Last Wednesday at 1 AM, I stared at half-written ideas on Notion
Last Wednesday at 1 AM, I stared at half-written ideas on Notion — wanted to build a booking page for a client, but I couldn't even tell you what to write it in.
"Bro, stop getting stuck on this stuff." My wife pushed the door open and said. I closed my laptop without a word.
Honestly, I've been stuck on this more than once — downloaded two HTML tutorials before. First time, fell asleep after 20 minutes. Second time, never even opened the folder. Until I saw a Show HN post called koi.rest.
koi.rest is a virtual koi pond built by an unemployed dev named Paul with AI
Paul's bio: "a developer, an explorer and I've got ADHD." He got laid off in August — ADHD on top — anxious all day. He wanted to build a virtual zen garden where people watch koi swim and decompress.
But he can't write JavaScript, and doesn't have the energy to learn.
So he said "fuck it" and let AI do it. Styling, swimming animations, drawing the fish, research — all AI. He just ideated and judged "is this right?"
Now koi.rest is live, anyone can open it and watch koi swim. He ends with: "What's the point of an idea that just sits in my head?"
I froze reading that — this is the step I was missing: turning "I can't" into "AI, you go."
What it costs to replicate today
Money: $0. For small projects like koi.rest, Bolt.new (an AI tool that generates webpages directly, free tier is enough), v0, Vercel — basically free.
Time: 1 to 7 days, depends on complexity. Paul took about a week (tweaking and drawing fish), but a simple landing page? One evening is enough.
Technical barrier: zero. Just open the tool, describe what you want in plain language. No jargon needed — say "big title in the middle, three buttons below for morning, afternoon, evening class prices," AI knows how to code it.
First step: open bolt.new, no signup needed. In the box, type: "I want a yoga studio booking page, purple tones, class schedule + teacher intro + WeChat button." Hit enter, AI writes the code + gives you a preview.
Looks off? Keep saying "move the price table up," "change button color," "add a line about a 30-day refund guarantee." AI edits. You just need to know how to talk.
Advice by stage
Just starting (no clients yet): Don't rush to build. Pull out that idea you've shelved for six months, run through the method above — not to ship, just to get past "I can't." Paul's koi pond? Core purpose was telling himself "I can do this."
Already have 1-2 clients: Pick one daily chore you hate (manually writing quotes, answering the same questions). Build a small tool. Not to save money, but to trade your time for taking on more clients.
Scaling (5+ people): Treat "AI coding" as outsourcing. You don't need to know code, but you need to judge whether what it makes is usable — Paul can't write JS, but he knows "the fish need to swim naturally." That aesthetic judgment? That's core competitive edge.
Last thing: this tool isn't for everyone. If you're already tired today, koi.rest is a fine option — open it, watch 30 seconds of koi, call it a break. What you want to build next week? Next week.