The first thing I did after installing OpenCode wasn't build my portfolio.
I built a 3D Tic Tac Toe game in React and deployed it.
Not because I needed it — just because I wanted to see what a terminal-based AI coding tool would actually do. Typed a prompt, watched it scaffold something real, deployed it in the same session. That small detour is what convinced me to use it for something I actually cared about.
Why I Needed a Portfolio Right Then
Just moved back home after living in a hostel. Fresh engineering grad, no job yet, trying to get visible in the dev community. I needed a portfolio.
I could've picked a template and spent days on layout decisions. Instead I built it entirely through OpenCode — and paid attention to what that experience was actually like.
What OpenCode Is (Quick Version)
Terminal-based agentic ai coding tool. You describe what you want, it writes the code, you review and iterate. Supports multiple models — you can swap between them mid-project. There's a desktop version too, but I stayed in the terminal.
Sounds intimidating. It's genuinely just a conversation that produces code.
What Working With It Actually Felt Like
I used free-tier models the whole way through — mainly Minimax V3 and DeepSeek V3 Flash, switching between them depending on the task.
That switching is where things got interesting.
DeepSeek V3 Flash was faster for structure and layout — scaffolding sections quickly. Minimax V3 handled longer, more detail-heavy prompts better — getting the project cards right, writing out the skills section properly.
Honest version: I wasn't following a plan. I was figuring out which model behaved better for which kind of prompt as I went. That's not a flaw — it's just what using free-tier AI actually looks like. You learn the shape of each model through use.
Where I Still Had to Think
The code wasn't the hard part. The decisions were.
OpenCode could generate a hero section. It couldn't tell me what to say in it. It could scaffold a projects section. It couldn't decide which projects were worth showing, or how to describe them for a recruiter reading for 30 seconds.
Every content decision — what to include, how to frame myself as a fresh grad with no full-time work history, which projects to lead with — I had to stop and work out myself. The tool was waiting. The thinking was mine.
AI-assisted development accelerates the build. It doesn't replace the judgment calls about what you're building and why.
What the Portfolio Ended Up Looking Like
Hero, about, skills, projects, contact. Clean and straightforward.
One deliberate call as a fresh grad: lead with projects over credentials. I don't have years of experience to list. But I have things I've shipped — including an AI Resume Tailor I built and deployed recently. That's what the portfolio shows.
→ mohan-portfolio-v1-0.vercel.app
One Thing I'd Tell Another Fresh Grad Before Trying This
OpenCode will move faster than you expect. The part that slows you down won't be the tool — it'll be the moments where you have to decide what kind of developer you want to appear to be.
No model can answer that for you.
Figure out what you want to say. Then let the tool help you say it faster.
Have you used OpenCode or agentic AI coding tool? Did you stick with one model or end up switching around like I did? 👇
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