Vibe coding
Vibe coding is an informal style of building software where you describe intent to an AI agent and accept its output without reading every line.
"Vibe coding" is a term popularized by Andrej Karpathy in 2025 to describe a working style where you tell an AI agent what you want, let it write and run code, accept its fixes, and mostly don't read the diffs line by line. It's agentic coding taken to its most casual extreme — trusting the tool to close the loop and intervening only when the vibes go bad.
Why it matters
Vibe coding is a genuine shift in how some developers spend their day. Instead of writing code and occasionally consulting an AI, you spend the day talking to the AI and occasionally consulting the code. The style assumes capable tools (Claude Code, Codex CLI, Qwen Code), a working test suite, and willingness to roll back via checkpoints when things go off.
SpaceSpider is well-suited for vibe coding because running multiple agentic panes in a grid layout means you can keep several vibes in flight at once — one agent refactoring while another writes tests while a third drafts a PR description.
How it works
The typical vibe-coding loop:
- State intent in natural language ("add dark mode", "make this faster", "rewrite in Rust")
- Let the agent plan, read files, and edit
- Check whether tests pass and the UI looks right
- If it works, move on; if not, describe what's wrong and iterate
The skill is in knowing what to verify (tests, visual output, edge cases) and when to read the code carefully (security boundaries, auth, payments, anything you'd be embarrassed to ship wrong). Vibe coding doesn't mean abdicating review — it means shifting review to outputs and behavior rather than every line.
How it's used
Situations where vibe coding shines:
- Prototyping an idea to see if it's even worth doing
- Scripts and one-off tooling
- UI polish where "does it look right" is the test
- Weekend projects
Situations where it's risky:
- Production code paths touching money, auth, or data integrity
- Systems with no tests
- Unfamiliar languages where you can't spot-check
See /blog/how-to-vibe-code-without-breaking-prod and /compare/vibe-coding-vs-pair-programming.
Related terms
- Agentic coding — the technical backbone
- AI pair programming — the earlier, more hands-on mode
- Autonomous agent — what powers vibe coding
- Checkpoint — what makes vibe coding safe
- Plan mode — the calmer, more deliberate alternative
FAQ
Is vibe coding professional?
It depends on what you're shipping. For prototypes, tooling, and personal projects, absolutely. For regulated systems, it needs tight review — "vibes" doesn't cut it when the output handles payments or PII.
Does vibe coding replace learning to code?
No. Knowing the stack is what lets you steer the agent and recognize when its output is wrong. Vibe coding rewards strong fundamentals, even if it changes how you spend the keyboard time.
Related terms
- Agentic codingAgentic coding is software development where an LLM-powered agent plans, edits, runs, and verifies code on its own using tools, not just autocomplete.
- AI pair programmingAI pair programming is a collaboration style where an LLM assistant sits alongside you, suggesting code and reviewing changes in real time as you work.
- ANSI escape codesANSI escape codes are control sequences that terminals interpret for colors, cursor movement, and screen clearing — the language of every modern CLI UI.
- Autonomous agentAn autonomous agent is an AI program that perceives, decides, and acts on its own toward a goal — the architecture behind modern coding CLIs.
- CheckpointA checkpoint is a saved snapshot of file state that lets you roll back an AI coding agent's changes to a known-good point.
- Claude CodeClaude Code is Anthropic's official command-line agent that plans, edits, runs, and verifies code across your repo using Claude models and tool use.