This site: testing a swarm design
- Capability
- AI coding tools build a whole site from a brief in short numbered versions. I decide every step, look at each result and say what is wrong.
- In practice
- At the start of November I saw a swarm design: cursors that draw a page piece by piece. I wanted to see how it feels on a real site, so I built mine around it with AI coding tools, 16 versions on 6 and 7 Nov 2026, deciding every step. I liked it, so it now opens my lab.
- Limits
- Nothing on this page runs live. The swarm is a design: scripted cursors, not AI working while you watch. The tools run on subscriptions, so cost is not tracked per version.
- Versions
- 16in the first 2 days
- Palettes dropped
- 3of 4 tried
- Photo swap
- 5approaches
- Sites built
- 2one kept, one for its copy
- Graphite and limedropped
- Ink and copperdropped
- Petrol and porcelaindropped
- Modern blackkept
8 NovThis site becomes an experiment
A visual replay of this site's own build log: 16 versions on 6 and 7 Nov 2026, then the changes of 8 Nov. Every step comes from the release notes. Nothing here runs live.
Goal
Does a swarm design work on a real site, can AI coding tools build and keep rebuilding it while I decide every step, and can the misses stay on the record?
How it runs
- I give a brief or a one-line decision. An AI coding tool builds a numbered version. I look at it and say what is wrong.
- Day one: a plain page, then a swarm of cursors that repaints the outfit, then a swarm that draws the whole page, section by section, as you scroll.
- The swarm started from a design I saw that week, and from the work of designers I follow.
- A second AI run answered three open design questions.
- Day two: the earnings desk, EXP-001, went into the lab.
- Day three: as a test, a second AI run drafted a whole other site overnight from my brief. I compared the two and kept its first-person copy inside this design.
Misses and limits
- Palettes. Three thrown away in two days. One I picked from mockups and did not recognize as mine once it was on the page.
- Photo swap. Five approaches before only the clothes changed and the face stayed put.
- Demos. Four mock demos and a simulated workflow were built, then removed.
- Preview. One preview build showed a local development address on the page. A test now fails the build if that happens.
Nice to have
- More experiments, picked from what is new in AI.
- A note on what changes here, misses included.
Want your team to build with AI like this, with people deciding every step? Let’s talk.