Monthly Community Update - March 2026

[randomanon]

@josh

We’re also aware industry development pace has been accelerating tremendously because of AI, and we’re doing a lot behind-the-scenes to speed things up ourselves…

Awesome!

@josh

the dates we’re sharing are dates we feel at least fairly confident about hitting, since we’ve overpromised in the past.

Fair enough, but let me contextualize the date issue a bit further down.

@josh

I would say, though, that the meme that Bubble isn’t shipping fast is just a meme. I think it was true a year or two ago, but if you look at our total output across all parts of the product, a lot is going out the door each month.

All the R&D and engineering that went into native mobile + the new workflow editor created a huge clog in the system. Now I feel like stuff is happening again, yes. You actually said it perfectly. There’s a high “total output across all parts of the product.” But I would say that the “effective output” (factoring in the “wind chill factor”) is much lower. It’s scattered across various systems/surfaces rather than being focused on delivering “magic.” I look at the updates, I think to myself, “ah, that’s kind of neat.” I have not felt any significant “enablement.” The core experience of the editor still feels archaic and 1990s-esque for various aspects of Bubble development. When you’re forced to do manual labor because Find & Replace (in an app-wide context) doesn’t exist, it just feels like a waste of time. Sometimes I legitimately feel like a Boomer who is hunt-and-peck typing their way through app development (no shade to Boomers). The AI Agent actually obviates the need to fix various platform deficiencies through sheer brute force (e.g., “Go and replace all expressions with this.”). This is a major MAJOR boon to your company as it handwaves entire complex systems that no longer need to be developed (e.g., proper expression composer).

Which leads me to why I mentioned the dates in a nitpicky and critical way. From where I’m sitting, there hasn’t been any real progress on the AI Agent. This video came out 11 months ago, but it’s not real yet. You could argue the models themselves weren’t where they needed to be at the time, and while that was true back then, it hasn’t been the case for while now.

AI Visual Development: The Future of Bubble AI - YouTube

Yes, the “new app generator” is marginally better, but without hitting the critical threshold of usefulness. And for the overwhelming majority of current Bubble builders, there’s very little overlap between that product and their daily workflow. Mind you, in this timespan, other companies have straight up built their version of “Bubble” (Cursor Visual Editor), as I predicted would happen 1 year ago:

@randomanon

Let me tell you what the real issue is. You have three categories of products, frontend platforms (weweb, toddle, etc.), backend platforms (xano, supabase, etc.), and what I charitably refer to as “Slop Builders” (Bolt, Loveable, etc.). There is a secret fourth category which is actually just one product (replit). They may not be actively aware of it right now but all of them will eventually converge to the same point (Bubble). You guys had the early vision figured out a long time before anyone else, and you had a 10 year head start. But they are rapidly closing in due to AI. They are coming for your “Day 2.”

So to contextualize my earlier comments about shipping speed: My concern is that they’re going to build you before you build them. I think you’re at an existential competitive inflection point which will require you to throw caution to the wind and hyperscale. However, I fear that the old “bootstrapped mentality” of “sustainable growth” will get in the way of this. I hope I’m wrong.

Thank you again for taking the time to think through and write out a response. I really do believe that Bubble’s core platform + abstraction layer + the AI Agent is objectively unbeatable as a product if executed correctly. There’s a lot to look forward to!