Claude code with MCP is all you need

I've been vibe coding since almost before Karpathy named it vibe coding, but yeah, I don't wish to, yet that's how things work these days. You can promptly ship a product in a single day, but nonetheless, you can't replace a dev (We'll talk about replacing dev workflows, not devs. You can't take my job, haha). With the progress of MCP Servers, things have been getting better and better. I do almost all of my work with MCPs and Claude Code. Not because I'm lazy (or as some people would say, "skill issues"), but because I can do 10x more work in a single day. Just by reviewing the code and making changes.

This post was inspired by Gareth Dwyer's blog, where he mentioned using Claude Code for almost everything he does, such as shipping products and building websites. Let's discuss my experience with the same. I did, and it blew my mind.

TL;DR

I built a complete MVP for an invoice management platform in one day using Claude Code and MCPs. What normally takes weeks of jumping between tools, Claude Code handled automatically from database setup to email testing. MCPs connected everything I needed without leaving my terminal. It was great.

The entire build flow cost me around $3.65 (Sonnet 4: $3.63 + Haiku: $0.02), that’s almost around 5.8M tokens processed, and some manual configurations for less than the price of a latte.

Intro

I've been using Claude Code for months, but I was sceptical. Could it replace my usual development workflow? Meaning, I'm accustomed to switching between VS Code, GitHub, Figma, my database dashboard, Slack, and email. You know the drill.

Then, MCPs (Model Context Protocols) came. Think of them as bridges that let Claude Code communicate directly with all your tools, without having to hop between apps.

I happen to use Rube, a universal MCP server from Composio. It’s a bit of a shameless plug, but we kinda made it for this purpose. A single MCP server with only seven tools that can communicate with any app on demand without the OAuth fuss.

Deciding on the build

So I decided to put this to the test. Instead of building another to-do app, I wanted to create something I'd use, like an invoice management platform for freelancers.

Here's the thing: I've built similar apps before. Usually takes me 2–3 weeks of solid work. Setup, authentication, UI components, PDF generation, email integration... It’s a lot of moving parts.

With Claude Code and MCPs? I decided to give myself one day and see what happens.

The Setup (and the actual build)

I started with a simple prompt to Claude Code. Nothing fancy:

That's it. No detailed specs, no wireframes, no technical architecture documents. Just a simple request.

Setting Up Rube MCP With Claude Code

Rube is a universal MCP server that you can use to call a list of toolkits for your AI Agents. You can have toolkits like GitHub, Figma, Linear, and many more using just Rube. However, the more MCP servers you add to your AI workflows, the smaller the context window becomes, which exacerbates the issue for complex workflows. At that point, you can use Rube. Setting up Rube is just child’s play.

• Visit the Rube page: https://rube.composio.dev

• Click the installation button and select Claude Code

• Copy the installation command and run it in your terminal (make sure Claude Code is already installed)

• And done! You can just run Claude and ask the Rube MCP to do things for you. Run the /mcp command to make sure you are connected to the MCP server. If not, click on the server and authenticate yourself with Rube using the generated link.

How It Went Down

Claude Code immediately started working. The first thing I did was authorise Rube MCP and connect the GitHub toolkit. I asked it to create a new repository and open a PR, and it just worked.

I connected the Figma toolkit and asked it to analyse some designs I had lying around (I just mentioned I wanted it to "look professional"), and it extracted a complete design system. Colours, fonts, spacing-everything perfectly organised into CSS variables.

You can compare the Figma design for the templates here: https://www.figma.com/community/file/1265787783615420446/invoice-design-kit-brix-agency

The best thing about the Figma MCP was that it started with a detailed analysis and plan, then it began building the components, followed by pages... (blah, blah), and it was completed.

Meanwhile, it spun up a Postgres database using Neon MCP. No manual configuration required, eliminating the need to copy and paste connection strings. Just done.

I'm sitting here drinking my coffee, watching Claude Code work like a junior developer on steroids who works 24/7 for me and never gets tired.

The Real Magic

By lunch, I had a working authentication system. Email magic links, session management, the whole thing. I didn't write a single line of auth code myself.

Then came the fun part, building the actual invoice features. I asked it to research what users want in invoice tools, and it used a web search tool to gather feedback about pain points in existing solutions.

The crazy part? Most things just worked. Although some Tailwind configuration issues required manual fixes, the overall experience was significantly smoother than I expected.

It worked?

I had something that looked like a good product (I won't say the perfect/real product, you still gotta make some manual changes):

• Clean dashboard with analytics

• Client management system

• Invoicing with multiple templates

• PDF generation that looked good

• Email sending that worked on the first try

I kept waiting for something to break—some edge cases to surface. The usual development pain points kick in. Fortunately, it was mostly fine.

The Cost Factor to decide

Alright, let’s talk money, because building fast is great, but if it burns a hole in my pocket, that’s not sustainable.

Yesterday’s entire build session cost me $3.65. That’s it.

• Claude Sonnet 4: $3.63 (did all the heavy lifting)

• Claude Haiku 3.5: $0.02 (handled the quick, lightweight stuff)

To put it in perspective: I pushed around 5.8 million tokens through Claude in a single day. That’s database setup, repository creation, design parsing from Figma, authentication scaffolding, PDF generation, and even wiring email, all done for under four bucks.

Honestly, that’s great. If I compare it to the old-school workflow, spinning up infra, wrangling boilerplate, burning hours in dashboards, that’s not just cheaper, it’s ridiculously more efficient. For less than the price of a Starbucks latte, I shipped an MVP.

You would’ve to shell out a few thousand dollars for this easily. Considering that this is nothing.

So yeah, the numbers make the story even better: this isn’t some expensive gimmick, it’s a genuinely cost-effective dev workflow.

About the product

A pretty solid invoice management platform, with features like (MVP features):

• User authentication (magic links)

• Client management with contact details

• A couple of invoice templates

• PDF generation

• Email sending

• Basic dashboard

• Revenue tracking

The tech stack? Next.js 14, PostgreSQL, Prisma, NextAuth.js, Tailwind CSS. Pretty standard stuff.

But here's the thing that surprised me: I didn't have to think about most of the setup. The database schemas were created by Claude Code (I just provided a prompt, and it did the rest). API endpoints? Done. Email configuration? I had to intervene a bit, but it was still way faster than manual setup.

Here's the outcome of all Claude's hard work: https://github.com/rohittcodes/linea.

But Wait, Am I Just Getting Lazy?

Look, I get it. There's this voice in my head too, saying to me, "you're not really coding anymore" or "you're losing your skills. "Here's the thing. However, I'm not outsourcing the thinking. I'm still making the architectural decisions, reviewing code, and debugging when things get tricky.

Claude Code handles the repetitive stuff—the boilerplate. The "create another CRUD endpoint" tasks that we all do, but nobody enjoys.

When things get complex—such as security, data modelling, and performance optimisation—I still dive in and code it myself. But for everything else? Why waste time when I could be shipping?

What This Means for Us Developers

Honestly? This is where development is heading. Not replacing developers-we're still needed for the thinking, the architecture, the complex problem-solving.

But the grunt work? The setup, configuration, and deployment pipeline stuff? Claude Code and MCPs can handle that pretty well, and faster than manual setup. It's like having a skilled junior developer who is well-versed in the frameworks.

What's Next for the product

I will continue to build upon this workflow. The invoice platform I made is solid. I might clean it up and release it properly. I'm also going to build a few more products with this workflow.

Final Thoughts

I'm not saying Claude Code and MCPs will replace traditional development overnight. There are still plenty of cases where you need to get your hands dirty with code. But for shipping products fast? For getting ideas from concept to reality in hours instead of weeks? This workflow is pretty useful.

The invoice platform I built in one day would have taken me at least 2–3 weeks the old way. And that's with me being pretty experienced with the tech stack.