How to vibe codeRise
Projects, tasks, time. Together.
risecalendar.com ↗Productivity & Calendar SaaS
The verdict: can you vibe code Rise?
Build a personal web-based task calendar subset rather than attempting to replicate the full multi-platform sync engine, because calendar protocol edge cases and canvas rendering require immense engineering effort.
Replicating Rise as a personal-use tool means confronting calendar sync hell—handling recurring event exceptions, timezone shifts, and token refreshes across Google and Microsoft graphs is notoriously painful. A solo developer can build a gorgeous Next.js wrapper with local database tasks and a mock calendar grid in a couple of weeks, but achieving the fluid canvas and reliable bidirectional sync that Rise spent four years refining will consume months of frustrating debugging.
Estimated effort: 3-5 months of part-time work
What you can't replicate
- The exact four years of bug-fixing on multi-way calendar protocol edge cases
- Native desktop window management and system integration across macOS and Windows
Founded
2020
Raised
€2.5M
Team
6 core members
Cheapest paid tier
—
What Rise does
A destination calendar combined with task management and project tracking, featuring focus-time protection and calendar synchronization.
Core features
- Destination calendar canvas with multi-way calendar sync (Google, Outlook)
- Integrated task management and project tracking inside the calendar grid
- Automated focus-time protection and time auditing reports
- Extensive keyboard shortcut navigation and horizontal scrolling interface
- Time-blocking and scheduling optimization primitives
The business
Pricing
- Free TierFree
- Team TierUnknown
Funding
€2.5M from Lachy Groom, Stewart Butterfield, Adriaan Mol
The hard parts of vibe coding Rise
- Bidirectional calendar synchronization across external APIs handling recurring events and timezones
- Building a high-performance custom calendar canvas from scratch
- Managing state parity and smooth UI performance across dense time grids
How to vibecode Rise
Prerequisites
Node.jsfree
Runtime environment for building and running the full-stack web application.
GitHubfree
Version control and deployment pipeline integration.
AI coding tools
Recommended stack
| Frontend | Next.js with Tailwind CSS and custom calendar grid components |
|---|---|
| Backend | Next.js Server Actions and API routes |
| Database | Neon (Serverless Postgres) |
| Auth | better-auth |
| Payments | None (personal use clone) |
| Other | Vercel AI SDK, PostHog |
Build guide
01Project Scaffolding and Database Schema
Initialize the Next.js project with Tailwind CSS, configure Neon Postgres with Drizzle ORM, and set up better-auth for single-user authentication.
Initialize a new Next.js project using App Router, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS. Set up Drizzle ORM connected to a Neon Postgres database. Define database schemas for users, calendars, events, projects, and tasks with proper foreign key relationships and timestamps. Implement better-auth with email/password authentication and secure session handling. Create a clean dashboard layout shell with a sidebar navigation for calendar, projects, and settings. Ensure clean separation of concerns and robust error handling across database transactions.02Calendar Canvas UI and Grid Engine
Build the core destination calendar canvas supporting day, week, and month views with custom time-slot rendering and keyboard navigation shortcuts.
Build a high-performance calendar canvas component in React supporting day, week, and month views. Implement time grid rendering with 30-minute intervals, current time indicator lines, and drag-and-drop or click-to-create event interactions. Add keyboard shortcut navigation (e.g., 't' for today, 'w' for week view, 'j/k' for navigation) using custom hook bindings. Ensure smooth scrolling performance and responsive layout adaptation for desktop viewports.03Task Management and Project Integration
Implement inline task lists and project boards that embed directly into the calendar canvas, allowing tasks to be scheduled into time slots.
Create a task management subsystem with projects, lists, subtasks, and completion states. Implement an inline task sidebar and embed task checkboxes directly into calendar event titles and day slots using parsing logic (e.g. bracket syntax like '[ ]'). Build a drag-and-drop mechanism to assign tasks onto specific time blocks in the calendar canvas. Store task metadata linked to user profiles and update UI reactively using server actions.04External Calendar Sync Integration
Integrate Google Calendar and Outlook API connectors to pull external events into the unified canvas and handle bidirectional synchronization.
Implement OAuth integration for Google Calendar and Microsoft Graph APIs to fetch external calendar events. Build a background synchronization routine that maps external events into the local database schema, handling recurring event rules, timezones, and conflict detection. Create UI controls to toggle calendar visibility, select sync frequency, and view connection status without crashing when API rate limits or token expirations occur.05Focus Protection and Time Auditing Reports
Add time auditing features that analyze calendar fragmentation and compute focus-time protection blocks.
Develop a time analytics and reporting engine that calculates focus time, meeting load, and fragmentation scores from user event data. Build interactive report views with charts showing time spent in meetings versus deep work. Implement an automated 'FocusGuard' feature that scans schedules for fragmented gaps and suggests or auto-blocks focus time slots on the calendar canvas.06Polish, Error Boundaries, and Deployment
Add error boundaries, polish keyboard flows, configure production deployment on Vercel, and verify end-to-end functionality.
Add comprehensive error boundaries, loading skeletons, and toast notifications across all asynchronous actions in the application. Implement robust input validation using Zod schemas for all forms and API endpoints. Configure environment variables for authentication and calendar OAuth credentials. Prepare the codebase for deployment on Vercel, ensuring clean build logs, optimized asset caching, and proper database migration execution.
Cost vs paying for Rise
What will you build it with?
Starting total with Claude Code$0 one-time
Starting costs (one-time)
- Custom domain (optional)$12/yr
- AI coding tools subscription$20
Total~$32 one-time
Ongoing costs (monthly)
- Vercel Hobby / Pro hosting$0-20/mo
- Neon Database$0/mo
Total~$0-20/mo
Paying for Rise
Free (Shut down)
Your time to build
60-90 hours
AI tool credits
$20
Break-even
N/A (Product shut down)
Vibe code Rise: FAQ
- Can you vibe code Rise yourself?
- Serious undertaking — 38/100 vibecodeable. Build a personal web-based task calendar subset rather than attempting to replicate the full multi-platform sync engine, because calendar protocol edge cases and canvas rendering require immense engineering effort.
- How long does it take to vibe code Rise?
- 3-5 months of part-time work — roughly 60-90 hours of hands-on time with an AI coding agent.
- How do you build your own Rise?
- Scoped to personal use: Next.js with Tailwind CSS and custom calendar grid components on the front, Next.js Server Actions and API routes behind it, Neon (Serverless Postgres) for data. Follow the 6-step build guide on this page — each step has a paste-ready prompt for an AI coding agent.
- How do you code your own Rise without being an expert?
- Use an AI coding tool (Claude Code or Cursor) and work in small steps: scaffold, data model, core screens, then deploy. Realistic effort: 3-5 months of part-time work. The prompts on this page are written so the AI does the heavy lifting.
- How much does it cost to vibe code Rise instead of paying?
- About ~$32 one-time to start and ~$0-20/mo to run, versus Free (Shut down) for Rise. Break-even: N/A (Product shut down).
- What stack should you use to vibe code Rise?
- Next.js with Tailwind CSS and custom calendar grid components; Next.js Server Actions and API routes; Neon (Serverless Postgres); plus Vercel AI SDK, PostHog.