What is Vibe Coding? All You Need to Know

Coding means knowing programming languages inside out and writing every single line by hand. Then tools like GitHub Copilot and Amazon CodeWhisperer came along, offering some helpful suggestions as you typed.

Now, things have changed. You can build software just by explaining what you want in plain English, and the AI can generate, test, and tweak the code for you. This new approach is often called vibe coding, a term coined by Andrej Karpathy in early 2025.

The trend is also influencing enterprise strategies, with companies like JPMorgan Chase recognizing the value of AI-enhanced coding in improving return on investment and justifying the expansion of engineering teams.

While vibe coding brings speed and creative freedom, it also raises concerns, like unreliable code, security gaps, and becoming too dependent on AI. In this blog, I’ll walk you through what vibe coding is, how vibe coding works and more. 

What is Vibe Coding?

Vibe coding is building software by feel. You let ideas flow and let AI handle the heavy lifting. There's no focus on strict structure, rules, or boilerplate code.

In traditional development, you plan everything, design the system, and write each part by hand. Vibe coding flips that. You simply describe what you want, let AI generate most of it, and make small tweaks as needed. This is possible because AI tools, especially code-focused ones, are now very advanced. They can understand rough prompts and still write working code.

The practice isn’t new. But the term “vibe coding” became popular after a tweet by Andrej Karpathy, cofounder of OpenAI. In it, he joked about building apps by “seeing stuff, saying stuff, running stuff, and copy-pasting stuff.” All with very little typing—mostly just talking to an AI.

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How Does Vibe Coding Work?

The first step in vibe coding is figuring out what you want to build. Interestingly, AI tools can help you come up with ideas or refine existing ones. Once your idea is clear—whether mentally mapped or jotted down—the next step is choosing a tool.

For a quick, browser-based vibe coding with minimal setup, tools like Claude, Replit, Lovable, Bolt, and v0 by Vercel are great options. If you prefer more control over the code, consider using Cursor or Windsurf. With your idea and tool in place, prompt the AI to begin building. Then, keep iterating until you get the result you want.

Advantages of Vibe Coding

Though it in itself seems to be a big solution but here are some advantages you should know about vibe coding:

• Accessibility: Vibe coding simplifies software development for non-technical individuals. Entrepreneurs, designers, and specialists from a wide range of fields can all learn to code when you explain your needs in simple terms.
• Quick prototyping: The ability to quickly create early app versions, sometimes known as prototypes or MVPs (Minimum Viable Products), is one of Vibe Coding's greatest advantages. You may get from an idea to a functional demo in a matter of hours rather than days or weeks. Startups and artists that wish to rapidly test concepts and get input before devoting a significant amount of time or resources will find this very useful.

• Effectiveness: Setting up simple files, managing straightforward data activities, and creating common code patterns are just a few of the tedious, repetitive aspects of programming that vibe coding helps with. You may spend more time considering design, resolving actual issues, and enhancing the user experience when the AI takes care of these tasks.

• Creativity: With vibe coding, you don't have to worry as much about the technical aspects, so you may experiment more freely. It's much simpler to test features, develop innovative solutions, and test new concepts without investing a lot of time or money. The creative impetus is maintained by AI's immediate feedback.

Is Vibe Coding Viable Long-Term?

The solution primarily relies on how you approach vibe coding.

Your strategy won't be successful in the long term if you completely rely on the AI to write all of your code just by stating your requirements. Over time, maintaining your app will get more difficult, and you'll lose sight of how everything works together.

Treating AI coding tools like a collaborator—that is, starting small, outlining your project, and seeking assistance incrementally—is a better long-term strategy. Allow it to walk you through the logic and structure of each component rather than only asking it to implement or correct things.

You're adding context in this way. Additionally, you maintain control over your application's logic and architecture.

Future of Vibe Coding

Vibe coding is changing how software is produced, how developers work, how startups thrive, and how new skills are taught.

1. Redefining developer roles: Without spending hours coding every line by hand, developers now focus on developing effective prompts, analyzing AI-generated code, and integrating AI outputs into working systems. Quick writing, system design, and code review are becoming as vital as programming.

Prompt engineering and AI ethical advising are new AI-assisted development specialties, however, they are generally part of larger engineering or policy jobs.

1. Startup: Vibe coding offers startups a lot. Small teams can now produce products faster than large engineering groups. Startups can launch in days or hours now. Testing ideas, adjusting rapidly, and being adaptable are easy. Founders and non-technical team members can do more software development without large, expensive teams.

1. Learning and growth: Vibe coding is also changing programming education. Understanding coding foundations is still crucial, but working with AI tools—writing clear prompts, reviewing AI-generated code for errors or security risks, and integrating that code into larger projects—is becoming more important.

This change may make software development more accessible to non-computer scientists. It also underlines a tension: as code generation becomes easier, it becomes more critical to detect when something isn't working.

Vibe coding enhances human-computer communication rather than replacing technical abilities. Effective teamwork is becoming a skill.

Conclusion

Vibe coding is reshaping software development by allowing ideas to be expressed more naturally in plain English. Some companies are using it to accelerate early prototyping and make programming more accessible for non-developers.

But this shift comes with trade-offs. Relying too much on AI without proper review can harm code quality, security, and long-term maintainability. Complex projects still require human judgment, thoughtful system design, and deep coding expertise—skills that vibe coding might risk undervaluing.

As tools like Cursor, Replit, Lovable, Bolt, and Windsurf continue to evolve, vibe coding is likely to gain more traction. For now, it's best suited for small-scale projects, creative experiments, and fast iteration—especially when paired with careful human oversight.

What do you think about vibe coding? Do you see it becoming a real way to build software? Share your thoughts in the comments below!