Kombai: A Faster And Better Way To Vibe Code Frontend
Kombai is an AI-powered extension for VS Code that helps you build beautiful and functional frontends using different inputs like Figma, text, or even images.
I’ve been doing front-end development for over a decade, and one thing I can say for sure is that building effective landing pages and dashboards used to take a lot of time. On average, it could take me anywhere from three days to a full week to complete a dashboard. It wasn’t only about making things look good. Responsiveness, reusability of components, and overall maintainability also took a huge chunk of my time.
Fast forward to today, and AI coding agents have completely changed that.
Instead of manually building everything from scratch, I can simply describe the look and feel of a UI in plain words, and the AI writes the code that matches my vision. That’s exactly how I built the landing pages and dashboards of my recent web apps like Pixono, Flux Labs AI, and ReelPal.
There are already several AI-powered frontend platforms out there. Tools like Cursor, Lovable, and Bolt are all capable of generating front-end code, though they rely heavily on whichever LLM they’re connected to.
In this article, I want to focus on a tool called Kombai. It’s an AI agent built specifically for frontend development tasks.
Let’s get started.
What is Kombai?
Kombai is an AI-powered extension for VS Code that helps you build beautiful and functional frontends using different inputs like Figma, text, or even images. It understands your codebase, follows best practices from 30+ frontend libraries, and produces clean, production-ready code.
Unlike general-purpose coding agents, Kombai was tested on a custom benchmark of over 200 real-world tasks, covering both design-to-code and text-to-code conversions across different frameworks.
The evaluation measured three key factors:
Whether the code compiles without errors.
Whether it follows best practices such as reusability and separation of concerns.
Whether it delivers the expected design and functionality.
The results show that Kombai consistently performs better than general-purpose agents such as Claude Sonnet 4 or Gemini 2.5 Pro when it comes to frontend tasks.
The code compiles cleanly more often, passes structured code reviews at a higher rate, and produces outputs that match both the design and the expected functionality.
Kombai Installation
To install Kombai, go to its official website and hover over the Install Kombai button on the upper right corner of the page. You’ll see options for which coding IDE you want to install it on.
Currently, it supports VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, and Trae.
Here’s an example screenshot of Kombai installation in the Cursor IDE.
Feel free to explore the details and click on the Install button to download and integrate the plugin in Cursor. Once done, you should notice in the left panel that a new tab has been added for Kombai.
That’s it. You are now ready to build your first frontend module.
Building Frontends From Text Descriptions
To give you an example, I will try to create a landing page for my latest web application that creates children’s storybooks using AI.
You can check the full prompt below. Paste it in the prompt field and then hit the submit button. Notice that Kombai does not immediately create files and write code. It chooses the appropriate tech stack and configuration that is subject to your approval.
Prompt:
Goal: Build a Next.js landing page for Noodloo AI, a children’s storybook generator. The site must be fast, responsive, and visually magical, appealing to both kids and parents.
Requirements
Framework: Next.js (latest version) with TypeScript and Tailwind CSS.
Design: Colorful, playful, and premium. Use gradients, transparency (glassmorphism), rounded corners, soft shadows, and smooth animations.
Performance: Lighthouse ≥95 across categories. Lazy-load images, use next/image for optimization.
Accessibility: WCAG 2.1 AA, semantic HTML, keyboard navigation, aria-* labels. Respect prefers-reduced-motion.
Branding & Visuals
Mood: Whimsical, magical, kid-friendly.
Colors: Bright gradients (pink, purple, blue, green, yellow) with dark ink background accents.
Typography: Rounded playful font for headings (e.g., Fredoka) + clean sans-serif for body.
Decor: Floating blobs, soft particles, star/planet SVGs, morphing shapes.
Animations & Interactions
Smooth entrance fades/slides (350–450ms).
Hover lift/glow on buttons.
Floating particles in hero.
Scroll-triggered card reveals.
Sections to Include
Header: Logo + nav (Features, How It Works, Gallery, Pricing, FAQ, Order Print). CTA: Start Creating. Mobile menu with hamburger.
Hero: Headline “Create Magical Stories for Kids” + subheadline. CTA buttons: Start Your Story + See How It Works. Background gradient with playful illustration.
Features Grid:
AI-Powered Stories
Beautiful Illustrations
Custom Characters
Professional PDFs
Safe & Private
Share & Collaborate
How It Works: 3 steps (Imagine → Create → Make It Yours) with icons/mini illustrations.
Gallery / Art Styles: Horizontal scroll of sample illustration styles.
Custom Characters: Teaser card for character builder.
Download & Print: Emphasize PDF + printed copies. CTA: Order a Printed Book.
Reviews/Testimonials: Rotating quotes from parents.
Pricing Preview: Free / Pro / Family cards.
FAQ: Accessible accordion.
CTA Band: “Ready to Create Magic?” with Start Creating button.
Footer: Links, social icons, newsletter signup.
Copy to Use (verbatim)
Create Magical Stories for Kids
Turn your child’s imagination into unique, beautifully illustrated storybooks that you can also order in print.
Everything You Need
Our platform provides all the tools to create, customize, and share amazing stories
AI-Powered Stories
Generate unique, engaging stories tailored to your child’s imagination
Beautiful Illustrations
Every story comes with stunning, custom illustrations in multiple art styles
Custom Characters
Create and save characters that can appear in multiple stories
Professional PDFs
Download your stories as high-quality PDFs perfect for printing
Ready to Create Magic?
Join thousands of families creating unforgettable stories. Start your magical journey today!
Users can also order printed copies of their storybooks.
You can adjust the tech stack or change the UI configuration as you like. In this example, I want the routing solution to be React Router v7 and use MUI v7 for the UI components.
To customize things like the Feature list, FAQ, and other sections of the landing page, click on the little pencil button in the upper section and edit the content on the right side.
The same is true with the Style Guide. You can control things like the color, typography, animation, etc.
After you edit the plan according to your preferences, click on the “Approve Plan & Start Coding” button.
This will trigger Kombai to start creating the files and writing the necessary code to build the frontend. Note that the agent also performs code build and fixes any build issues automatically.
Once the code generation is done, you can explore the files and inspect the code on the left panel.
By default, the generated code is in a sandbox. That is why when you try to right-click and open the file in your local disk, you’ll notice that they are not saved in your project folder. Instead, these files are saved in a virtual environment.
That’s why when you view the generated files in your local disk, you’ll notice that they are saved in a “virtual” folder.
To preview the project, open the localhost link provided by Kombai. In my case, the server is running in
http://localhost:6321
This is what the landing page looks like:
Awesome. I love the color choices, the big fonts, the layout, and the addition of placeholder images. The animation and responsiveness of the landing page are also on point.
At this point, I can make further changes to the source code whilst in the virtual environment. Just describe the customization changes you want to the coding agent. For example, I wanted the color theme to be darker.
Prompt: Change the color theme to a darker tone and make the front and components more compact.
Once you’re happy with the design and code, view the file list and click on the Save button.
This will save the files to your actual working directory.
That’s it. You now have a working frontend module that’s ready to get integrated with a backend.
Three things that I immediately realized after using Kombai:
The ability to customize before generation. The first thing I noticed is the ability to customize the tech stack and review the plan before the actual code is generated. This feature is very powerful because most vibe coding platforms skip this step, which often leads to wasted tokens and miscommunication.
The first build usually compiles perfectly. With other tools, I usually end up stuck fixing errors caused by the AI, but with Kombai, the initial output almost always compiles successfully.
The third is the UI quality. Apps generated by tools like Bolt or Lovable tend to look generic and too similar. With Kombai, the layout and design feel much more in line with the text descriptions, and the results are easier to control.
In the next section, I will show you how to copy existing websites by taking a screenshot and letting Kombai transform it into a working code.
Creating Dashboards From a Screenshot
In this example, I wanted to copy an image generator dashboard from Pixono. I took a screenshot and pasted the image into Kombai’s prompt field.
Prompt: Create a NextJS dashboard similar to the attached image
Again, Kombai will try to make a tech stack and execution plan for me. Here’s a snippet related to the layout and content:
Sections
Main Layout
The main dashboard layout with sidebar, canvas area, and history panel
Left Sidebar
Left navigation sidebar containing logo, navigation icons, image generator controls including model selection, text prompt input, reference image upload, and settings
Top Navigation
Top navigation bar with Dashboard/Creations/Assets tabs and user profile section
Canvas Area
Central canvas area displaying the generated image with action buttons (Download, Expand, Generate Video, Delete)
Image Details
Bottom section showing input images, description, model info, and type
History Panel
Right sidebar showing generation history with thumbnails, titles, and timestampsThis looks good to me, so I go ahead and click on the Approve Plan & Start Coding.
After around five minutes, this is the UI dashboard that came up:
This is super cool! I honestly did not expect the outcome to be very close to the reference image. Some small areas like the user avatar, header placement, and left tool navbar, but it’s still very impressive.
If you know a website dashboard that you want to copy, just take a screenshot, feed it to Kombai, and let the coding agent do its magic.
If you examine the code and file structure, it’s incredibly organized, and the build is successful on the first try.
As someone who’s been vibe coding for a couple of years now, it’s annoying when code agents give you code that fails to build. That’s a very basic feature, and I am glad that Kombai took care of it.
Kombai Pricing
Kombai offers a free plan that’s perfect if you just want to explore its core features or use it for light, personal projects. It comes with 200 credits to start, plus an extra 300 credits as a limited-time bonus.
If you want to upgrade, here are the paid options:
Plus plan at $20 per month. It gives you 2,000 credits each month, which is more than enough if you’re casually building projects or only using Kombai every now and then.
Pro plan at $40 per month. This one provides 4,200 credits every month and is best suited for developers who want to rely on Kombai as part of their daily workflow.
Premium plan at $100 per month. This tier is for heavy users who want maximum usage without worrying about hitting limits. It comes with 11,000 credits per month, making it ideal if you’re building multiple apps or running bigger projects where you need consistent output from the agent.
Target Users of Kombai
Kombai isn’t built for everyone. It’s designed for people who already know their way around coding IDEs and want a serious tool to speed up frontend work.
If you’re a complete beginner with no coding background, you’ll likely need to spend time going through the guides first. But if you’re a developer who already works with VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, or Trae, the learning curve is almost nonexistent.
The sweet spot for Kombai is developers who are building products regularly — indie hackers, startup engineers, and solo founders who can’t afford to waste days writing the same boilerplate code again and again.
It’s also useful for teams that want to move faster without sacrificing maintainable code. Instead of outsourcing templates or paying for pre-made boilerplates that never quite fit, you can generate something custom, readable, and ready to integrate.
Agencies might also find value here. If you’re constantly building client dashboards and landing pages, Kombai can help you deliver projects faster.
Final Thoughts
If you’re sick of paying tons of money for templates, boilerplates, or subscriptions to vibe coding tools that often end up producing broken code, you should definitely give Kombai a try.
The UI and UX are really good. For developers already familiar with VS Code, there’s almost no learning curve at all. It feels fast and responsive, and the layout is simple and intuitive.
When it comes to the code itself, the quality is decent. The files are structured neatly, and the code is easy to read. One thing I really like is the planning phase before the build — it makes sure everything is aligned before generating the actual code. You can even tweak the color theme so the final result matches exactly what you have in mind.
Of course, I still recommend manually reviewing the codes generated by the coding agent before pushing anything to production.
Some may say that tools like Cursor or Lovable may already be enough, but take note that Kombai is an optimized coding agent for frontend development.
One reminder, though: Kombai is built into coding IDEs, so it’s designed for advanced users. If you’re just starting out or have no coding experience, I highly suggest going through the guides and examples first. They’ll help you get familiar with how it works and avoid confusion when you start using it.
Hi there! Thanks for making it to the end of this post! My name is Jim, and I’m an AI enthusiast passionate about exploring the latest news, guides, and insights in the world of generative AI. If you’ve enjoyed this content and would like to support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Your support means a lot!