5 ms·

What is "vibecoded" supposed to mean?

esperent 2y ago
It's a newish term that I have understood to mean coding by letting the AI do nearly all the work, just telling it what you want done in broad strokes. If the code returned seems to "vibe" with what you're trying to do, then accept it. Contrasted to AI assisted coding, where you would give much more detailed prompts with technical specifications, and read over every line to make sure you understand it before accepting a response. In theory, vibe coding can let someone with very limited technical expertise build complete apps, so understandably a lot of people are excited by it. In practice, it doesn't seem like we're there yet. But each new step in AI development leads to people trying again, and it's hard to deny that the results are getting better. I think we're at the stage of where AI image generators were a few years ago. Very much in the uncanny valley.
- n_ary 2y ago
  <quote:esperent> In theory, vibe coding can let someone with very limited technical expertise build complete apps, so understandably a lot of people are excited by it. </quote:esperent> Actually it is booming. In bsky, X and Linkedin, I see another recipe/todo/budget management/profit tracking/SaaS starter template/landing page/people-to-follow-directory etc. being pumped out every single day. Before GenAI, this would be more like one partial feature per user every month, now post GenAI, entire product in weeks or even hours. I believe, the indie entrepreneurs are making the maximum bang for the bucks with AI codegen compared to any other groups.
Nursie 2y ago
"Hey AI build me a node app that does X" "Now add a page for this" "Change this field to be that" "Integrate it with service X, Y, Z"
- nikcub 2y ago
  "don't forget to make it secure"
simonw 2y ago
See https://twitter.com/karpathy/status/1886192184808149383 https://twitter.com/karpathy/status/1886192184808149383 for when it was coined by Andrei Karpathy. I've written more about it here: https://simonwillison.net/2025/Mar/19/vibe-coding/ https://simonwillison.net/2025/Mar/19/vibe-coding/ and here: https://simonwillison.net/2025/Mar/23/semantic-diffusion/ https://simonwillison.net/2025/Mar/23/semantic-diffusion/
- PeterHolzwarth 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - ofrzeta 2y ago
    I clicked that link for you so you don't have to: "There’s a new kind of coding I call “vibe coding”, where you fully give in to the vibes, embrace exponentials, and forget that the code even exists. It’s possible because the LLMs (e.g. Cursor Composer w Sonnet) are getting too good. Also I just talk to Composer with SuperWhisper so I barely even touch the keyboard."
  - viccis 2y ago
    Instead of complaining, why don't you click the link that was spoon fed directly to your cursor for the canonical answer within 3 seconds?
    - herewulf 2y ago
      Because the effort needed to summarize the content of the links is barely more than posting them in the first place. Who knows what kind of time wasting is on the other side of a link these days either.. Dark pattern cookie pop-ups, subscription pop-ups, intrusive ads, account registration demands, pay walls, etc..
      - simonw 2y ago
        Take a risk. Following links is better for the health of the web.
vunderba 2y ago
It's a term to describe using an agentic LLM based assistant to write the majority of the code but without even taking the bare minimum of time to review the output. I laughed when people naively claimed that it was intended for proof-of-concepts only and would never be used in actual "production".
GaryNumanVevo 2y ago
With 35K LoC for a simple website, I'd consider this slopcoding
- DidYaWipe 2y ago
  Diarrheactive™

It's a newish term that I have understood to mean coding by letting the AI do nearly all the work, just telling it what you want done in broad strokes. If the code returned seems to "vibe" with what you're trying to do, then accept it. Contrasted to AI assisted coding, where you would give much more detailed prompts with technical specifications, and read over every line to make sure you understand it before accepting a response. In theory, vibe coding can let someone with very limited technical expertise build complete apps, so understandably a lot of people are excited by it. In practice, it doesn't seem like we're there yet. But each new step in AI development leads to people trying again, and it's hard to deny that the results are getting better. I think we're at the stage of where AI image generators were a few years ago. Very much in the uncanny valley.

n_ary 2y ago
<quote:esperent> In theory, vibe coding can let someone with very limited technical expertise build complete apps, so understandably a lot of people are excited by it. </quote:esperent> Actually it is booming. In bsky, X and Linkedin, I see another recipe/todo/budget management/profit tracking/SaaS starter template/landing page/people-to-follow-directory etc. being pumped out every single day. Before GenAI, this would be more like one partial feature per user every month, now post GenAI, entire product in weeks or even hours. I believe, the indie entrepreneurs are making the maximum bang for the bucks with AI codegen compared to any other groups.

Nursie 2y ago

"Hey AI build me a node app that does X" "Now add a page for this" "Change this field to be that" "Integrate it with service X, Y, Z"

nikcub 2y ago
"don't forget to make it secure"

simonw 2y ago

See https://twitter.com/karpathy/status/1886192184808149383 https://twitter.com/karpathy/status/1886192184808149383 for when it was coined by Andrei Karpathy. I've written more about it here: https://simonwillison.net/2025/Mar/19/vibe-coding/ https://simonwillison.net/2025/Mar/19/vibe-coding/ and here: https://simonwillison.net/2025/Mar/23/semantic-diffusion/ https://simonwillison.net/2025/Mar/23/semantic-diffusion/

PeterHolzwarth 2y ago
[flagged]
- ofrzeta 2y ago
  I clicked that link for you so you don't have to: "There’s a new kind of coding I call “vibe coding”, where you fully give in to the vibes, embrace exponentials, and forget that the code even exists. It’s possible because the LLMs (e.g. Cursor Composer w Sonnet) are getting too good. Also I just talk to Composer with SuperWhisper so I barely even touch the keyboard."
- viccis 2y ago
  Instead of complaining, why don't you click the link that was spoon fed directly to your cursor for the canonical answer within 3 seconds?
  - herewulf 2y ago
    Because the effort needed to summarize the content of the links is barely more than posting them in the first place. Who knows what kind of time wasting is on the other side of a link these days either.. Dark pattern cookie pop-ups, subscription pop-ups, intrusive ads, account registration demands, pay walls, etc..
    - simonw 2y ago
      Take a risk. Following links is better for the health of the web.

vunderba 2y ago

It's a term to describe using an agentic LLM based assistant to write the majority of the code but without even taking the bare minimum of time to review the output. I laughed when people naively claimed that it was intended for proof-of-concepts only and would never be used in actual "production".

GaryNumanVevo 2y ago

With 35K LoC for a simple website, I'd consider this slopcoding

DidYaWipe 2y ago
Diarrheactive™