A few months back, I wasn’t even that into AI. I thought it was just another tech phase that would fade, like fidget spinners or those standing desks everyone bought and now use as laundry racks. But then I started looking for something stupidly specific - a way to work on my side project without sitting at my computer. Like, actually making progress while waiting in a shop line or sitting on the bus thinking about some random UI tweak.

I wanted something I could talk to, drop ideas into, and it would just… do it. Quietly. No drama. No “permission to run rm -rf?” nonsense.

And then I found GitHub Copilot - the remote version, the one with the web UI that actually opens PRs for you.

I swear, I don’t know what GitHub people did here, but this thing is on a different wavelength. And somehow it matches mine.

The Moment I Realized This Thing Was Unreal

There was this completely unserious moment where I typed “also make this page stunning.” It was half a joke. Like telling your friend “lol just redesign it for me.”

But then Copilot actually redesigned the page. Properly. With taste. I was staring at my screen like: ok… what just happened?

Then I asked it to “document all UI changes so I can use them as a style guide” and it wrote a full-on design language for the rest of my app. Just casually.

That was my jaw-on-the-floor moment.

If you don’t believe me, go check the Traquility mood tracker app I managed to pull together in under a year. I’m not saying it’s the best mood tracker ever, but… it kinda slaps.

How I Actually Use It (Honestly, Everywhere)

Before Copilot, I shoved ideas into GitHub Projects or whatever was closest at the moment. Now I just type them straight into Copilot itself. Doesn’t matter where I am. Standing in line, bored on the couch, half awake in the morning - I throw tasks at it like I’m feeding pigeons.

Then I go live my day.

Later, when I have an hour or two, I open up the PRs Copilot prepared. Some I accept. Some I adjust. Some I look at and say “nope, not today buddy.”

It’s become this weird ritual. I use it every day. Sometimes every hour.

When Copilot Acts Like a Very Confident Intern

It’s not perfect. It has moments where it behaves like a junior dev who’s extremely sure of himself but also extremely wrong.

Like the time my RSpec specs were failing because of a missing constant. The actual fix was basic - update the namespace, correct the code. But Copilot? It decided to introduce a mock for the non-existent class. Amazing. Incredible. Completely useless.

Or the time it generated a PR saying “page now communicates better with the user” and included a screenshot of a blank white page with a crash report and a full backtrace. I stared at it thinking “uhhh… improved how exactly?”

Luckily the screenshot was just wrong. The real change was good. But still - that moment lives in my head.

The UI? Mostly Copilot. Thank God.

I’m not a designer. I try. Really. But my natural style leans toward “functional and aggressively ugly.” Copilot basically saved me from myself.

It worked surprisingly well with my Turbo-Hotwire-Stimulus setup, even though it tried to introduce React a couple times like a persistent friend recommending the same TV show over and over. With some nudging, it figured things out.

It built full features. Entire pages. Proper workflows. Again - if you think I’m exaggerating, look at the app yourself.

One thing I do now is ask Copilot to create a feature proposal first. Like a blueprint. Then I correct it. Then I say “ok, now implement this.” This cuts down on 90 percent of the chaos.

Tests? Nope. I Don’t Trust It There.

I love tests. Almost too much. But AI tests? They feel like those fake steering wheels you give kids in the backseat. Looks real. Does nothing.

Copilot writes tests but I treat them as a rough checklist. After it pushes a feature, I go in and fix translations, clean database schema things, and rewrite tests so they test actual behavior.

TDD completely falls apart with this workflow. At least for now.

Why Copilot Just Works Better For Me

Compared to other AIs I tried - Claude, ChatGPT, even Copilot running locally - the remote version is sharper. More focused. Less annoying. It doesn’t nag me. It doesn’t panic. It doesn’t ask for permission to run dumb commands. It doesn’t lose confidence and float into irrelevant topics.

It just works until it stops. No drama.

That alone is worth the 10 bucks a month.

To the Skeptics

Look, I’m not here to convert anyone. Haters gonna hate. I’m mostly bragging because I somehow slipped into this weird AI-assisted flow and now it feels like an extension of me. I don’t even think like a programmer anymore. More like a… creator or manager who gives orders and watches magic happen.

If you’re skeptical - I get it. I was too. I thought AI was hype. Now I use it for basically everything and I have no desire to go back.

Just know that the remote Copilot is paid. Nothing crazy. But yeah - not free.

Final Thoughts

If you’re curious, give it a shot. If not, no worries. But for me, this tool changed how I build things. It made side projects portable. It made me faster. It filled in the skills I don’t have. And it kept surprising me in the best possible ways (and sometimes the worst ones, but that’s part of the charm).

A huge chunk of what I built in the past months? Copilot helped with that. A LOT of it. And somehow, instead of making me feel lazy, it made me feel more creative.

Not bad for something that started as “I just want to work in a bus.”

Quick side note: yep, I wrote this with AI help. Kind of poetic, honestly.