What is vibe coding?

What is vibe coding?

Vibe coding is an emerging AI-driven approach to software development where programmers use natural language prompts to generate working code through large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude, or Code Llama. Rather than writing code line by line, developers describe what they want, and the AI generates executable code in response. This enables a faster, more exploratory coding process.

Think of it as programming by vibe: you describe the idea or intent, and let the AI fill in the technical details.

While this may sound casual, vibe coding is quickly becoming a serious paradigm, especially for:

• Rapid prototyping
• MVP development
• Low-code/no-code enablement
• Teaching and onboarding new developers

Where did vibe coding come from?

The term "vibe coding" was coined in early 2025 by Andrej Karpathy, an AI researcher and former Tesla AI director, who described it as “where you fully give in to the vibes, embrace exponentials, and forget that the code even exists.” The phrase quickly resonated within dev and AI communities, encapsulating a growing shift toward conversational development using powerful LLMs.

While earlier forms of AI-assisted coding auto-completed code fragments, vibe coding marks a different shift: coding by idea, not by syntax. This is part of a larger wave of "natural language programming" that began gaining traction with models like GPT-3 and exploded with GPT-4 and Claude 2+.

Online communities and emerging AI tools have accelerated the adoption and refinement of vibe coding practices.

How does vibe coding work, and how is it used today?

In a simplified process, vibe coding works like this:

1. Describe what you want in natural language (e.g. “Build a Python script that scrapes product names and prices from an e-commerce site and stores them in a CSV”)
2. The LLM responds with code that aims to fulfill the request
3. You run and debug the code, refining your prompts based on results
4. Iterate conversationally, adjusting tone, constraints, edge cases, or tools used

What distinguishes vibe coding from simple prompting is the intentional collaboration between human and model—where the human guides the vibe, and the AI handles the grunt work of syntax, boilerplate, and scaffolding.

Common use cases include:

• MVP building with frameworks like Next.js
• API prototyping
• Data analysis via pandas or SQL generation
• Agent workflows bootstrapped from high-level instructions
• Internal tool creation (dashboards, scripts, automations) with minimal frontend/backend config

Vibe coding vs. prompt engineering: What's the difference?

Though similar in spirit, vibe coding does not equal prompt engineering.

Vibe coding is often described as "programming by vibes, testing by execution." You don’t always write perfect specs—you try something, see what breaks, then guide the AI to refine. The feedback loop becomes part of the development process.

What are the benefits and limitations of vibe coding?

Benefits

• Speed: Rapid prototyping from ideas to working code in minutes
• Accessibility: Non-engineers can begin creating software with basic logic and domain knowledge
• Creativity: Encourages experimentation and faster idea validation
• Education: Helps beginners understand patterns, syntax, and structure by showing working code from plain-language goals

Limitations

• Reliability: LLMs can hallucinate APIs, misapply libraries, or produce insecure patterns
• Debugging gap: If something breaks, users may not know how to fix it
• Tooling immaturity: Version control, test coverage, and dependency management are still manual
• Scalability: What works for a 200-line script may fall apart in a production-grade system

That’s why successful vibe coders often have to switch contexts quickly: prompting, editing, validating, testing—and jumping back to prompting.

Does vibe coding matter?

Vibe coding reflects a broader transformation in how we write software. Instead of coding being a technical gatekeeping activity, it becomes a creative, iterative dialogue between humans and machines.

For organizations, this means some teams can test ideas quickly without full engineering cycles. For individuals, vibe coding offers a more intuitive entry point into the world of development—especially for people from creative, analytical, or non-traditional backgrounds.

TL;DR

Vibe coding is AI-assisted development driven by natural language prompts, not syntax. You describe what you want; the AI builds it; you refine through conversation. It’s fast, experimental, and slightly disorganized—but it works. As LLMs get smarter and AI-native toolchains improve, vibe coding may become a skill for those with non-traditional engineering backgrounds.