Vibe coding is an AI-assisted approach to software creation where natural language prompts describe the desired outcome, and an AI system generates or guides the code to build the application. It emphasizes shifting some control from manual coding to high-level direction and rapid experimentation, often reducing the need to manually write every line of code. Key ideas

• Concept and origin: Popularized in early 2025 as a way to leverage large language models to produce working code from plain language prompts. It’s sometimes described as “fully giving in to the vibes” and focusing on outcomes rather than hand-coding every detail. [Vibe coding describes a chatbot-based approach to creating software where the developer describes a project or task to a large language model (LLM), which generates code based on the prompt.](javascript:void(0)) [The programmer shifts from manual coding to guiding, testing, and giving feedback about the AI-generated source code.](javascript:void(0)) [Karpathy described it as "fully giving in to the vibes, embracing exponentials, and forgetting that the code even exists."](javascript:void(0))

• How it works: Users articulate the app’s goals, constraints, and user flows in natural language; the AI generates code, scaffolding, and sometimes even tests or deployments. The human role becomes a project designer, tester, and feedback provider rather than a traditional coder.

• Variants:
  • Complete non-technical approach: Describe the entire app to the AI agent and let it build everything.
  • Hybrid approach: Start with AI-generated code and perform small, iterative tweaks to learn while delivering results quickly.

• Use cases and benefits: Can accelerate prototyping, lower the barrier to entry for non-programmers, and allow teams to focus on product design, UX, and business logic rather than low-level syntax.

• Cautions and debates: Not all AI-generated code is immediately trustworthy or maintainable; some practitioners emphasize the need to review, test, and understand code portions, while others advocate a more hands-off, vibe-driven workflow. This tension is discussed in discussions by practitioners and critics.

Common questions

• Is vibe coding the same as traditional AI-assisted coding? It’s related but distinct: vibe coding emphasizes minimal direct code-writing by humans and a more iterative, prompt-driven, conversational loop with the AI, sometimes at the expense of deep code review. Critics warn about risks of hidden issues if code isn’t thoroughly understood.

• Who is associated with the term? The concept has been attributed to figures in AI and programming communities, notably Andrej Karpathy, among others exploring large-language-model-driven development.

If you’d like, I can give a concise comparison of vibe coding versus traditional coding and outline a simple workflow to try a vibe-coding approach on a small project.