"Vibe coding" is a term coined by Andrej Karpathy to describe a new mode of software development where the developer gives the AI a goal and lets it write the code, intervening only when something breaks. It sounds radical. In practice, it's becoming the default workflow for a generation of developers who have grown up with autocomplete on steroids.
What Is Vibe Coding, Really?
Vibe coding isn't about removing engineering judgment — it's about shifting where that judgment is applied. Instead of writing every line, you're specifying intent, reviewing output, catching edge cases, and orchestrating components. The AI handles the boilerplate, the syntax, and the first-pass implementation. You handle the architecture, the constraints, and the quality bar. The ratio of specification to implementation shifts dramatically in your favor.
The Tools Driving It
- ›GitHub Copilot: inline autocomplete integrated directly into VS Code and JetBrains IDEs
- ›Claude Code: terminal-native AI that reads your entire codebase and takes multi-file actions
- ›Cursor: an AI-first IDE fork of VS Code with deep context awareness
- ›Windsurf: agentic coding assistant with autonomous task completion
- ›v0.dev: UI generation from natural language prompts, outputting production-ready React
What It Changes (and What It Doesn't)
AI-assisted development dramatically accelerates prototyping, boilerplate generation, and test writing. It's genuinely transformative for getting from zero to working in a new language or framework. What it doesn't change: the need to understand what you're building, why certain architectural decisions matter, and how to debug when things go wrong. An AI that generates code you can't read is a liability, not an asset.
The best vibe coders we've seen aren't the ones who accept everything the AI writes. They're the ones who can tell instantly when it's wrong — and why.
Written by Manas Garge
Founder & Data Engineer