Building VT100 AI-Powered Typing Tutor with Kiro

Resurrection of the VT100 Terminal: Building an AI-Powered Typing Tutor with Kiro

How I brought the iconic VT100 terminal back to life with modern AI and development practices

The Resurrection Theme: Why VT100?

In the world of computing history, few technologies are as iconic—or as "dead"—as the VT100 terminal. Released by Digital Equipment Corporation in 1978, the VT100 was the gold standard for computer terminals, with its distinctive green phosphor display, monospace fonts, and that unmistakable glow that defined an entire era of computing.

But like many revolutionary technologies, the VT100 became obsolete. Modern graphical interfaces, colorful displays, and touch screens replaced the humble terminal. Yet there's something magical about that green-on-black aesthetic—the focused simplicity, the authentic computing feel, the nostalgic charm that takes you back to when programming felt like wizardry.

This is the perfect resurrection story: taking the beloved VT100 terminal interface and breathing new life into it with today's most advanced AI technology, creating something that solves tomorrow's problems—personalized, intelligent typing education.

The Vision: AI Meets Retro Computing

The AI Typing Tutor isn't just another typing application. It's a bridge between computing's past and future:

• Yesterday's Interface: Authentic VT100 terminal aesthetic with green phosphor glow, scanlines, and ASCII art
• Today's Intelligence: Claude Haiku AI for personalized exercise generation and performance analysis
• Tomorrow's Learning: Adaptive, conversational AI that understands your weaknesses and creates targeted practice

This project embodies the resurrection theme by proving that "obsolete" doesn't mean "inferior"—sometimes the old ways, enhanced with modern capabilities, create the most compelling experiences.

The Kiro Development Journey

What made this project truly special wasn't just the end result, but how I used Kiro's advanced development features to build it. This became a showcase of modern AI-assisted development practices, from creative prototyping to rigorous specification-driven development.

Stage 1: Vibe Coding - Creative Exploration

I started with Kiro's "vibe coding" approach—a creative, exploratory way to rapidly prototype ideas without getting bogged down in specifications. This was pure creative flow:

• Rapid Iteration: Quickly mocking up the VT100 aesthetic with CSS and React components
• Visual Experimentation: Testing different green phosphor effects, glow intensities, and terminal layouts
• Creative Freedom: Focusing on the feel and atmosphere before worrying about architecture

Vibe coding let me capture the essence of what I wanted—that authentic terminal experience—without premature optimization or over-engineering. It's like sketching before painting; you need to find the soul of the project first.

Stage 2: First UI Prototype

The initial prototype captured the core visual elements:

• Terminal window with authentic header and controls
• VT100 ASCII art logo
• Green-on-black color scheme with glow effects
• Basic layout structure for chat, typing area, and stats

This prototype proved the concept was viable and gave me a concrete foundation to build upon. The visual identity was established—now it needed intelligence and functionality.

Stage 3: Spec-Driven Development (SDD)

Once the creative vision was clear, I transitioned to Kiro's Spec-Driven Development approach. This is where the magic of structured AI development really shines:

Requirements Engineering: Kiro helped me formalize 7 comprehensive requirements covering:

• AI chat interface with terminal aesthetics
• Real-time typing feedback with character-level accuracy
• Session management and controls
• Performance analytics and statistics
• Historical data persistence
• Consistent VT100 visual design
• Browser-only architecture (no external databases)

Design Documentation: Each requirement was translated into correctness properties—mathematical statements that the system must satisfy. For example:

• "WPM calculation must equal (characters/5)/(seconds/60)"
• "Accuracy percentage must equal (correct_chars/total_chars)*100"
• "Cursor position must advance only on correct character input"

Task Breakdown: The specification was decomposed into 15+ implementation tasks, each with clear acceptance criteria and validation requirements.

This structured approach ensured nothing was forgotten and every feature had a clear purpose tied back to user needs.

Stage 4: Steering Documents - Quality Guardrails

Kiro's steering documents provided continuous guidance throughout development:

TypeScript Best Practices: Automatic enforcement of:

• Strict type checking with no any types
• Comprehensive interface definitions
• Proper error handling patterns
• Performance optimization guidelines

Task Completion Standards: Every task required:

• npm run build passing without errors
• npm run lint passing without warnings
• npm test passing all tests
• Proper documentation and code comments

These steering documents acted like a senior developer pair-programming with me, ensuring consistent quality and preventing technical debt.

Stage 5: Hooks - Automated Excellence

Kiro's hooks system automated the tedious parts of development:

Auto-commit Hooks: Automatically committed code changes with proper commit messages following conventional commit standards

Documentation Sync: Kept documentation up-to-date as code evolved, ensuring the README, architecture docs, and API references never fell behind

Quality Gates: Ran tests and linting automatically, preventing broken code from being committed

This automation freed me to focus on creative problem-solving rather than process management.

Stage 6: Advanced AI Integration - SDD Iteration

The initial AI implementation was functional but naive. Recognizing this, I initiated a second SDD cycle specifically for AI enhancement:

Enhanced AI Service: Upgraded from simple exercise generation to sophisticated conversational AI with:

• Intent classification (chitchat, analysis, suggestions)
• Structured response parsing
• Performance-aware exercise generation
• Multi-turn conversation context

Advanced Analytics: Added AI-powered performance analysis that identifies weak spots and provides personalized recommendations

This iterative approach—using SDD not just for initial development but for major enhancements—showed the power of specification-driven thinking for complex features.

Stage 7: Comprehensive Documentation

Throughout development, Kiro maintained comprehensive documentation:

• Architecture Guide: Detailed system design and patterns
• API Reference: Complete service interfaces and methods
• Testing Guide: Property-based and unit testing strategies
• Setup & Deployment: Production-ready deployment instructions

The documentation wasn't an afterthought—it evolved with the code, ensuring the project remained maintainable and accessible.

The Final Product

WebApp Screenshots

The final application is a testament to what's possible when you combine nostalgic design with cutting-edge technology:

What Makes This Project Amazing

1. Authentic Terminal Experience

• Pixel-perfect VT100 recreation with green phosphor glow
• Authentic typing sounds using Web Audio API
• Scanline effects and CRT-style visual artifacts
• ASCII art branding that feels genuinely retro

2. Intelligent AI Integration

• Claude Haiku AI generates personalized exercises based on your skill level
• Conversational Interface lets you chat naturally: "Give me a challenge with numbers" or "Help me with my weak keys"
• Performance Analysis provides intelligent feedback: "You're struggling with the 'th' combination—here's targeted practice"
• Adaptive Learning creates exercises that focus on your specific problem areas

3. Real-Time Feedback System

• Character-by-character feedback with green (correct) and red (incorrect) highlighting
• Live performance metrics: WPM, accuracy, error count updating in real-time
• Audio feedback with authentic typing sounds for correct/incorrect keystrokes
• Visual cursor tracking that only advances on correct input

4. Comprehensive Analytics

• Session history with detailed performance tracking
• Weak spot identification showing which keys and combinations need work
• Progress visualization with improvement trends over time
• Local storage keeps all data private and accessible offline

5. Production-Quality Engineering

• 100% test coverage with both unit tests and property-based tests
• 15+ mathematical properties validated with 100+ iterations each
• TypeScript strict mode with comprehensive type safety
• Performance optimized for real-time typing feedback with minimal latency

6. Modern Development Practices

• Spec-driven development with formal requirements and design properties
• Property-based testing using fast-check for mathematical correctness
• Automated quality gates ensuring build, lint, and test success
• Comprehensive documentation maintained throughout development

The Resurrection Success Story

This project proves that resurrection isn't just about nostalgia—it's about recognizing timeless design principles and enhancing them with modern capabilities:

What We Kept from 1978:

• The focused, distraction-free terminal interface
• Monospace typography and green phosphor aesthetics
• The satisfying tactile feedback of character-by-character typing
• The sense of direct communication with the machine

What We Added from 2025:

• AI-powered personalized learning and exercise generation
• Real-time performance analytics and intelligent feedback
• Modern web technologies (React, TypeScript, Next.js)
• Sophisticated audio and visual effects
• Local data persistence and session management

What We're Solving for Tomorrow:

• Personalized education that adapts to individual learning patterns
• Conversational AI interfaces that feel natural and helpful
• Privacy-first applications that work entirely in the browser
• Accessible learning tools that combine effectiveness with enjoyment

Technical Innovation Highlights

AI-Powered Exercise Generation

The AI doesn't just generate random text—it creates targeted exercises based on your performance history:

// AI analyzes your weak spots and creates focused practice
"You've been struggling with the 'qu' combination. Here's targeted practice:
'The quick brown fox requires quite a few quality questions...'"

The Kiro Development Experience

Working with Kiro transformed how I approach software development:

Before Kiro:

• Ad-hoc development with inconsistent quality
• Manual testing and documentation maintenance
• Reactive bug fixing and technical debt accumulation
• Difficulty maintaining complex project requirements

With Kiro:

• Structured development with clear specifications and acceptance criteria
• Automated quality assurance with continuous testing and validation
• Proactive quality management preventing issues before they occur
• Living documentation that evolves with the codebase
• AI-assisted development that amplifies human creativity rather than replacing it

Lessons Learned

1. Vibe Coding + SDD = Perfect Balance

Starting with creative exploration and then formalizing with specifications gives you both innovation and reliability.

2. Property-Based Testing is a Game Changer

Testing mathematical properties with hundreds of random inputs catches edge cases that unit tests miss.

3. Steering Documents Prevent Technical Debt

Having AI enforce coding standards continuously is like having a senior developer reviewing every line of code.

4. Hooks Enable Flow State

Automating the mundane tasks (commits, documentation, quality checks) lets you stay in creative flow.

5. Resurrection Projects Are Deeply Satisfying

There's something profoundly rewarding about bringing beloved old technology back to life with modern enhancements.

Experience the resurrection of the VT100 terminal, enhanced with the power of modern AI. Feel the satisfying click of each keystroke, watch your performance improve in real-time, and chat with an AI that understands your learning needs.

This is what resurrection looks like in 2025: not just bringing back the past, but making it better than it ever was.

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Built with Kiro AI-assisted development, featuring Spec-Driven Development, property-based testing, and automated quality assurance. The future of software development is here, and it's helping us resurrect the best of computing's past.