What is Vibe Coding?

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What is Vibe Coding?

“Vibe coding” may sound like the latest in teenage slang. And, in the sense of its relatively recent arrival in AI conversations, it’s not that dissimilar. Established and defined by Andrej Karpathy, co-founder of OpenAI, in early 2025, vibe coding is trending not only with those directly involved with coding and software or website development but also in related fields, like marketing. As per Cloudflare, Karpathy gave name to this process, but both prior to that identification and even more so now, developers have been engaged in using AI to craft code. From wherever you land on the spectrum of technological awareness and engagement, you may be curious about the following:

  • What is vibe coding?
  • What are the advantages and disadvantages of vibe coding?

Keep reading to learn more about vibe coding and whether it may be something you want to explore further!

What is Vibe Coding?

Traditional coding relies on developers to individually write lines of code using an existing programming language. To do so, these experts need to have in-depth knowledge of syntax and algorithms, as well as debugging strategies and more. Since these creators know the intricacies of their code from start to finish, their insight enables them to optimize and modify code as needed for security, maintenance, and other essential operations. With vibe coding, anyone can provide direction for a task like building an app, and AI handles the intricacies of code development.

Here’s how vibe coding works.

Instead of using coding language, you just prompt an AI tool, such as ChatGPT, Grok or Claude, to complete a task. Similar to a traditional chatbot, the AI coding tools create code, rather than text. While traditional software development work requires extensive knowledge and painstaking efforts to correct errors, vibe coding relies on an iterative approach. After the initial code generation, vibe coders deploy the code and test the output. Instead of reviewing and updating the code to iterate on the product, the application is refined with continuous discussions (or prompts) with the chatbot. From spreadsheet extensions to HTML files or Python projects and more, there are a few specialized AI coding tools to assist with development, such as Cursor, Replit and GitHub Copilot.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Vibe Coding

For its most effective use, there is a lot to learn if you plan to use vibe coding regularly, as illustrated in this guide from Search Engine Land. For those who are curious about this approach to coding, here are a few key advantages and disadvantages of vibe coding:

Advantages of Vibe Coding

  1. Existing developers appreciate the innovation and experimentation available using vibe coding. Instead of adhering to the usual sequence of coding events, this somewhat conversational approach to coding invites creativity but also provides speedy feedback regarding the utility of those explorations.
  2. Vibe coding happens fast. The initial product idea soon becomes a reality with vibe coding. Thus, the overall timeline for a project, whether it’s for the development of a website or an app, may be reduced. Similarly, using vibe coding for more basic and routine code generation can minimize time spent on standard setup tasks.
  3. Vibe coding is available to everyone. Since this coding method no longer requires adherence to traditional programming languages, even those without prior coding knowledge can develop the code needed to build different applications.

Disadvantages of Vibe Coding

  1. While vibe coding offers accessibility, the performance of what it develops often requires greater expertise. AI can help anyone generate code. However, that code’s potential to work as intended typically requires an experienced developer’s particular set of skills. Although the use of AI coding support tools can help, individuals less familiar with the nuances of coding may not understand how to deploy, maintain or update the application, especially with the continuous changes of the digital world.
  2. Vibe coding comes with quality and safety concerns. When existing code specialists review the code generated through their prompts to one of the AI tools, they know what red flags to watch out for. They are also better equipped to recalibrate and redirect the code as needed. However, users who are less familiar with the potential bugs and security issues may put their company, products or even customers at risk. For any software or applications that work with private data, vibe coding will not prevent data breaches. For any such projects, expert software developers should still be included in the project to ensure private information remains safe.
  3. This coding method is less helpful for larger and specialized projects. The coding necessary for these projects may require more precise control and more knowledgeable review and revision. From more frequent updates to optimization needs, turning to vibe coding for customized system design may not be ideal.

While vibe coding offers various benefits, especially when it comes to ease of use for a variety of skill levels, it is not without risk, especially for individuals with less development expertise. Essentially, vibe coding helps anyone get started, but to push most projects over the finish line, experienced developers are still required.

Consequently, opting to work with a professional development team is the best way to ensure your safety and the success of your upcoming project. If you are looking for AI services that provide customized solutions backed by experienced software development and marketing specialists, then All Points Digital can help. For a range of services including website development and business automation, contact our team to collaborate on an upcoming project today!