Show HN: Koi.rest – watch some fish and regain your balance
An unemployed developer used AI tools to build Koi.rest, a virtual zen pond where visitors watch fish quietly together.
summary is enough The project is a quick novelty to visit directly, while the discussion highlights real-world performance pitfalls of AI-generated code.
summary
An unemployed developer with ADHD used AI tools to build Koi.rest, a virtual zen pond featuring ambient sounds and a multiplayer mechanic where other visitors are represented by fish. Overcoming perfectionism without knowing JavaScript, the creator shipped the project to positive initial reception. However, multiple users reported severe lag, sparking a debate on the performance implications of vibe-coded applications.
key points
- The site features a multiplayer mechanic where active visitors dynamically spawn local koi fish in the shared pond.
- The creator built the application entirely using AI tools despite having no JavaScript experience, prioritizing shipping over perfection.
- Several users experienced poor frame rates and performance lag, igniting discussion regarding the efficiency of AI-generated codebases.
who should read it
Web developers interested in AI-assisted prototyping and users looking for digital relaxation tools.
discussion positive
consensus
Commenters generally love the soothing aesthetic and the clever multiplayer mechanic, but many note significant performance issues and lag on certain browser combinations.
pushback
Some critics heavily criticize the reliance on AI generation without understanding the underlying code, arguing it leaves developers unequipped to fix performance bugs.
Hey! That’s the base, correct. Three are always there so if someone joins and nobody else is using it – they’re never alone.
In essence, when you someone joins the counter goes up and another koi will spawn locally.
It’s a bit nerfed from my initial idea to sync the movement of each koi, but I might do that in the future.
It looks like the way I deployed (Railway) it causes `429 Too Many Requests` to be returned, so I’ll definitely have to look into that. But it’s 1:21 AM so tomorrow.
Thank you for letting me know!
The creator explains the exact implementation details behind the multiplayer fish-spawning system and server constraints.
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