Vibe

What is Vibe Coding?

"Vibe coding" is an AI-assisted programming technique where a person describes what they want a program to do in natural language, often just a few sentences, and a large language model (LLM) generates the code for them. Introduced by computer scientist Andrej Karpathy in February 2025, it shifts the programmer's role from writing code manually to guiding and refining what the AI produces. The term captures a laid-back, experimental approach: you "give in to the vibes," iterate through prompts, and accept the output without necessarily understanding every detail. It’s like having a conversation with an AI assistant—sometimes even using voice commands—rather than wrestling with syntax.

The appeal is its accessibility. It lets beginners or non-coders build software without deep technical knowledge, democratizing development. Imagine saying, “Make me an app that tracks my coffee intake,” and the AI spits out a working prototype. But it’s not perfect ... results can be buggy, insecure, or limited, often suiting hobby projects better than critical systems. Critics argue it risks sloppy codebases if users don’t grasp what’s under the hood, while fans see it as a productivity boost, especially for prototyping. It builds on the idea that "English is the new programming language," as Karpathy once put it, leveraging AI to handle the grunt work while you focus on the big picture.