What Is Vibe Coding? A Plain-English Guide

What Is Vibe Coding and Why Is Everyone Talking About It?

If you have been anywhere near tech conversations in early 2026, you have probably heard the term vibe coding. It sounds informal, almost playful, but it represents a genuine shift in how software gets built. The phrase was coined by Andrej Karpathy, the former head of AI at Tesla, in a February 2025 tweet where he described a new way of programming: you describe what you want in plain English, and an AI model writes the code for you.

The idea is deceptively simple. Instead of learning programming languages, memorizing syntax, or spending years mastering software architecture, you just tell the AI what you need. "Build me a landing page with a signup form." "Create a dashboard that shows my monthly revenue." "Add a Stripe payment flow." The AI generates the code, you see the result, and you iterate by describing what to change.

But like most things in technology, the reality is more nuanced than the pitch. This guide breaks down what vibe coding actually is, how it works under the hood, what tools enable it, where it excels, and where it falls apart.

How Vibe Coding Actually Works

At its core, vibe coding replaces the traditional programming workflow with a conversational one. Here is the typical process:

1. You describe what you want in natural language. "I need a to-do app with categories, due dates, and a calendar view."
2. The AI generates code based on your description. It picks a framework, writes components, sets up styling, and creates basic logic.
3. You review the result in a live preview. Something looks off? You describe the change: "Make the sidebar darker and move the calendar to the right."
4. The AI iterates on your feedback, modifying the codebase each time.
5. You deploy when you are satisfied with the result.

This loop can be remarkably fast. Simple applications, landing pages, and prototypes can go from idea to working demo in minutes rather than days.

What Happens Behind the Scenes

The AI does not magically understand software architecture. It is pattern-matching against millions of code examples it was trained on. When you say "build a dashboard," it draws on patterns from thousands of dashboards it has seen. This means the output tends to be conventional and functional for common use cases, but can struggle with anything unusual or highly specific.

The generated code typically uses popular frameworks (React, Next.js, Tailwind CSS) because these have the most training data. The AI makes architectural decisions on your behalf, choosing database structures, API patterns, and component hierarchies without necessarily explaining why.

The Tools Powering Vibe Coding in 2026

Several tools have made vibe coding accessible to non-developers. Here are the major players:

Each tool has a different philosophy. Cursor assumes you know how to code and gives you a supercharged editor. Bolt and Lovable assume you do not and try to handle everything. Claude Code sits in the middle, offering deep technical reasoning for people who can guide it. For a deeper comparison, see our guide to the best vibe coding tools in 2026.

Where Vibe Coding Works Well

Vibe coding is genuinely impressive for certain categories of work:

• Landing pages and marketing sites -- These follow predictable patterns and rarely need complex backend logic
• Internal tools and dashboards -- CRUD apps, admin panels, and reporting tools are well within AI's comfort zone
• Prototypes and proof-of-concept demos -- When you need to show an investor or stakeholder what something could look like
• Simple SaaS MVPs -- Basic user authentication, a few data models, standard CRUD operations
• Learning and exploration -- Understanding how code works by seeing it generated in real time

If your project fits neatly into one of these categories, vibe coding can save you significant time and money. A prototype that would take a development team two weeks might take an afternoon with the right tool.

The Limitations You Need to Know

Here is where the honest conversation starts. Vibe coding has real limitations that no amount of marketing can paper over:

Security Is an Afterthought

AI-generated code often skips security best practices. Input validation, SQL injection prevention, proper authentication flows, rate limiting -- these are frequently missing or poorly implemented. For a prototype, that is fine. For anything handling real user data or payments, it is a serious risk.

Technical Debt Accumulates Fast

Because the AI optimizes for "make it work now," the code it produces can be messy, redundant, and difficult to maintain. When you need to add features six months later, you might find that the codebase is so tangled that starting over is cheaper than refactoring.

Complex Logic Breaks Down

Vibe coding handles simple flows well, but struggles with complex business logic, multi-step workflows, real-time features, or intricate data relationships. The more specific and unusual your requirements, the more the AI guesses wrong.

Scalability Is Not Built In

An app that works for 10 users might crash with 10,000. AI-generated code rarely considers database indexing, caching strategies, load balancing, or efficient API design. These are problems that only surface under real load, and by then, fixing them requires real engineering.

You Cannot Debug What You Do Not Understand

When something breaks in vibe-coded software (and it will), fixing it requires understanding the code. If you built the entire application through prompts without understanding the underlying architecture, debugging becomes nearly impossible.

When Vibe Coding Is Appropriate for Your Business

The decision to use vibe coding depends on what you are building and what happens next:

Use vibe coding when:

• You need a visual prototype to test an idea or pitch investors
• You are building a simple internal tool that will not handle sensitive data
• You want to explore a concept before investing in full development
• Your timeline is measured in days, not months
• You accept that you will likely rebuild it properly later

Skip vibe coding when:

• You are building a production application that will serve real customers
• Your app handles payments, health data, or personal information
• You need the software to scale beyond a small user base
• Long-term maintainability is important to your business
• You need custom integrations with other systems

Real Examples: What Vibe Coding Can and Cannot Build

To make this concrete, here is a practical breakdown:

The Smart Approach: Prototype with AI, Build with Engineers

The founders who get the most value from vibe coding use it strategically. They prototype with AI tools to validate ideas quickly and cheaply, then bring in professional developers to build the real product. This hybrid approach gives you the speed of AI for exploration and the reliability of human engineering for production.

At Soatech, we see this pattern regularly. Founders come to us with a vibe-coded prototype that proved their concept. We take that validated idea and build a production-grade application with proper security, scalability, and maintainability. The prototype served its purpose -- it de-risked the investment in real development.

You can estimate what that real development costs with our project calculator, or learn more about the difference between vibe coding and hiring a developer.

The Bottom Line on Vibe Coding

Vibe coding is not a revolution that makes developers obsolete. It is a powerful new tool that makes certain kinds of software creation faster and more accessible. Like all tools, its value depends entirely on using it for the right job.

For quick prototypes, internal tools, and idea validation, vibe coding is genuinely useful. For production software that handles real data, serves real customers, and needs to grow over time, you still need experienced engineers who understand what they are building and why.

Want to turn your vibe-coded prototype into a production-ready product? Talk to our team -- we help founders go from validated idea to scalable software in weeks, not months.