Rebecca Yu, a student with no formal software engineering background, has built a dining recommendation web app called Where2Eat after spending seven days using artificial intelligence tools to address a common social problem indecision among friends about where to eat. Yu developed the app using Claude and ChatGPT during a short break before school resumed, drawing inspiration from the growing trend of vibe coding, where users describe what they want in plain language and AI tools generate the code needed to make it work.
The app recommends restaurants based on shared interests within a group, helping users avoid long back and forth conversations in group chats. Yu told TechCrunch that she was motivated by stories of people without technical training successfully building functional apps with AI tools. She explained that once she learned how to prompt effectively and troubleshoot with the help of the models, the process became easier, even though it remained time consuming.
Yu’s project reflects a broader shift in how apps are being created, driven by rapid advances in AI technology. Across the tech ecosystem, individuals are now building micro apps also referred to as personal or fleeting apps designed for specific needs and limited audiences. These include tools for cooking, gaming, health tracking, podcast translation, and household management, often created for personal use and shut down once their purpose has been fulfilled. Experts say these apps are rarely intended for commercial release or wide distribution.
According to Legand L Burge III, a professor of computer science at Howard University, the rise of such apps signals a new phase of hyper personalized software development. While challenges remain including development costs, quality control, and security concerns, investors and analysts believe the trend has strong long term potential. Yu, who said she now has several more app ideas she hopes to build, described the moment as an exciting time where ordinary people can turn everyday problems into working digital solutions using AI.