- by Michael Dubakov
- source https://www.mdubakov.me/malleable-software-solid-bases-custom-code/
- You can’t vibe-code a full OS (yet),
- … easily vibe-code small apps to solve personal problems.
- … complex when you add “collaboration” as a dimension.
- … collaborative use cases. You suddenly need:
- data storage with relations,
- concurrent editing,
- notifications,
- changes history,
- permissions, etc.
- solid base that can be tailored via custom code
- solid bases
-
… specialized tool without any customization is as solid as it gets,
- but the lack of customization is exactly what makes it unusable in many cases.
-
… Codex your solid base is almost non-existent, but you have enormous expression power and can build almost whatever you want …
-
… both extremes are suboptimal for the productivity tools market, and we should find a sweet spot somewhere in between.
-
solid base should cover what’s identical for every team, and custom code should cover what makes yours different.
-
- Custom code
- … works well only …
- Permissions, history and data integrity apply to custom code automatically.
- … cannot corrupt the base …
- … custom code extensions were hard (think about the Jira plugin ecosystem), but now they can be easy!
- … malleable software becomes approachable for not-very-technically-savvy users and can beat specialized tools more often.
- … unite high expression power and short build time.
- … works well only …
Aug 31st, 2026 by JD
- Note to self, full throttle on the turnkey feature for AliaJS … open source, altruism is cool but don’t miss out on your platform execution: malleable software operated by AliaJS, ERPNext as the solid base 🏔️
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