From time to time, we are invited by technology into the arms of what feels like liberation: the possibility of making something significant without the usual burdens of planning, discipline, or care. Today this temptation bears a fashionable name: vibe coding. Coined by Andrej Karpathy, it describes the practice of writing software guided only by hunches, loose sketches, or fragments produced by an obliging AI. It is, at first, exhilarating: the thrill of building without delay, of conjuring code as though by instinct. To a restless mind, specifications appear bureaucratic; intuition feels alive and efficient.
Yet beneath the excitement lies a quieter danger: the suggestion that precision is unnecessary, that clarity is an enemy of creativity, and that what matters is only the speed with which one can produce something that seems to work.
The Most Enthusiastic Believers
Those most captivated are often the ones farthest from the demands of real engineering. To non-technical observers such as founders, marketers, or customers, vibe coding looks miraculous. Here, apparently, is a way to sidestep complexity and dispense with experts. They are enchanted by what they can suddenly see: a functioning prototype that, to untrained eyes, already resembles a finished product. Yet the danger is precisely this: mistaking the sketch of a house for a building one might safely inhabit.
The Nature of the Trap
Why do we fall for it? Because we are all, in some sense, children before magicians and their magic tricks. We long for shortcuts. A few keystrokes from ChatGPT, a suggestion from GitHub Copilot, and we feel ourselves masters of a domain we scarcely understand. The glow of apparent completion intoxicates us. But software is never only what can be typed out quickly. It is also what resists us: the awkward exceptions, the corner cases, the slow work of shaping logic into something that can withstand reality. Vibe coding flatters us by skipping the toil, but eventually presents the bill in a more punishing form.
Why Vibe Coding Fails in the Long Run
1. The Unasked Question. A hunch can get you started, but it does not necessarily answer: what problem are we solving, and why does it matter? Software without a clear problem is like a ship launched with no destination: a graceful vessel drifting without purpose.
2. Prototypes Are Easy, Real Applications Are Hard. A proof of concept can be coaxed into existence in an afternoon. But scaling it into a product demands a structure that ad hoc code cannot supply. The result is a mirage: what looked solid turns brittle under the weight of real users, security demands, and performance needs.
3. The Pain of the Last Mile. AI can take you most of the way, but not across the finish line. The final, most subtle parts of software such as optimization, resilience, and elegance refuse to yield to shortcuts. They require patience and, above all, human expertise.
4. The Corner Cases. Life is defined not by its smooth surfaces but by its interruptions and exceptions. Software is no different. The artistry of an engineer lies in anticipating the "what-ifs." Vibe coding is blind to these moments, offering instead the illusion that the smooth road is all there is.
5. Knowledge Still Matters. Karpathy can succeed with vibe coding because he already understands what the AI is doing. Without such grounding, one is not engineering but gambling: hoping, not designing.
6. The Vanishing Free Lunch. What looks effortless at first soon exacts its price. Hours are lost unraveling confused AI logic, trying to decipher why something half-works. What was meant to save time devours it instead.
7. Code Without an Author. AI-generated scripts often function but cannot be explained. They carry secrets: hidden bugs, cryptic logic, vulnerabilities no one quite understands. When new developers join, they face the disorienting task of deciphering code with no reliable author.
8. The Matter of Security. If software touches sensitive data, the cost of ignorance multiplies. AI has little instinct for security or compliance, leaving open doors where caution would have built walls.
9. The False Signal of Completion. Most dangerously, prototypes give off the impression of maturity. A demo sparks confidence in investors, executives, or customers, who understandably assume the hard work is done. But what they are shown is not a product: it is a sketch. Confusion between the two leads to disappointed expectations, rushed releases, and strained trust.
The Comfort of Specifications
Against this fever, we should recall the necessary dignity of specifications. They are not enemies of creativity but its scaffolding. A well-written specification is an act of reflection: it forces us to ask the questions we might otherwise evade, to define before we build. With the aid of modern tools, even AI itself, the act of drafting can feel less like bureaucracy and more like a form of conversation with our own intentions.
A Lesson in Patience
The lesson of vibe coding is not to avoid play or exploration, but to recognize play for what it is. Prototypes are sketches, and sketches are valuable but incomplete. To mistake them for finished work is to confuse the rough outline of a painting with the painting itself.
