Speed Coding an AI Chatbot at Remix Austin

I joined the Remix Austin meetup, hosted at HEB Digital’s downtown office, for a unique event called “Remix Rodeo.” The concept: form a team, pick an idea, and build something impressive in just one hour. Naturally, we chose to go big.

Our ambitious goal: create an AI-powered chatbot trained on React Router 7 documentation, providing newcomers with an interactive tool to quickly explore and learn React Router.

The Power of Claude 3.7 Max and Cursor

Given our tight timeline, we leaned heavily on Cursor with Claude 3.7 Max mode, a choice that dramatically accelerated our workflow. Claude 3.7 Max effortlessly handled massive coding tasks, letting us execute complex instructions—such as AI integrations, database setups, and UI components—in a single prompt. During our 45-minute coding session, we produced approximately 2,000 lines of code across 130 messages and tool calls, all at a total cost of just $6.50.

Simply put, there’s no way our team could have built as much as we did without Cursor and Claude 3.7 Max. It’s genuinely impressive how efficiently this mode empowers rapid development.

How We Did It: Tools and Tactics

In our 45-minute sprint, we accomplished:

• Integration of Vercel’s AI SDK and OpenAI.
• Backend implementation with Supabase. Front-end development (avatars, buttons, cards, inputs, skeleton loaders). Creation of chat API endpoints and essential utility functions.

Key to our success was establishing an initial game plan, assigning clear tasks, and making smart use of Cursor’s AI-driven coding capabilities.

Dive Deeper: Watch My Full Breakdown

For a more in-depth look, including code walkthroughs and additional reflections, check out my video recap of the night!

Dramatic Last-Minute Live Demo

Admittedly, things got pretty dramatic near the end. Walking onto the stage for our demo, I wasn’t sure the final chat integration even worked—we hadn’t successfully returned a single message yet. To my surprise (and huge relief), when I typed in my first query live, the chatbot immediately responded correctly, defying all odds for a live demo!

This kind of success is rare for live coding demos, making the moment even sweeter.

Challenges, Lessons, and Reflections

Our biggest technical hurdle was embedding React Router docs into Supabase’s vector database. Though we didn’t fully solve embeddings by demo time, we smartly pivoted to using a web search fallback. Quick adaptability saved our project and our presentation.

The major takeaway: leveraging powerful AI tools like Cursor with Claude 3.7 Max enables ambitious projects—even under tight constraints. Proper planning combined with adaptable execution proved crucial.

Key Takeaways

• **Planning matters: ** A clear plan significantly accelerates execution.
• Cursor + Claude 3.7 Max is impressive: easily managed 2000 lines of rapid coding.
• Adaptability is key: Swift problem solving can rescue live demos.

What’s Next?

Thanks again to Brooks, Grant, and HEB Digital for hosting. Remix Austin remains one of the most exciting tech communities around. Be sure to join the next event!

Check out our Pull Request, or learn more at the Remix Austin Meetup.

Apr 3, 2025.