vibe coding 101
the art of coding by pure instinct and vibes alone
the master of vibes
interviewer: do you know how to play instruments?
barely
interviewer: do you know how to work a soundboard?
no... i have no technical abilities. and i know nothing about music.
interviewer: haha well you must know something about music?
i know what i like. and i know what i don't like. and i am decisive about what i like and what i don't like.
interviewer: so what are you being paid for?
the confidence that i have in my taste and my ability to express what i feel has proven helpful for artists
— rick rubin, the legend himself
wtf is vibe coding?
vibe coding is letting ai tools cook 95%+ of your code while you sit back and vibe check the results. it's the exact opposite of manual programming - you're the curator, not the creator.
forget writing actual code yourself like a caveman. just drop prompts into your favorite ai tools like cursor/copilot/windsurf and let the ai absolutely send it, then tweak the small bits that feel off. pure algorithmic delegation with only the highest-level human oversight.
vibe coding is where you fully give into the vibes
core principles of vibe coding
brain empty, code full
overthinking kills the vibe. let ai do the cooking while your conscious mind takes a backseat.
just send it
hesitation is the enemy of creation. if you think something might work, try it immediately. chaos is the ladder.
fun > perfection
would you rather play a technically perfect boring game or a slightly janky one that slaps? exactly.
flow like water
when you hit the zone, ride that wave. 10 hours might pass. you might forget to eat. this is the way.
human taste > coding skill
in the age of ai, your vibe recognition skills matter more than your ability to write perfect code
embrace the chaos: the new workflow
roll, don't fix
rewriting is now cheaper than debugging. run into a problem? just regenerate from scratch instead of sinking hours into fixing broken code.
prompt in parallel
use multiple ai tools simultaneously for different tasks: one for code generation, another for reasoning, a third for planning. multithread your brain.
speed absolutely wins
focus on rapid iteration and deployment. throw ideas at the wall, see what sticks, refine later. mvp in days not months.
embrace full chaos
try 100% ai generated code sometimes. give one prompt, keep saying "continue" and "accept changes" and see where you end up. often hilarious, occasionally brilliant.
tools to cook with
vibe coding isn't just a philosophy - it's enabled by a new generation of ai-powered tools:
cursor
code editor / IDE built from the ground up for ai pair programming
windsurf
code editor / IDE like cursor
github copilot
the ogs of ai-assisted coding
replit
browser-based development with integrated ai - their ai agent is fucking nuts
lovable
convert designs to code with minimal effort - now integrated with supabase
grok / claude / gpt / perplexity
large language models to generate, explain, and refine code
check out my full toolkit in the tools section (coming soon)
when vibe coding absolutely cooks
- zero to one products & mvps
getting from nothing to something quickly is where vibe coding shines brightest
- prototypes and proof of concepts
test ideas and get user feedback before committing to architecture decisions
- projects where scale isn't an immediate concern
focus on features first, optimization later
- when working with modern frameworks
ai tools understand react, svelte, and other popular frameworks surprisingly well
the human element
vibe coding doesn't mean ai does everything. your value as a human just shifts:
system thinking
develop architecture and understand how pieces connect (ai still struggles here)
taste development
cultivate your product sense and user experience intuition
quality judgment
learn to evaluate and improve ai-generated code
debugging
finding and fixing issues remains a critical human skill
why > how
focus on why we're building and what we're solving rather than implementation details
building for scale
vibe coding gets you to mvp at warp speed, but scaling requires additional thoughtfulness:
- technical debt accumulates faster than ever - plan refactoring sprints from day one
- hire systems thinkers who can bring order to the beautiful chaos
- critical systems require more traditional approach (payments, auth, data privacy)
- balance quick delivery with strategic architecture choices
ready to start vibe coding?
check out my tools section (coming soon) to find the ai companions that will enhance your vibe coding experience.
see vibe-coding tools