What is Vibe Coding?

Vibe coding has become the new hot term in the programming space ever since Andrej Karpathy coined it in early 2025. With AI getting better each day, making advancements in image and video generation, it was only a matter of time that AI became strong enough to assist programmers with writing code.

That is what vibe coding is, in a nutshell. However, AI has not become so strong that you can just write a prompt and get a full app or service in a matter of seconds. You still need to go back and forth with the AI agent and you will always need the most vital component; human creativity.

This article will explain what vibe coding is, how you can get started with it, and present an example of a vibe coding project. By the end, you should have an understanding of why vibe coding is getting the reputation that it is and you might even want to give it a try yourself.

Vibe Coding Meaning

Vibe coding is the practice of instructing AI agents to write code based on natural language prompts. What this means is that you can simply tell the AI agent what you want and it will produce a script for you. It helps keep your focus on more creative aspects of app development as you will be saving time writing line after line of code.

You do not have to worry about learning programming languages, understanding complex technical concepts, and figuring out which technologies to use. You can instead place all your focus on your ideas, solving problems, and creating more value for users.

Vibe coding lines up with developments in artificial intelligence technologies, especially with large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude, and OpenAI’s Codex to help developers and non-technical users automate coding while focusing all their energy on creativity.

It embraces a “code first, refine later” attitude as you can tell the AI agent what you want to build, it will create a full script, and if you are knowledgeable on code, you can go through it and fix up any mistakes. If you are not tech-savvy, you can just run the script and place the error into the AI agent and it will alter the script accordingly.

There are two main ways that vibe coding can be applied: Pure vibe coding and responsible ai-assisted development. For pure vibe coding, a user will fully trust the AI’s output to work as intended, as speed of execution would be their primary goal. Responsible AI-assisted development vibe coding has AI tools as a collaborator, with the user guiding the AI on what to do before reviewing the code manually and taking control after the fact.

There are many vibe coding tools in the market right now, each that help out with specific tasks. They range from conversational tools, meaning you could have a back and forth with the agent to get the results you want, to auto-complete code tools which help finish off bits of your code as you write them.

However, vibe coding is still not at a point where it can build anything in a matter of seconds that will be perfect from the get go. There are still risks surrounding code quality, security, and long-term reliability. The rules of the internet are always changing and evolving, which is why many software developers still have job security.

If anything goes wrong, such as a proxy error code, developers can work quickly to resolve the issue using their years of training and expertise. Anyone relying on vibe coding alone might find themselves fumbling to solve an issue they do not understand the cause or solution for. This is why vibe coding is mainly recommended for quick prototypes, smaller apps, or as a starting point to understand the feasibility of the feature or service.

Is Vibe Coding Good or Bad?

Vibe coding is less about good or bad but just like any new technological advancement or idea, it does come with its own advantages and disadvantages. Some of the great things you would notice if you start vibe coding include:

• Quick idea to working feature turnaround: By using plain language prompts, you can easily sketch out concepts and rework ideas to build early versions faster.
• Fewer barriers to entry: You do not need to master syntax or spend months to years learning coding languages. Designers, students, and self-taught developers can pick it up within seconds.
• More focus: With AI handling the basics, your focus can be spent on logic, architecture, and user needs.
• Conversational coding: You talk to your AI agent through all your ideas and keep workshopping through them, as if talking to a real person to brainstorm through concepts.
• More control: While AI speeds things up, you are still the one shaping the outcome of the project.

Some challenges that come up with vibe coding include:

• Technical complexity: Vibe coding can handle basic frameworks but when it comes to real world applications where technical requirements are needed, it could become challenging as you spend more time going back and forth with the agent.
• Code quality: While it is helpful for testing applications and creating prototypes, it does require constant optimization and refinement to ensure code quality is maintained. It is not ideal for distributed applications because it needs structured level architecture and sophisticated optimization strategies.
• Debugging challenges: AI-generated code is difficult to debug due to its dynamic nature and lack of architectural structure.
• Maintenance and updates: If an application is not updated frequently, it becomes outdated and requires regular maintenance and updates. Applications built using vibe coding face this issue if the code structure is not properly maintained. This can cause frustration to developers as they struggle to understand the underlying logic when trying to keep it optimized.
• Security concerns: AI-generated code is excluded from code reviews and security checks, leading to unseen vulnerabilities that can go unnoticed and be exploited.

How To Start Vibe Coding

Are you ready to start vibe coding? Perfect! Here are some steps you should take so you can get started on your journey. After we walk you through the steps, we will provide a very simple example to show you how it is done.

Step 1: Pick an AI coding assistant. We cover some assistants in the section below but the first step is to choose one that works for you. There are many different assistants built specifically to help with vibe coding, each with its own skillsets.

Step 2: Define your environment. This is what makes vibe coding what it is. Think of what you want to achieve and explain it in as much detail as you can. If you find yourself stuck, put your sting of thoughts into an LLM and tell it to refine it for the vibe coding model of your choice. This can cut down a lot of back and forth trying to get it right.

Step 3: Code refinement. After you get your script from the AI, look through the code and refine it wherever you can. This is a vital step if you are building something to last.

Step 4: Final code review and shipping. Review your code one final time to make sure everything is written as it should be and functioning the way it should. After all that is done, set it off to the world.

It is as simple as that. Now, let us show you a walkthrough of how you can implement it from start to finish. 

As an example, I will build a very basic Tic-Tac-Toe simulator. For starters, I will head to ChatGPT and explain my idea:

As you can see, I will be using the AI agent Codex, which is built on ChatGPT. It is easy and free to use. After installing it and creating a new project, I will grab that prompt from ChatGPT and place it into Codex.

As you can see, Codex walked me through what is happening and even found an error in my thinking that I had not predicted before and altered accordingly.

After explaining the steps it went through, Codex presented a breakdown of what it did and even suggested next steps. The most impressive part is that all of that took only 2 minutes and 6 seconds to produce. If I were to write it myself, it would have taken much longer. While this is a very basic concept, it truly shows how much time can be saved for more complex pieces.

Once Codex is done, I opened the file it saved the project in and found a .html file. Clicking on that presents me with this:

As you can see, Codex followed the instructions perfectly. A black background, a toggle for next move, a tally on the right side, and alternating starts. So far so good. Let me play a few rounds and see if anything needs to be altered.

The AI is tougher than I could have predicted. It might be a good idea to introduce a difficulty setting. Additionally, the “show best move” is slightly distracting for being a dotted outline. The green Os have a glow to them that is blinding and I would like the starting player to always be X while the second player always be O. As such, I am placing this prompt into Codex:

I have some ideas I would like you to fix:

1. Introduce a difficulty setting of easy, medium, and hard. Place it under the tally. Have easy be a blue color button, medium be a yellow color button, and hard be a red color button. Make the text for them white.
2. For “show best move”, instead of a dotted outline, have the suggestion be slightly transparent instead.
3. Remove the glow from the green Os.
4. Have the starting player always be X while the second player is always O.

As you can see, not only did Codex understand and follow the instructions it was given, it also ran through the code to check for any irregularities and found an error.

Just like before, Codex provided a full breakdown of what was changed and all these changes took only 1 minute and 10 seconds. Now, let me open the .html again and see how it looks.

It is already looking better than before. There are still a few more changes I want to make but for now, you should have a visual understanding of how vibe coding works. There is a lot of back and forth to fix up ideas but the majority of time is spent on creative aspects and minimal changes. All I did was tell Codex what I want changed, wait a minute or two, and then instantly see the results.

I decided to play around with Codex a bit more and bring the Tic Tac Toe vs AI to a version that I was happy with. If you want to play it yourself, here is a link to do so: Tic Tac Toe vs AI.

I made the website public using the tool Vercel. Here are the steps I took to upload it:

1. I downloaded and installed Node.js which includes npm. Then I installed Vercel using npm so I could manage deployments from the command line.
2. After doing so, I pushed the Codex-generated project to my Git repository and connected the repository to Vercel. From there, Vercel automatically detected the framework and configured the build settings.
3. Once connected, I triggered the deployment. Versel ended up handling the build process and generated a live public URL. It was that simple.

Conclusion

Vibe coding represents a shift in how software is created. Instead of placing a heavy focus on syntax and structure, developers and non-developers can start with intext while focusing on creative aspects more. By describing what they want in plain language, they can generate working code in minutes and spend the rest of the time tweaking small details here and there.

As great as it is, vibe coding is not a replacement for technical understanding. It is great for prototypes, small applications, and experimentation but human creativity, critical thinking, and review are still essential for ensuring quality, performance, and reliability.

Key takeaways:

• Vibe coding allows you to generate code using natural language instructions instead of writing every line of code manually.
• By letting AI handle the basics and structure, you can focus your attention on ideas, logic, and user experience.
• As powerful as AI might be, the code it generates still needs refinement for complex, large-scale applications.
• Reviewing, debugging, optimizing, and maintaining code still remains a critical responsibility. It is unwise to let AI write the code and then trust it is ready to launch.
• Different tools help for different cases. Some AI agents are more equipped for conversational based coding while others can help auto-complete code as you write it yourself.

As AI continues to improve, vibe coding will likely become a standard part of modern development and everyday life. Learning how to collaborate with AI tools now will make anyone more prepared to build faster, test ideas efficiently, and focus their time on higher-level problem solving.

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