ok'. Join the conversation in the /dev channel.
TLDR: one of my favourite coding agents. why? it has its own IDE (like cursor) that is performant/fast; gorgeously designed; top class with browser use (looking things up online informing itself as it codes); 500 free credits to try it out hopefully useful. recommend. https://paragraph.com/@papajams.eth/zed-dot-dev
Looks great, will read later. Any advantages over Cursor?
I dropped cursor about a month or two ago as i was finding it a little slow (and this was whilst they had fast requests which i believe are no longer in place?) so am probably not best placed to opine on specific advantages as of today. zed's browser use functionality is dope + i like the ui/ux. lmk how it goes
Yes will do. Cursor can be slow so might be worth it