{"id":547747,"date":"2026-04-24T05:49:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T05:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/547747\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T05:49:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T05:49:19","slug":"this-vibe-coded-tool-helps-you-find-missing-lego-pieces-for-your-old-sets-and-now-i-think-the-ai-revolution-might-not-be-such-a-bad-thing-after-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/547747\/","title":{"rendered":"This vibe-coded tool helps you find missing Lego pieces for your old sets, and now I think the AI revolution might not be such a bad thing after all"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"elk-dabc6f8b-47b9-4572-9f03-cfc67742ab41\">I&#8217;ll be the first to admit that I&#8217;ve been rather critical of our new AI-integrated, &#8220;<a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/software\/ai\/i-destroyed-months-of-your-work-in-seconds-says-ai-coding-tool-after-deleting-a-devs-entire-database-during-a-code-freeze-i-panicked-instead-of-thinking\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/software\/ai\/i-destroyed-months-of-your-work-in-seconds-says-ai-coding-tool-after-deleting-a-devs-entire-database-during-a-code-freeze-i-panicked-instead-of-thinking\/\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/software\/ai\/i-destroyed-months-of-your-work-in-seconds-says-ai-coding-tool-after-deleting-a-devs-entire-database-during-a-code-freeze-i-panicked-instead-of-thinking\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">woops-it&#8217;s-broken<\/a>&#8221; world. That&#8217;s not to say I&#8217;m completely down on the tech, though. I like me a dose of DLSS, and vibe coding has shown some genuine promise in terms of bringing software development to the masses.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m also a huge Lego fan. Which means I&#8217;m happy to admit that <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/brickbacklog.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/brickbacklog.com\/\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Brickbacklog.com<\/a>, a vibe-coded web tool that helps you identify and source missing pieces for your old Lego sets, is a very cool thing.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-seasonal\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"elk-dabc6f8b-47b9-4572-9f03-cfc67742ab41-2\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">The tool&#8217;s creator, James Bruce, has written <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/posts\/james-bruce-uk_im-a-big-lego-fan-some-of-you-may-even-share-7452661725142798336-1J4-\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/posts\/james-bruce-uk_im-a-big-lego-fan-some-of-you-may-even-share-7452661725142798336-1J4-\/\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">a Linkedin post<\/a> describing its inception. They&#8217;re a Lego connoisseur like myself, only with what sounds like a much, much larger collection.<\/p>\n<p id=\"elk-ed2b8b67-42e6-4c2c-b465-dff133d5e77f\">&#8220;I love buying old bargain bulk boxes and figuring out what sets were mixed in there,&#8221; says Bruce. &#8220;But finding the right bits to rebuild those sets can be tedious, especially when there are 5 kg of bricks to wade through.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;So one Saturday evening, I decided to make a web-based tool to help me find the pieces I need: something where I could enter a set number, see all the parts, and use a dead-simple tick-box interface to check them off, ideally with a satisfying sound.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brickbacklog.com\/?catalog=f6699aea7966da85586d7c72\" target=\"_blank\" id=\"elk-cd39799b-783b-4e4f-87e2-e93248835f18\" data-url=\"https:\/\/brickbacklog.com\/?catalog=f6699aea7966da85586d7c72\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:56.25%;\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cPqFq2To6dGPu7FDSVxpa6.jpg\" alt=\"A screenshot of Brickbacklog.com, a website for finding missing Lego pieces\"   loading=\"lazy\" data-new-v2-image=\"true\" data-original-mos=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cPqFq2To6dGPu7FDSVxpa6.jpg\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cPqFq2To6dGPu7FDSVxpa6.jpg\" class=\"inline\"\/>\n<\/p>\n<p>(Image credit: James Bruce)<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"elk-2448aba2-2ce6-41b0-bf92-b135ed6decd7\">No such tool was found to exist. But despite having two decades of experience as a web developer and programmer, Bruce decided to take the easier route and see if <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/chatgpt.com\/codex\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/chatgpt.com\/codex\/\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ChatGPT Codex<\/a> could make one instead.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Within fifteen minutes, it had built a working prototype. Less than an hour later, I\u2019d bought a domain name and uploaded the first version. It was rough, and it didn\u2019t work for larger sets yet, but the proof of concept was there, and it was already useful,&#8221; says Bruce.<\/p>\n<p class=\"newsletter-form__strapline\">Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;By Sunday morning, I\u2019d added new features, fixed bugs, and made sure it could scale for massive sets. Then I added a way to save your progress without ever needing to log in, so no sensitive user data is stored. And it all just\u2026 worked.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This doesn&#8217;t quite track with my own (limited) experience with vibe coding, but being a dev to begin with probably helps in terms of prompting the AI in the right direction. Anyway, the resulting tool looks incredibly useful, especially for someone who&#8217;s planning a move in the near future, like myself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:56.25%;\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Q8wPQkCepHhy9FYidn65kN.jpg\" alt=\"A Lego Technic Ford GT40 2022 model car, in front of a, err, &quot;holiday tree&quot;\"   loading=\"lazy\" data-new-v2-image=\"true\" data-original-mos=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Q8wPQkCepHhy9FYidn65kN.jpg\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Q8wPQkCepHhy9FYidn65kN.jpg\" class=\"inline\"\/>\n<\/p>\n<p>There are many like it, but this one is mine. (Image credit: Future)<\/p>\n<p id=\"elk-c7ffc65c-661c-4d84-9852-095cbb862d91\">I have far too many completed Lego sets in my home at the moment. And I know that, no matter how carefully I disassemble them, half my Lego Technic cars will end up without their wing mirrors by the time I unpack them at the other end.<\/p>\n<p>But lo and behold, <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/brickbacklog.com\/?catalog=f132a58d5781ea6d762cba45\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/brickbacklog.com\/?catalog=f132a58d5781ea6d762cba45\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">even my 2022 Ford GT is supported by the app<\/a>. And yes, half those little doohickies are probably spread underneath various bits of furniture in my house already, and I&#8217;ve simply not noticed they&#8217;ve fallen off. But when I do, I&#8217;ll be using this little tool to help order replacements\u2014and that&#8217;s pretty cool if you ask me.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/7rTxS5WgHWFPDRsqLd28vh.png\" alt=\"Secretlab Titan Evo gaming chair in Royal colouring, on a white background\"   class=\"person__avatar image-wrapped__image image__image\" loading=\"lazy\" data-normal=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/7rTxS5WgHWFPDRsqLd28vh.png\" data-original-mos=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/7rTxS5WgHWFPDRsqLd28vh.png\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/7rTxS5WgHWFPDRsqLd28vh.png\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\" data-slice-image=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Best PC gaming kit 2026<\/p>\n<p>All our favorite gear<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I&#8217;ll be the first to admit that I&#8217;ve been rather critical of our new AI-integrated, &#8220;woops-it&#8217;s-broken&#8221; world. That&#8217;s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547748,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[554,733,4308,86,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-547747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}