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Control your whole smart home from the Mac menu bar with a vibe-coded app

A designer vibe coded Hearth over a weekend with help from Claude and Codex, using SwiftUI, Python and JavaScript. It sits in the Mac menu bar and connects to hundreds of Home Assistant integrations: energy use, cameras, speakers, lights, plugs, air conditioners and supported cars.

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Source

@TheObiLeonard on X · 2026-10-15

Written in our own words. Credit to the original author. Link checked 2026-10-22.

What they did

A designer vibe coded Hearth over a weekend with help from Claude and Codex, using SwiftUI, Python and JavaScript. It sits in the Mac menu bar and connects to hundreds of Home Assistant integrations: energy use, cameras, speakers, lights, plugs, air conditioners and supported cars.

Result (as claimed)

Released as open source (138 likes); he plans a mobile companion app next.

Tools they used

ClaudeOpenAI CodexSwiftUIHome AssistantFigma

Cost: OpenAI Codex: free plan, paid from $8/mo. Checked 2026-10-14.

Set it up

  1. Write a one-page brief

    Describe the app in plain words: who it is for, the 3 core screens or actions, and what "done" looks like.

  2. Start the project with your agent

    Open Claude and paste the brief. Ask it to propose a stack and a file plan before writing code.

  3. Build one slice at a time

    Ship the smallest working flow first, run it, then add features one by one. Commit after each working step.

  4. Test it like a user

    Click through on desktop and phone. Ask the agent to add basic tests and fix anything that breaks.

  5. Check security and ship

    Keep keys in environment variables, check auth and database rules, then deploy and share the link.

Copy the full setup prompt

Paste into your agent and it will walk you through the setup, asking before anything that sends, posts or spends.

You are helping me set up this AI use case end to end in Claude Code.

Goal: Control your whole smart home from the Mac menu bar with a vibe-coded app
What the original author did: A designer vibe coded Hearth over a weekend with help from Claude and Codex, using SwiftUI, Python and JavaScript. It sits in the Mac menu bar and connects to hundreds of Home Assistant integrations: energy use, cameras, speakers, lights, plugs, air conditioners and supported cars.
Reported result (as claimed by the author): Released as open source (138 likes); he plans a mobile companion app next.
Source: https://x.com/TheObiLeonard/status/2110638053039784295
Tools they used: Claude, OpenAI Codex, SwiftUI, Home Assistant, Figma
Category: Vibe coding & apps

Please:
1. Ask me 3 short questions about my situation (accounts I have, budget, what I want the output to look like).
2. Propose a step-by-step plan using these tools or cheaper alternatives, with the time and cost of each step. Use official pricing pages; say "check pricing" if unsure.
3. Then do the setup with me one step at a time, waiting for my OK before anything that sends messages, posts publicly, spends money or deletes data.
4. Finish with a checklist to run it again next time.

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Guides for this use case

How to build a Mac menu bar app with AI · How to build a smart home and voice assistant with AI agents · How to vibe code an app with Claude Code · How to fix Wi-Fi and secure your home network with AI

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