Vibe Coding: The New Frontier of Programming
For many people, coding is about telling a computer what to do and having the computer perform those precise actions repeatedly. With the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT, it’s now possible for someone to describe a program in English and have the AI model translate it into working code without ever understanding how the code works. Former OpenAI researcher Andrej Karpathy recently gave this practice a name—"vibe coding”—and it’s gaining traction in tech circles.
The Rise of Vibe Coding
The technique, enabled by large language models (LLMs) from companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, has attracted attention for potentially lowering the barrier to entry for software creation. But questions remain about whether the approach can reliably produce code suitable for real-world applications, even as tools like Cursor Composer, GitHub Copilot, and Replit Agent make the process increasingly accessible to non-programmers.
The Vibe Coding Experience
Instead of being about control and precision, vibe coding is all about surrendering to the flow. On February 2, Karpathy introduced the term in a post, writing, "There’s a new kind of coding I call ‘vibe coding,’ where you fully give in to the vibes, embrace exponentials, and forget that the code even exists." He described the process in deliberately casual terms: "I just see stuff, say stuff, run stuff, and copy paste stuff, and it mostly works."
A Lazy Programmer’s Paradise?
Karpathy’s technique stands in stark contrast to traditional software development best practices, which typically emphasize careful planning, testing, and understanding of implementation details. As Karpathy humorously acknowledged, the approach is for the ultimate lazy programmer experience: "I ask for the dumbest things, like ‘decrease the padding on the sidebar by half,’ because I’m too lazy to find it myself. I ‘Accept All’ always; I don’t read the diffs anymore."
The Future of Vibe Coding
While some may see vibe coding as a shortcut or a crutch, others see it as a game-changer for the tech industry. With the rise of AI-powered coding tools, it’s possible that we’ll see a new generation of developers emerge, ones who don’t need to know how to write code but can still create software and applications.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is vibe coding?
Vibe coding is a new approach to programming that uses large language models to generate code based on natural language descriptions. - Is vibe coding suitable for real-world applications?
It’s unclear whether vibe coding can reliably produce code suitable for real-world applications, but early adopters are experimenting with the technique. - Is vibe coding a shortcut or a crutch?
It’s too early to say, but some see vibe coding as a potential game-changer for the tech industry, while others view it as a shortcut or crutch.
