From Blank Screens to AI-Powered Coding: How I Went from Writing Every Line by Hand to Shipping Apps with Cursor, Claude, and More

A year ago, my coding workflow looked like what most developers are used to:

• Staring at blank screens
• Writing boilerplate code by hand
• Wrestling with database setups, API integrations, and front-end logic until things finally worked

Fast forward to today, and everything feels different.

In the past month, I’ve launched two apps on the App Store—MyPhotoAI and Interior AI Room Designer—in record time.

And a huge part of the reason? AI coding assistants.

I use Cursor daily, rely on Claude Code for quick algorithm drafts, and sometimes even compare outputs with Copilot. The result is a workflow that’s faster, more creative, and surprisingly collaborative—but also one that still needs a very human touch.

This is my story—and how it fits into a much bigger shift happening in software development right now.

---

The First Time I Let AI Take the Keyboard

I’ll be honest: the first time I asked Cursor to write a function for me, I expected garbage.

But it didn’t just give me code—it gave me a starting point.

Now, my workflow looks like this:

• Quick tweaks: I use Cursor like a souped-up autocomplete for small edits—renaming variables, cleaning up functions, making code more readable.
• Algorithm scaffolding: When I need a quick draft—say, an image processing function—I ask Cursor’s agent to whip up a version. I then tweak and refine it myself.
• Full projects? Not quite. AI shines on single files. But once the logic spans multiple files or services, I step in. The architecture, integrations, and deployment pipelines still live in my head, not the AI’s.

It’s like having a junior developer who’s fast, tireless, and pretty good at syntax—but who still needs a senior engineer (me) to guide the big picture.

---

A Whole Generation of Developers Is Coding Differently Now

I’m far from alone here.

• A YC founder recently said 95% of their codebase was built through “vibe coding”—a style where you tell the AI what you want, iterate on its output, and treat coding more like orchestration than typing every character yourself.
• GitHub Copilot studies show task completion speed jumps by 55–60% when developers use AI assistants.
• Companies like Perplexity AI claim they’ve cut prototyping time from days to hours using AI tools.

And tools like Cursor? They’ve gone from niche curiosity to mainstream necessity. In 2025, Cursor’s AI-native IDE has exploded in adoption, now valued at nearly $10B and used by engineers across startups and enterprises alike.

We’re witnessing a shift where AI isn’t replacing developers—it’s redefining what developers actually do.

---

What AI Is Great At (and Where It Stumbles)

After months of heavy use, here’s my honest take.

Where AI Shines:

1. Speed: Spinning up boilerplate code, CRUD endpoints, or UI components in minutes.
2. Refactoring: It renames variables, improves readability, and even suggests better data structures on the fly.
3. Learning new APIs: Instead of reading docs for an hour, I let Cursor draft examples, then tweak as needed.
4. Debugging small errors: It often fixes syntax or import issues instantly.

Where It Still Falls Short:

1. Complex system architecture: AI struggles when project logic spans multiple files, services, or deployment layers.
2. Long error resolution: Cursor sometimes hits a “step limit” mid-debug and just… gives up.
3. Context awareness: Without feeding it the full repo context, its global understanding is limited.

This matches what researchers are seeing too—AI accelerates the mechanics of coding, but the thinking still belongs to us.

---

How AI Helped Me Launch Two Apps in a Month

Both MyPhotoAI and Interior AI shipped in under a month because AI took care of the small stuff:

• Image processing prototypes? AI drafted them.
• Backend boilerplate? AI handled the first pass.
• UI tweaks and refactoring? AI again.

But here’s what AI didn’t do:

• Database design: I set up tables, indexes, and performance optimizations myself.
• Service integrations: Stripe, AWS, or Apple APIs? Still human-led.
• Final debugging & deployment: When things broke in production, it was my brain (and caffeine) that fixed them.

AI gave me speed, but real-world software still needs judgment.

---

The Human Side: How It Actually Feels to Code with AI

Here’s the thing nobody tells you:

Using AI doesn’t feel like handing over control. It feels like pair programming with the world’s fastest (but sometimes overconfident) intern.

• There’s a rhythm to it: You prompt, it writes, you tweak, it learns.
• There’s creativity too: I find myself experimenting more because the cost of “trying things out” is so low now.
• And yes, there’s frustration: When Cursor confidently spits out code that compiles but doesn’t actually work, I sigh, sip my coffee, and debug like the old days.

But overall? It’s fun again. Coding feels lighter, less mechanical—more about building and less about typing.

---

Best Practices I’ve Learned Along the Way

1. Treat AI output as a draft, not the final word.
2. Keep architecture and integrations human-led. AI is great at parts, not wholes.
3. Iterate quickly. Don’t spend hours perfecting a prompt—ship, test, refine.
4. Understand before deploying. Always read AI-generated code before it hits production.
5. Focus on the product, not just the code. AI frees time for UX, growth, and user feedback.

---

The Future: Developers as “System Orchestrators”

I don’t think AI will replace developers.

If anything, it’s elevating our role.

We’re moving from writing every line to designing systems, shaping products, and making higher-level decisions. Coding becomes less about syntax and more about strategy.

Some call it the rise of the “urban planner” developer—someone who uses AI to lay out the roads and buildings but still decides where the city goes.

That feels right to me.

Because at the end of the day, even with Cursor by my side, those two apps only shipped because I connected the dots, solved the hard problems, and kept the vision intact.

AI gave me speed. The human touch gave it life.

---

Final Thoughts

AI coding assistants like Cursor and Claude Code have fundamentally changed my workflow.

I went from:

• Spending hours on boilerplate and debugging
• To shipping two full apps in a month

But the magic isn’t that AI writes code for you. The magic is that it frees you to focus on what really matters: product design, user experience, and solving real problems.

AI is here to accelerate us, not replace us—and the developers who learn to ride this wave will build faster, think bigger, and ship more than ever before.