HelpKoder opens every spec with a one-shot verdict: YES, KINDA, or NOT REALLY. YES means an agent can build a faithful first cut from this screenshot plus the spec. KINDA means the layout is readable but a state, API, or motion is missing. NOT REALLY means the image is a vibe, a collage, or a render that will not survive a file tree.

I added the strip because people were dropping Dribbble shots into coding agents and calling the result “vibe coding.” Vibes are allowed. Lying about completeness is not. The verdict is a gate in front of the kickoff.

What does YES mean?

YES is a cropped product UI with a clear job. A settings page. A login. A table with visible columns. A mobile tab root. Type is readable. Hierarchy is readable. You can name the primary action without guessing.

YES does not mean the app is finished. It means the agent will not have to invent the layout. Hidden states can still exist. They must be few, and the spec must list them. A YES login screenshot can still omit MFA. The spec should say MFA is out of scope.

If you get YES, copy the kickoff. Cursor or Claude Code, depending on the target.

What does KINDA mean?

KINDA is the most common honest grade. The hero is clear. The nav is implied. The empty table is not in the frame. The modal is a shadow. Dark mode is a toggle with no second screen. Motion is a fake iPhone video still.

You can still one-shot a KINDA frame if you accept the inference list. You should not one-shot it if the missing piece is the actual product (the editor behind a marketing shot of the editor).

Fix a KINDA in three ways: attach up to five more frames, crop away chrome that confuses the model, or write the missing state in chat and regenerate. Then paste. Do not paste the first KINDA spec and also paste a second ChatGPT essay.

What does NOT REALLY mean?

NOT REALLY is a moodboard, a brand illustration, a photo of a laptop, a landing page that is mostly a 3D mock, or a UI with unreadable type. An agent will produce a generic app that shares a color with the image.

I still let you stream the spec. The verdict is visible so you can stop. If you continue, treat the output as a palette and a guess, not a build order. You will waste the $10 month on retries either way. Better to crop.

How is this different from “can I vibe code it” lists?

Public “can you vibe this” pages often rank products as dead or alive, or vote on whether a screenshot is “buildable” as entertainment. HelpKoder is a studio. The verdict is attached to your frame and your spec. There is no leaderboard. There is no MRR ticker.

The question I care about is operational: should you paste this kickoff into Cursor tonight? YES / KINDA / NOT REALLY is the answer. What a screenshot hides is why KINDA exists. The pipeline is what streams after the strip.

Can I change the verdict?

Not by arguing with the label. Change the input. A tighter crop moves NOT REALLY to KINDA. A second frame of the empty state moves KINDA to YES. Chat cannot turn a collage into a product UI.

If the model is wrong (it happens: a dense but valid tool UI graded KINDA), add a note in chat: “This is a shipping dashboard. Treat as YES. Do not simplify.” The next spec should drop the hedge and keep the density.

What should I put on the screenshot itself?

Real type, even if the copy is Latin. Real spacing. A real primary button. No fake glass over eight unrelated widgets. If you designed in Figma, export the frame, not the whole page of frames.

Then drop it in the studio. Read the strip before you copy anything. That one habit is the difference between an agent that lands the layout and an agent that lands a template.

Can you vibe this screenshot?