Live-coding, Creating, Living
Tags: react, amplify, javascript, amplifycli
Published: 2020-11-09 14:08:36

---
title: Live-coding, Creating, Living
published: true
description: Give yourself the gift of creativity
tags: react, amplify, javascript, amplifycli
cover_image: https://quickmirror.me/blog.jpg
cononical_url: https://gantlaborde.medium.com/live-coding-creating-living-1e29f9e77ecd
---

# Live-coding, Creating, Living

Give yourself the gift of creativity

![Header](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/4382/1*hxhCsUrbuxBnGtbYBrFtow.jpeg)

We folks at Infinite Red are pretty darn good. I'd say [we're one of the best React Native shops](https://infinite.red/react-native), if not the best in the world. But our strength comes from our willingness to grow, experiment, and communicate. **Let me give you an example.**

I was chatting with the epic [Michael Chan](https://chantastic.org/) from the [React Podcast](https://reactpodcast.simplecast.com/), and we laughed that we sometimes join meetings and then check our appearance. I'm guilty of fixing my hair quickly as soon as I see myself 😅 . Michael said that he knows someone who has an app that is basically a mirror. So they can check their appearance from their toolbar. **SO SIMPLE!**

But why buy an app? Can't we do this faster, cross-platform, and easily in a website? How long would it take to buy a domain, build a website, and deploy it for this EXACT need? As it turns out... less than 30 minutes of coding and 30 minutes to package and deploy. I live-coded the whole thing.

{% youtube _Ixe784IH_M %}

Fun right? If you don't watch the whole video, feel free to skim-through and get the basics of what's happening. It's pretty simple, but lots of fun! I've updated/upgraded the code since.
> # What did you update after this video was made?

If you watch the video you can see I have a mistake where the website selects the wrong camera. I've added a dropdown to the site that lets you pick your camera and the website remembers. For the most part, that's all!
> How the hell do I share a screenshot of this site?

![QuickMirror.me The site works great!](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/5466/1*ZuzNEqj40ITckI_Jyo57Rg.png)*QuickMirror.me The site works great!*

You can access the source and send awesome pull-requests here:
[**infinitered/quickmirrorme**](https://github.com/infinitered/quickmirrorme)

OR, just try it out live!  [https://quickmirror.me/](https://quickmirror.me/)

> # So Gant, what's the lesson here? - You

We fell in love with Opens Source Software, because we code in public, we share our knowledge, we fail, we grow, and we build connections. I still love creating Open Source code, but I think it's time to evolve. This year the pandemic has demanded social distancing, but in effect, I feel distanced socially. I miss my fellow humans, and my [Twitter feed](https://twitter.com/GantLaborde) is filled with those who miss me. So I think it's a good time to level-up sharing, caring, and coding.

Try to build your whims, ideas, and dreams. It's up to you to stream it, record it, or share it. The world needs more [useless websites](https://theuselessweb.com/), neat ideas, and high-bandwidth videos. We can learn together. Let me know what you're building.

![Gant Photo](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/4000/0*zCXBd9XRcSbwVJNR.png)

[Gant Laborde](https://medium.com/u/6ca0fe37eac1?source=post_page-----a1d0ab879cb9----------------------) is a co-owner and Chief Innovation Officer at [Infinite Red](http://infinite.red/), published author, adjunct professor, worldwide public speaker, and mad scientist in training. [Tweet](https://twitter.com/GantLaborde) or visit him [at a conference](http://gantlaborde.com/).

**Oh Hey! Don't forget to share this article!**