Vibe Coding
"I'll know it when I see it"
Rapid iteration guided by intuition rather than specification. Powerful for exploration, dangerous for production. Know when you're doing it and when to stop.
Andrej Karpathy's Definition
"It's not really coding—I just see things, say things, run things, and copy paste things, and it mostly works."
— @karpathy, on modern AI-assisted development
Vibe coding is intuition-driven development. You don't write specs—you generate, evaluate by feeling, and iterate until it's "right." This works amazingly for exploration and prototyping. It's catastrophic if you ship it unchanged.
The Vibe Coding Spectrum
Pure Vibes
"Make it feel right"
Guided Vibes
"I'll know it when I see it"
Pure Specs
"Implement this exact interface"
When Vibe Coding Shines
- • Early exploration of a new problem space
- • UI/UX iteration where "feel" matters
- • Prototyping to discover requirements
- • Learning new frameworks or patterns
- • Creative/artistic/experimental features
When Vibe Coding Burns
- • Security-critical code
- • Complex business logic
- • Code that others must maintain
- • Systems with strict correctness needs
- • Anything you'll debug at 3am
The Core Principle
Vibe coding is a phase, not a process. Start with vibes to discover what you want. Then crystallize into structured code. Never let vibe-generated code reach production without understanding and owning every line.