Here's what you'll find in this issue:

• This founder turned an internal Slack tool into a $3M ARR SaaS.
• 5 vibe coding tools. Some of the latest apps for coding with AI.
• Yesterday's build board winners, including three new product launches from indie hackers.
• 30-second growth tip: Build your product while still employed and split the work by specialty.

Still using ChatGPT for serious work? Try Hatch instead. Built by the founders of Indie Hackers. We designed it to be the world's most productive AI assistant. Use code INDIE30FREE for 100% off your first month.

Lav Crnobrnja's agency needed a better way to manage time off as the team grew. So they built a tiny Slack tool for vacation requests. It became Vacation Tracker, a bootstrapped SaaS now doing more than $3M ARR.

The first version did one thing: vacation requests in Slack. Rather than guess at every HR feature customers might want, Lav and his co-founder let customer requests shape the roadmap. They also cut the agency's financial support after two years, forcing the product to stand on its own.

In the full interview Lav took us through all the milestones that brought him to millions in revenue, from getting the idea to building and monetizing it to growing the user base. Great look at productizing an internal workflow!

Read the full article →

Floot is the app builder that works inside the AI subscription you already pay for. Connect it to Claude or ChatGPT, describe the app in plain English, and Floot builds the whole thing: frontend, backend, database, user logins, and a live URL, all without leaving the chat.

Those apps now ship to phones too. Tell Floot to publish to iOS and Android, sign in to your Apple Developer account or Google Play Console once, and keep pushing updates from the same conversation.

Floot won’t charge for building. The Claude or ChatGPT subscription does the work, which means there’s no second AI bill for building.

Connect Floot to Claude or ChatGPT and ship an app this week.

1. Hatch: Ditch ChatGPT. Use the most productive AI assistant ever made. Thoughtfully crafted by the founders of Indie Hackers.

2. Kilo Code: Open-source AI assistant that orchestrates complex tasks, writes, and self-repairs — all inside VS Code.

3. Junie: Chat, refactor, and generate tests across JetBrains IDEs with context-aware AI.

4. Repo Prompt: Generate and edit code across repositories using AI-driven prompts.

5. Bolt.new: Prompt an app — Bolt spins up and deploys the full-stack in one click.

See all 30 tools in the directory →

Every day, indie hackers post updates about the products they're building. Here's what the community voted to the top yesterday!

	1. Leapd: AI that builds and runs your business — 24/7 Vibe Code a Business That Prints Money!	▲ 22
	2. Plavtora: Turn Business Decisions Into Better Outcomes. I’m building Plavtora, but I’m trying to solve a bigger problem than “AI startup advice.”	▲ 20
	3. Apogee Watcher: Solving web performance for agencies and solopreneurs When PageSpeed Insights Shows No CLS or INP for Your URL	▲ 16

Enjoy building in public? Post an update to your product page on Indie Hackers, and it will automatically be added to the daily leaderboard.

Build your product while still employed and split the work by specialty.

Jon Buda and Justin Jackson built Transistor, a podcast hosting platform, without quitting their day jobs first. They signed a partnership agreement in January 2018, then split the work cleanly: Jon built nights and weekends; Justin handled the customer-facing stuff, from beta invites to marketing, docs, and support.

It started small. Their first revenue was $33 in February. They launched on Product Hunt in August, hit $20,000 in monthly revenue within a year, and eventually grew Transistor to $30,000 a month. Then they both quit thei full-time jobs.

Read the full growth report →

AI models have evolved. ChatGPT has not.

We're still using the same old AI assistant products we were using in 2022, even though the models underneath them keep getting better.

It's time for the next generation of AI assistants.

Introducing Hatch, the most productive AI assistant ever made.

From the creators of Indie Hackers, Hatch was thoughtfully crafted to help you get real work done. From floating windows to tagging documents, we've reimagined every aspect of your daily AI assistant to help you operate at a higher level.

Try Hatch free. Use code INDIE30FREE for 100% off for 1 month.

Short of having kids (so I've been told), there's no easier way to fall in love with a pursuit than to start and try growing a business!

—Channing

Did you like today's stories? Did they suck? Which ones?

We're constantly changing things up to make this newsletter more useful, so let us know what you think by replying directly to this email. We read every reply!

Special thanks to Yushavel Calderon for the graphic design, and to James Fleischmann for contributing a post.

—Channing