Learn what vibe coding is and why developers ship products 10x faster using AI tools like Cursor and Claude Code.
What is Vibe Coding? The New Way Developers Ship Products in 2025
In February 2025, Andrej Karpathy tweeted something that captured what thousands of developers were already experiencing:
"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."
The term stuck. Vibe coding became the unofficial name for a fundamental shift in how software gets built.
The Core Idea
Vibe coding means using AI to write most of your code through natural language conversation. Instead of typing syntax, you describe what you want. The AI writes it. You review, adjust, and iterate.
Traditional coding:
You write → Computer executes
Vibe coding:
You describe → AI writes → You review → Computer executes
The "vibe" part? You're not thinking about implementation details. You're focused on what you want the software to do, not how to make it happen at the syntax level.
What It Looks Like in Practice
Here's a real example. Say you need a user authentication system.
Traditional approach:
- Research JWT libraries
- Read documentation
- Write token generation code
- Write verification middleware
- Handle edge cases
- Debug syntax errors
- Write tests
Vibe coding approach:
- Tell the AI: "Create a JWT authentication system with refresh tokens, secure httpOnly cookies, and rate limiting on the login endpoint"
- Review the generated code
- Ask for adjustments: "Add email verification flow"
- Test and deploy
The AI handles the boilerplate. You handle the decisions.
The Tools Making This Possible
Cursor
The IDE that started the vibe coding revolution. Fork of VS Code with AI deeply integrated. You can select code and ask questions, generate new code from comments, or let it autocomplete entire functions.
Claude Code (Anthropic)
Command-line tool that can read your entire codebase, make changes across multiple files, and run commands. Particularly strong for refactoring and complex multi-file changes.
GitHub Copilot
Microsoft's entry. Lives in your IDE and predicts what you're about to type. Less conversational, more autocomplete on steroids. To see how these tools compare in real-world performance tests, check our detailed AI coding assistants ranking.
Windsurf (Codeium)
Newer player focused on "agentic" coding—the AI can take multi-step actions autonomously, like creating files, running tests, and fixing errors. For a deeper comparison of all major tools, see our vibe coding tools comparison.
Replit Agent
Browser-based. Describe an app, watch it get built. Aimed at people who want to skip the IDE entirely.
v0 by Vercel
Specialized for React/Next.js UI components. Describe a component, get production-ready code with Tailwind styling.
Why It's Working Now
Three things converged:
1. Models got good enough
GPT-4, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and similar models can actually write working code. Not just snippets—entire features, with proper error handling and edge cases. To understand how these models compare across different tasks, read our Claude vs GPT-4 vs Gemini comparison.
2. Context windows expanded
Modern models can hold 100K-200K tokens. That's enough to understand your entire codebase, not just the file you're looking at.
3. Tool integration matured
AI can now read files, run commands, check errors, and iterate. It's not just generating text—it's participating in the development loop. This evolution into autonomous AI agents marks a fundamental shift in how developers work with AI tools.
What Vibe Coding Is Good For
Prototyping and MVPs
Building a proof of concept in hours instead of weeks. Perfect for validating ideas before investing serious engineering time.
Boilerplate and CRUD
Every app needs user auth, database connections, API endpoints. AI handles these solved problems so you can focus on novel ones.
Learning new frameworks
Need to build something in a framework you don't know? Describe what you want, learn from what the AI generates.
Refactoring
"Convert this class component to hooks" or "Add TypeScript types to this JavaScript file" becomes a conversation instead of a manual slog.
Bug fixing
Paste the error, describe the expected behavior, let the AI investigate.
What Vibe Coding Is Not Good For
Novel algorithms
If you're inventing new approaches to problems, AI can't help much. It's drawing from existing patterns.
Security-critical code
AI might introduce vulnerabilities. Anything handling authentication, payments, or sensitive data needs human review.
Performance optimization
AI optimizes for "working" not "fast." Low-level performance tuning still requires understanding what's actually happening.
Understanding your own system
If you vibe-code everything without understanding it, you'll struggle to debug, extend, or explain it later.
The Skill Shift
Vibe coding doesn't eliminate the need for developers. It changes what developers need to be good at:
Less important:
- Memorizing syntax
- Typing speed
- Boilerplate patterns
- Language-specific tricks
More important:
- System design and architecture
- Knowing what to build
- Code review and quality assessment
- Breaking problems into clear descriptions
- Understanding security implications
- Integration and deployment
The job shifts from "write code" to "direct the code writing and ensure quality."
The Controversy
Not everyone is on board. Common criticisms:
"You won't understand your codebase"
Valid concern. Mitigation: review everything, ask the AI to explain, write critical paths yourself.
"It produces bloated code"
Sometimes true. AI tends toward verbose, safe solutions. You need to push back.
"Junior developers won't learn fundamentals"
Debatable. Some argue AI explanations teach better than struggling alone. Others say the struggle is essential.
"It's just hype"
The results say otherwise. People are shipping real products faster. Whether that's sustainable long-term is still unknown.
Getting Started with Vibe Coding
If you want to try it:
Start with a side project. Don't vibe-code your company's production system on day one.
Use Cursor or Claude Code. Both have free tiers. Cursor is more visual, Claude Code is more powerful for large changes.
Be specific in your prompts. "Add authentication" is vague. "Add JWT authentication with refresh tokens stored in httpOnly cookies, 15-minute access token expiry, and rate limiting of 5 attempts per minute on the login endpoint" gets better results.
Review everything. Don't blindly accept AI code. Read it. Understand it. Question it.
Learn to iterate. Your first prompt rarely produces perfect code. The skill is in refining.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is vibe coding?
Vibe coding is a development approach where you use AI to write most of your code through natural language conversation. Instead of typing syntax manually, you describe what you want, the AI generates the code, and you review and iterate on it. The term was popularized by Andrej Karpathy in early 2025.
How does vibe coding work in practice?
You describe features or requirements to an AI coding assistant like Cursor or Claude Code, which then generates the implementation. For example, instead of writing authentication code yourself, you'd tell the AI "Create a JWT authentication system with refresh tokens and rate limiting," then review and test what it produces. You focus on what to build rather than how to implement it.
Do I still need to know how to code to use vibe coding?
Yes, you still need programming knowledge to use vibe coding effectively. You need to understand code well enough to review what the AI generates, identify bugs or security issues, and make architectural decisions. Vibe coding multiplies the productivity of developers who understand programming—it doesn't replace that knowledge.
What are the best vibe coding tools available?
The leading vibe coding tools are Cursor (an AI-native IDE), Claude Code (Anthropic's command-line tool), GitHub Copilot (Microsoft's autocomplete assistant), Windsurf (Codeium's agentic coding tool), Replit Agent (browser-based builder), and v0 by Vercel (specialized for React components). Cursor and Claude Code are the most popular among professional developers.
Is vibe coding just a hype trend?
No, vibe coding represents a real shift in how software gets built. Developers are shipping products measurably faster using AI-assisted coding. While the term may evolve and some aspects are overhyped, the core practice of using AI to handle boilerplate while developers focus on design and quality is here to stay.
What's the difference between vibe coding and traditional coding?
Traditional coding means you write every line of syntax yourself, then the computer executes it. Vibe coding means you describe what you want, AI writes the code, you review it, then the computer executes it. The shift is from implementation to direction and quality control—developers become more like architects and code reviewers than typists.
The Bottom Line
Vibe coding is real, it's here, and it's changing how software gets built. It's not a replacement for understanding programming—it's a multiplier for those who do.
The developers who thrive in 2025 won't be the fastest typists or the ones who've memorized the most APIs. They'll be the ones who can clearly articulate what needs to be built, evaluate whether the AI got it right, and know when to step in manually.
That's the vibe.
Looking to leverage AI coding tools in your development workflow? Cedar Operations helps teams implement modern development practices. Let's discuss your needs →
Related reading:
CEDAR OPERATIONS