Show HN: Brain-rot Factory – Italian meme characters powered by AI (Next.js 15)

6 hours ago 2

A vibe coding adventure

Welcome to the story behind Brain-rot Factory - a project born from intense collaboration between human creativity and artificial intelligence, resulting in something no one expected: a 'useless but totally vibe-coded project'.

Our Coding Adventure

This project represents a unique adventure where developer Rodrigo Gomes da Silva and different AI models (Claude 3.7 and Claude 4) worked together to create something truly special - a brain-rot character platform that is simultaneously absurd and technically sophisticated.

Human-AI Collaboration

Brain-rot Factory is the result of intense collaboration between human vision and artificial intelligence. This project is living proof that when creativity meets technology, totally unexpected things can emerge - like AI-generated brain-rot characters conversing with users through other AIs, creating a perfect meta-absurd loop.

Creative problem solving with different AI models

Iterative development through continuous feedback and active supervision

Emergent solutions from synergy between human intuition and computational power

Mutual learning: human taming AI, AI inspiring human

The Journey with Different AI Models

Development involved contrasting experiences with different AI models, each bringing their own challenges and achievements.

Claude 3.7 Sonnet - The Package Era

Developed all the monorepo package infrastructure, but with a peculiar tendency to 'hallucinate' fantastical implementations

Excessive creativity: implemented unsolicited and overly complex features

Technical hallucinations: invented APIs and libraries that didn't exist

Need for constant supervision to maintain focus on the actual task

Intensive 'AI whisperer' work - stop, review, reorient, repeat

About.aiJourney.claude35.learnings

Claude 4 Sonnet - The Game Changer

Completely transformed the collaboration experience, creating most of the main application with impressive autonomy

Fluid development with minimal supervision - more partner than tool

Complete visual design that exceeded all aesthetic expectations

Autonomous creation of functional authentication system

Establishment of a new paradigm of trust in AI collaboration

About.aiJourney.claude4.breakthrough

Creative Process & Discoveries

Development revealed unexpected technical discoveries and unique creative moments.

Technical Discoveries

TypeScript efficiently compiled via tsc for optimized builds

New approaches to familiar tools making them more practical

Perfect integration between GitHub and Google authentication

Simplified deploy on Vercel with AI assistance

Design Journey

Visão:

Simple prompt: 'something futuristic with traits reminiscent of water and glass'

Resultado:

Complete design with gradients, glass morphism and impressive visual effects

Ícone:

Icon generated in ChatGPT + colorful effects and pulsation created by Claude 4

Paradigm Shift

Antes:

AI as a tool that needs constant supervision (babysitter mode)

Depois:

AI as a reliable partner that enables fluid collaborative work

Claude 4 brought confidence to work with AI models productively

Tech Stack

Every line of code, every architectural decision, and every feature was created through collaborative discussion, iterative refinement, and lots of shared debugging between human and AI.

Next.js 15 with App Router - latest version for modern web development

TypeScript compiled via tsc for optimized production builds

Tailwind CSS for responsive UI with glass morphism and gradients

NextAuth.js for secure authentication with GitHub and Google OAuth

Complete internationalization system (6 languages: EN, PT, IT, ID, JA, ZH)

Conversational AI with multiple providers (OpenAI, DeepSeek) via LangChain

Text-to-speech with 'brain-rot' distortion for unique audio experience

Sophisticated rate limiting with browser fingerprinting for enterprise security

Our Philosophy

We believe in the power of collaboration - not just between humans, but between humans and AI. This project demonstrates that the future of development lies in intelligent partnership, where each side brings their unique strengths to create something neither could achieve alone.

Open source and transparent development - open code for collective learning

Accessibility and inclusivity by design - technology for everyone

Continuous learning through experimentation and productive failures

Innovation emerging from conscious human-AI collaboration

Ethical AI implementation with active human supervision

The Team

Rodrigo Gomes da Silva

Developer & Vision Architect

Brazilian developer passionate about creating meaningful digital experiences. Brings years of expertise in full-stack development and a vision for innovative user interactions.

Claude Sonnet (3.7 & 4)

AI Development Partners

Two AI models with distinct personalities that shaped this project. Claude 3.7 brought chaotic creativity and unexpected ideas, while Claude 4 provided reliable execution and productive partnership - together they created a unique development experience.

Impact & Learning

This project taught us valuable lessons about the future of software development and the potential of human-AI collaboration.

AI can amplify human creativity when well-directed, but never replaces intuition

Different AI models have distinct 'personalities' that require specific approaches

Effective human-AI collaboration requires active supervision and clear communication

The future of development lies in partnerships where humans and AI complement each other

'Useless' projects can be perfect laboratories for testing serious technologies

Sometimes you need to be an 'AI whisperer' to extract the best from models

AI model evolution can completely transform development workflow

Meta-irony: using cutting-edge AI to create 'brain-rot' content results in profound learning

Practical Advice for Human-AI Collaboration

Hard-learned lessons from real-world practice about working effectively with AI models in actual development - no romanticization, just reality.

Essential Guidelines

NEVER trust blindly - always review what the AI is doing, line by line

NEVER let the model work alone for more than 10-15 minutes without check-in

NEVER let the AI decide next steps alone - you're the director, it's the actor

ALWAYS immediately clean up 'leftovers' from hallucinations and fantastical files

ALWAYS test immediately - code that doesn't run is worse than code that doesn't exist

Warning Signs

How to identify when a model is 'hallucinating':

Creates implementations that seem overly complex for the task

References libraries or APIs that don't exist

Suddenly shifts focus to unsolicited tasks

Insists on solutions that clearly don't work

Generates code that won't compile even after multiple attempts

Best Practices

Treat AI as intelligent companion, not as infallible substitute or oracle

Break large tasks into specific, testable micro-tasks

Maintain frequent git commits - your best defense against hallucinations

Develop 'AI intuition' - learn to sense when something feels off

Document decisions and context - AI doesn't remember, but you need to

Breakthrough Moments

Specific examples of when AI collaboration really shined in the project:

Automatic creation of LGPD terms with online research and legal compliance

Complete layout and authentication development ready for use

Seamless integration between GitHub and Google OAuth

Automated Vercel deployment with all configurations

Looking Forward

Brain-rot Factory is just the beginning of this journey exploring human-AI collaboration. The project proved it's possible to create something technically sophisticated, aesthetically impressive, and conceptually absurd - all at the same time. We're excited to see how this experience evolves and what new adventures await in this fascinating intersection between human creativity and artificial intelligence.

Acknowledgments

Special gratitude to the open source community that makes all this possible, the creators of the incredible tools we use daily, and everyone who believes that innovation is born from collaboration - whether between humans, between humans and AI, or between seemingly incompatible ideas that merge into something completely new.

Open Source

This project is open source and available on GitHub. We encourage contributions, feedback, and forks. Let's build the future together!

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