Published: November 19th, 2025
Phase: Foundation (Phase 1) - ✅ COMPLETE

🚀 Phase 1: Foundation - DONE!

We’ve just completed Phase 1 of VIBE IDE development, and we’re excited to share what we’ve built! This phase focused on creating a solid foundation with essential features that make VIBE IDE functional, friendly, and ready for beginners.

✨ What We Built

1. Enhanced Project Templates 🎨

We’ve expanded from 2 basic templates to 5 comprehensive templates, each with working starter code:

• 📄 Blank Project - Start from scratch with a clean HTML template
• 🌐 Web App - Full HTML/CSS/JavaScript web application with beautiful styling
• 🐍 Python Beginner - Learning template with examples of variables, functions, loops, and conditionals
• 🎮 Platformer Game - Phaser.js game template with player movement and physics
• 📊 Data Analysis - Python project for analyzing data with sample datasets

Each template now includes:

• Icons & Descriptions - Visual indicators and helpful descriptions
• Working Starter Code - Not just placeholders, but actual runnable code
• Educational Comments - Code is well-commented to help beginners learn

2. File Tree Enhancements 📁

The file explorer got a major upgrade:

• 50+ File Type Icons - Visual icons for JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, HTML, CSS, images, audio, video, and more
• Search/Filter - Real-time file search that auto-expands folders when matches are found
• Right-Click Context Menu - New File, New Folder, Rename, Delete, Copy Path
• Improved Expand/Collapse - Smooth folder expansion with visual feedback
• Better Organization - Nested folders display properly with indentation

3. Cursy Visualization 🤖

One of our most exciting features - a visual representation of Cursy’s activity:

• Isometric Room - Cursy’s workspace with desk, monitor, and props
• State Animations - Idle (with coffee ☕), Thinking (with lightbulb 💡), Typing, and Error states
• Status Bar - Real-time status text and progress indicators
• Visual Feedback - See what Cursy is doing at a glance

Note: Currently using placeholder graphics. Real isometric assets coming soon!

4. Expanded Mock Chat Responses 💬

Cursy’s offline mode got way smarter:

New Topics Covered:

• Objects & Properties
• Classes & Constructors
• Conditionals (if/else, switch)
• Async/Await & Promises
• Modules (import/export)
• Array Methods (map, filter, reduce)
• DOM Manipulation
• Python Basics
• Advanced Error Handling

Better Pattern Matching:

• More keywords recognized
• Context-aware responses
• Specific error type detection (undefined, syntax errors, etc.)
• Code examples with every response

5. Toast Notification System 🔔

Replaced intrusive alerts with beautiful toast notifications:

• 4 Types - Success ✅, Error ❌, Warning ⚠️, Info ℹ️
• Auto-Dismiss - Configurable duration (default 3 seconds)
• Smooth Animations - Slide in/out transitions
• Non-Intrusive - Stack multiple toasts without blocking the UI
• Used Everywhere - File saves, project loads, copy operations

6. Editor Tab Improvements 📝

Tabs are now more informative:

• File Type Icons - See file types at a glance
• Tooltips - Hover to see full file path
• Better Styling - Icons aligned with file tree for consistency

7. Keyboard Shortcuts Help ⌨️

Added a comprehensive keyboard shortcuts dialog:

• Organized by Category - General, Editor, View, Chat, Navigation
• Platform Support - Shows both Ctrl (Windows/Linux) and Cmd (Mac) shortcuts
• Easy Access - Help → Keyboard Shortcuts

8. About Dialog & Recent Projects 📋

• About Dialog - Shows version, description, and links
• Recent Projects - Quick access to last 5 opened projects on welcome screen
• Click to Open - One-click project loading

🎯 The Philosophy

Every feature we built follows our core principles:

1. Beginner-Friendly - No intimidation, just helpful features
2. Visual Feedback - See what’s happening (Cursy visualization, toasts, icons)
3. Educational - Code examples, comments, helpful responses
4. Transparent - Clear status messages, helpful tooltips
5. Fun - Cursy’s personality shines through

🔮 What’s Coming Next

Immediate Next Steps:

• Real Cursy Assets - Replace placeholder graphics with professional isometric assets
• Context Menu Actions - Wire up file create/rename/delete via IPC
• Welcome Screen Polish - Animations and better layout

Phase 2 (Coming Soon):

• AI Integration - Connect to OpenAI/Anthropic APIs
• Proactive Suggestions - Cursy suggests improvements as you code
• Emojibar - Quick access to common coding patterns

📊 By The Numbers

• 5 Project templates (up from 2)
• 50+ File type icons
• 10+ New chat topics
• 4 Toast notification types
• 4 Cursy animation states
• 100% Beginner-focused

🎨 The Cursy Visualization Story

One of the coolest features we added was inspired by a Discord conversation about visualizing AI agent activity. We saw someone working on a proof-of-concept for showing agent activity in a “gamey” way, and we thought: “This is perfect for VIBE IDE!”

So we built it ourselves! Cursy now has a little isometric room where you can see:

• When Cursy is idle (coffee cup ☕)
• When Cursy is thinking (lightbulb 💡)
• When Cursy is typing a response
• When something goes wrong (error state)

It makes the AI feel more alive and approachable - perfect for beginners who might be intimidated by a text-only chat interface.

We’re getting professional isometric assets soon to make it even better!

💡 Lessons Learned

1. Placeholder Graphics Work - We built the system with simple CSS graphics, ready to swap in real assets later
2. Toast > Alerts - Non-intrusive notifications make the experience much smoother
3. Icons Matter - Visual indicators help beginners understand what they’re looking at
4. Mock Mode is Powerful - Even without AI credits, Cursy can help with rule-based responses

🚀 Try It Out!

All these features are live now in the current build:

• Create a new project from any template
• Search files in the explorer
• Right-click files for context menu
• Ask Cursy about coding topics
• Watch Cursy’s room animate as you chat
• See toast notifications when you save files

🙏 Thank You!

Thanks for following along with VIBE IDE development! We’re building something special here - a coding environment that’s actually beginner-friendly, not just “beginner-friendly” in marketing speak.

Next up: Phase 2 - AI Integration! 🤖

Questions? Feedback?
Drop a comment on itch.io or check out our GitHub!

Built with ❤️ by FutureVision Labs
Part of the Forge Family