Vibecoding: The Rise of AI-Driven Code and What It Means for Builders

Have you ever wanted to build software but felt completely lost when it comes to coding? There’s this new trend stirring up controversy in the tech world called vibecoding. It’s about loosely defining what you want to build and letting AI agents run wild with your codebase. In many cases, people simply accept AI recommendations without much regard for the consequences, yet they still claim to be building software successfully. So what’s the deal here?

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“It’s Funny… But It Works”

“It’s funny software engineers find it frustrating, but if your experience is someone who has to pay $100 or more for a software engineer to work on your prototype, you’ll accept a bit of a buggy experience. The amazing thing is seeing people who actually can’t code but who are passionate about solving a problem grind it out with Replit and build their creation.”

This quote highlights a central tension. Traditional software engineers are used to carefully planning, coding, and reviewing. The concept of vibecoding basically flips that process on its head. Instead of methodical development, you just let AI generate large chunks of code—sometimes with no scrutiny of potential bugs or security holes.

But from the perspective of a non-technical founder who can’t afford an engineer, vibecoding can feel like a life-saver. A buggy prototype is better than no prototype.

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Amplifying Engineers—and Everyone Else, Too

“It amplifies the ability of engineers when it’s used well. It allows people with no money or coding ability to build at least an early version of a product. Many of those people are incredibly skilled and knowledgeable in other areas, so lowering the barriers for them to productize their knowledge will enable an exponential growth in the number of products while massively increasing the number of competitors in any given niche.”

Here’s the key insight: vibecoding doesn’t replace human developers—at least, not yet. Instead, it amplifies what engineers can do by speeding up prototyping and reducing repetitive coding tasks. And even more significantly, it allows people with solid ideas—but zero coding skills—to bring their product vision to life.

When you lower the barriers for entry like this, you get an explosion of new products and fresh competition. Sure, many businesses will still need professionals to refine or secure their code. But vibecoding can give that initial push to get new concepts up and running.

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The Dark Side: Code Quality and Endless Loops

“There’s a dark side to it, one I’ve personally witnessed is code quality deteriorating. Vibecoding will introduce security vulnerabilities and major application issues. True vibecoding does not include moderation and review of the content. We may be approaching an era where that becomes unnecessary but frankly we aren’t there yet.”

If there’s one thing engineers fear, it’s sloppy code. Relying on AI-generated suggestions can lead to security vulnerabilities and confusing architectures. If you’re blindly clicking “accept” on everything an AI spits out, you’re probably in for some nasty surprises.

“I also still hesitate to suggest people build with AI if they aren’t technical. You can do a lot, but you’ll run into something it can’t solve pretty quickly and end up in an endless loop. At that point you basically need to become a software engineer and debug it yourself.”

The promise of vibecoding is that the AI will help you dodge the complexities of software development. But eventually, you might stumble on a problem that the AI just can’t solve (or that its solutions break something else). You’re forced to learn how to debug or bring in someone who can. That’s not necessarily a dealbreaker—just a reality check.

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Copy-Paste vs. Hands-On Debugging

“In some cases you can copy and paste the error into o1 or sonnet 3.7 and get it fixed by leveraging another AI, but both times I’ve tried building with bolt or replit I’ve ended up needing to download the code to dig into it deeper and resolve the bug on my own computer. That being said, I’ve met people who have pushed through this.”

Jumping among different AI tools—like going from one model to another—does sometimes rescue your code from a standstill. But there’s a good chance you’ll eventually need to open up the code locally and really understand what’s going on under the hood. AI can get you moving, but solving the deeper problems still tends to require human intervention.

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The True Reality of Software Development

“You’ll often have long stretches of frustrating work making no progress, followed by either success or throwing away a whole afternoon of work. Which is basically what being a software developer is like anyway.”

This might be the most honest statement about vibecoding. It’s not some miraculous escape from the grind of software development. You’ll spend hours tinkering, trashing entire sections of code, or reworking an AI’s logic for it to eventually click. But when it does click, it’s a rush—and you have a functional prototype you built yourself.

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Conclusion: Embrace What It Can Do, But Stay Grounded

Ultimately, vibecoding is an exciting but fragile new frontier. It’s fantastic for: - Getting quick prototypes up and running.
- Lowering the barrier for passionate creators who traditionally couldn’t code.
- Speeding up certain repetitive tasks for professional developers.

At the same time, it can quickly lead to: - Security holes and buggy architectures if left unchecked.
- Endless debugging loops when the AI doesn’t have an answer.
- Frustration and wasted time—things that even seasoned developers know too well.

So should you leap headfirst into vibecoding? Probably not if you’re expecting a smooth, clean codebase. But if you have an idea and can’t afford a developer, or if you’re a developer using AI to experiment, it’s worth exploring. Just remember to keep a critical eye on all of the code you’re accepting, and be prepared to learn debugging skills when the AI inevitably stumbles.

“We may be approaching an era where we don’t need moderation and review of AI-generated code, but frankly we aren’t there yet.”

Until we reach that era, vibecoding remains a gamble—one that’s giving non-technical dreamers a chance to build software they once only imagined. If you do jump in, brace yourself for the roller coaster of breakthroughs and setbacks. It’s messy, but it’s also the future of building things for a whole lot of people.

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Do you have a vibecoding story to share? Whether it’s a massive breakthrough or a never-ending loop of frustrating errors, feel free to add your voice to the conversation. The more we learn from each other’s experiences now, the more equipped we’ll be to use AI effectively in the next waves of software development.