Where does the term come from?
The term was coined by AI researcher Andrej Karpathy in early 2025 to describe “giving in to the vibes” — prompting an AI, running what it produces and asking for changes, without closely reading the code. Since then AI coding agents have become far more capable, and vibe coding has spread from developers to founders, designers and hobbyists.
What are people vibe coding right now?
- Personal tools — scripts, dashboards and small apps built in an afternoon.
- Prototypes — founders testing an idea before hiring a team.
- Device tweaks — in October 2026, people used coding agents to strip ads, tracking and bloatware from their smart TVs; reports also included bricked TVs when the agent disabled the wrong system package.
- Rebuilds — with tools such as REA, agents recreate features of existing apps.
Vibe coding vs professional AI-assisted engineering
| Vibe coding | AI-assisted engineering | |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Something that works now | Something that keeps working |
| Code review | Little or none | Every change reviewed |
| Testing | “It ran” | Automated tests and real scenarios |
| Security | Often overlooked | Access control, secrets, data protection |
| Best for | Prototypes, personal tools | Customer-facing and business-critical software |
What are the risks of vibe-coded software?
- Security holes — exposed keys, missing access checks, unsafe handling of user data.
- Hidden bugs in cases nobody tried.
- Code nobody understands, so every change gets harder.
- No monitoring, backups or plan for when it breaks.
- Licence and compliance questions about copied code or data.
When should a business bring in engineers?
When the software handles customer data or payments, connects to core systems, will be used by many people, or would hurt the business if it stopped working. A good path is to vibe-code the prototype, then have engineers review, harden and test it — or rebuild the parts that matter. That is the kind of work we do in custom AI software development.
Frequently asked questions
Can non-programmers vibe code?
Yes, for small tools and prototypes. Understanding the basics of how software, data and security work makes the results much safer.
Which tools are used for vibe coding?
AI coding agents and editors such as Claude Code, Cursor, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot and open-source agents like OpenCode. See our comparison of AI coding agents.
Is vibe-coded code bad?
Not necessarily — modern agents write good code. The risk is shipping it without review, tests and security checks.