There are blog, Reddit, Hacker News and every other possible messaging system posts on coding with AI. I will spare you reading mine.
In the interest of trying out the next big thing, I downloaded Claude, then Claude Code and tried it out. OK, fine.
I found this article on your done list. I have lots of ideas in notebooks, a TiddlyWiki, and a hard drive of broken dreams. All had a good start, few ever finished. However, I saw myself in the pain of the messy middle. The AI tools erase most of the hassle in a coding project.
So, with Claude Code and an old project from the time of Covid (2020), I built something, and made it to the finish line.
Now, is it perfect, no. I am also embracing the idea of done is better than perfect.
Let me present VirtualJudge. VirtualJudge is a digital judging solution for Toastmasters contests at all levels. Simplify scoring, timing, and results for hybrid and in-person events.
When Covid happened, all Toastmasters meetings went online to Zoom and Teams. Contests always used paper ballots, forms and hand counting. All the administrivia was perfect to automate as a web app.
The site is built using Django, HTMX, and Bootstrap5. All are safe choices for a web application. Nothing cutting edge or fancy. Most of the design and HTML was provided by Claude Code.
Here is my one note about using Claude Code. A purely vibe coded, never even looked at the Python but ship it anyway philosophy does not work. I am not an expert in Django. I would say I have “tutorial level” knowledge. I’ve worked through the online tutorial, the Django Girls tutorial, and written the Every Cheese app. I know enough to follow code, and how the framework operates. When I try to build a site myself, the details, missing knowledge, and size of the task stops me in my tracks.
Web applications are difficult. You have to setup the database tables as models, map URL’s to views, and write HTML while working with templates. Claude gives us a head start, so we can fill in and correct the details. The site is about 2.5 weeks of work, using the lowest paid Claude subscription. I would run out of tokens after a few hours of work, so I would code in the evening, let the tokens reload overnight, then setup more work in the morning.
So, check it out. If you are a Toastmaster running a contest, submit a request. I am not looking daily, but do review for new users about twice a week.
I am still on the fence about open sourcing the project. No one really cares, but I don’t have time to support another project, if it was used.
Oh, yeah, and more posts to come in 2026.
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