Building Bloxely with Kiro: Turning an Idea into a Focus Dashboard
Staying focused has always been difficult for me. I get distracted easily and when I open up a huge dashboard filled with features I often feel overwhelmed instead of productive. On the other hand, simple sticky notes don’t give me enough structure to manage priorities.
I started wondering what if I only saw the top priorities for today and nothing else. I tested the idea with a notebook. I wrote down one or two tasks and focused only on them. To my surprise, my productivity improved dramatically. The distractions faded away and I could finally concentrate. That simple experiment became the seed for Bloxely.
What I Built
Bloxely is a focus dashboard built from building blocks. Instead of showing everything at once, it allows users to add only the blocks they need for the day. The blocks are resizable and movable so the dashboard adapts to the way people work. It is not as complex as Notion and not as simple as sticky notes. It sits in the middle where focus lives.
I designed Bloxely with the essentials that truly help with productivity. Users can add a to-do list, a Kanban board, a priority matrix, sticky notes, and notes with voice support. To build better habits there is a habit tracker. For planning ahead there is a minimal calendar that stores upcoming tasks. To stay in rhythm there is a Pomodoro timer and a simple clock. For flow there is even a YouTube player for lofi music.
On top of this, users can add images and screenshots, customize their wallpaper, and zoom out when they need extra space. Everything is built around the principle of less clutter, more focus.
How Kiro Helped
Bloxely exists today because of Kiro. Without it, the process of going from idea to working product would have been slow and overwhelming. Kiro gave me structure, acceleration, and guidance at every step.
From idea to spec
I began by sharing my vision with Kiro in plain language. I told it that I wanted a dashboard made of blocks that users could add and resize. Kiro helped me transform that vision into a proper specification. Together we built three key documents:
- requirements.md: where I wrote simple user stories like “As a user, I can add a Pomodoro timer block to track my focus sessions.”
- design.md: where Kiro guided me in outlining the architecture. Each widget would be self-contained and use local storage instead of a heavy backend.
- tasks.md: where the work was broken into clear coding steps so I could stay on track.
This spec-driven approach gave me clarity. Instead of diving into messy code, I had a living roadmap.
Building with vibe coding
Once the spec was ready, I moved into vibe coding with Kiro. I would describe what I wanted in natural language and Kiro generated the code. If something needed adjusting, I refined it in conversation. It felt like pair programming with a partner who never got tired.
The most impressive code generation happened when I needed a system for resizable, drag-and-drop blocks that stored data locally. This was complex and would normally take weeks to implement. Kiro generated clean, working code that became the backbone of Bloxely’s dashboard in hours.
Debugging with guidance
Like any project, I ran into linting errors, syntax issues, and logic bugs. Normally these small problems would break my flow. With Kiro, I simply asked for help. It pointed out what was wrong, explained the fix, and often rewrote the corrected code. This saved me countless hours and kept me focused on building features instead of chasing errors.
Automating with agent hooks
I also used Kiro’s agent hooks to automate repetitive workflows. One hook automatically committed changes to Git every time I finished a feature. Another kept my documentation updated when I modified a component. These automations may sound small, but they gave me more headspace to think about design instead of maintenance.
Lessons Learned
Building Bloxely with Kiro taught me three important lessons.
- Simplicity creates focus. The best tools are not the ones with endless features, but the ones that help you concentrate on what matters.
- Modular design scales well. Thinking of everything as a block made the system flexible. I could add, remove, or resize without breaking the overall flow.
- AI accelerates development. Kiro was not just a code generator. It was a guide that helped me plan, design, build, and debug. It felt like working with a teammate who kept me aligned with my vision while saving me time.
Challenges I Faced
The biggest challenge was avoiding feature bloat. I had to constantly remind myself that Bloxely was about focus, not about doing everything. Each new idea went through a filter: does this make the user more focused or does it add clutter.
Another challenge was designing reliable local storage. Without a traditional database, I had to ensure data was consistent and easy to retrieve. Kiro’s guidance here was invaluable.
Finally, balancing simplicity with functionality took multiple iterations. I wanted Bloxely to look minimal but still feel powerful enough to use daily.
The Road Ahead
Bloxely today is a solid starting point, but I see it growing. I want to add more blocks, polish the interactions, and make the workspace even more personal. At the same time I want to hold on to the core principle: focus first, everything else second.
If I had to express Bloxely’s vision in one equation, it would be simple:
Closing Thoughts
What excites me most is how Kiro helped bring this vision to life. Normally a project like Bloxely would take weeks of planning and months of coding. With Kiro, I moved from idea to working product in record time. More importantly, I did it without feeling overwhelmed.
Kiro became more than just a coding assistant. It was a partner that structured my thoughts, guided my designs, and fixed my mistakes. It kept me productive while I was building a tool that is itself about productivity.
Bloxely is proof that when human creativity meets AI-powered development, ideas don’t have to stay on paper. They can become real, usable products that help people work better.
That is exactly what Bloxely is about. And it is exactly what Kiro made possible.
Top comments (0)