Rebuild the 20% of a Paid App You Actually Use, Then Open-Source It: A VibeCoding Playbook
sujingshen · x · 2026-10-05
Citing a developer who found Photoshop bloated and rebuilt just the 20% of features he actually used with vibe coding, then open-sourced it, the author lays out a repeatable playbook:
- Pick a paid app you use daily
- Rebuild only the features you truly need
- Strip the commercialization and open-source it
He also cautions that the features you don't use may be indispensable to other paying customers — if you want to monetize, find the niche users who need only that slice and find the original too expensive.
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