Before You Try Vibe Coding, Read This

Over the last couple of years, AI has quietly started changing the way we write code. What used to take hours of manual effort can now be done in minutes. All thanks to something called vibe coding.

So, what is vibe coding? It’s the idea that you can create working code just by describing what you want in plain English. AI-based coding assistants like GitHub Copilot and Cursor will generate the actual code for you. Platforms like Bubble.io and Framer go even further, you don’t even need to see the code. Just drag, drop, and configure, and you’ve got a working app.

It’s a game-changer. People with little to no coding experience are now building functional apps and launching products.

✅ The Good Side of Vibe Coding

It’s important to recognize why it’s a game changer and is becoming so popular.

Anyone Can Build an App

You no longer need to be a developer to create an app. Business owners, product managers, and even students can now build functional software using plain English instructions. For example, a small business owner can create a custom appointment booking app using Bubble.io without needing to hire a developer.

Fast Development

Traditional development takes weeks or months. With vibe coding, you can build and launch an MVP in days, sometimes even hours. Say, you have an idea for a new social app. Using Replit and GitHub Copilot, you describe the basic functionality and have a working prototype in a weekend.

Lower Costs

Hiring developers is expensive. Vibe coding allows startups and solo founders to build products without needing a full engineering team, reducing costs significantly. A startup can use AI-generated code to launch a product with just one or two developers instead of a whole team.

Creativity and Innovation

Since AI takes care of the technical details, you can focus more on user experience, design, and solving real-world problems. Instead of worrying about backend infrastructure, you can spend more time testing different UI options.

Perfect for MVPs and Prototypes

Vibe coding is ideal for testing new ideas quickly without committing to a full development cycle. An entrepreneur wants to test a new marketplace concept can create a working prototype and get user feedback within days.

❌ But this is where it falls apart

While vibe coding makes starting easy, things often get complicated once your app starts growing. Easy to start doesn’t always mean easy to scale.

At the beginning, things run smoothly. Your app works, users are happy, and new features roll out quickly. But as the app grows and becomes more complex, the cracks begin to show:

• Performance starts slowing down.

• Features that worked fine at first start breaking.

• Small changes become difficult to implement because the code is too tangled.

• Debugging becomes a nightmare because you didn’t write the code yourself.

Let’s understand this with a few examples:

Example 1

Let’s say you build a booking app using Bubble.io. The first version works great. Users can book slots, cancel reservations, and receive email confirmations. But when you decide to add more complex logic like dynamic pricing or multi-location support, you hit a wall. Bubble’s pre-built components don’t support that level of complexity, and rewriting the code means basically starting over.

Example 2

Or maybe you’ve built an e-commerce site using Cursor. The AI-generated code works well until you need to connect to a new payment gateway. Now the generated code doesn’t quite “fit” with the external API, and since you didn’t write it, figuring out where to fix it becomes a time-consuming process.

And the bigger the app gets, the worse it becomes.

🤢 Things become ugly really quick

AI-generated code and low-code platforms are designed for simplicity and speed, and not for complexity or long-term scalability. There are many ways in which things can go wrong.

• AI-generated code can feel like a “black box.” When something breaks, you may have no idea how to fix it because you didn’t write the code yourself.

• Low-code platforms are built for ease of use, not necessarily for speed. As traffic increases, the platform’s infrastructure may struggle to handle the load.

• Low-code tools use pre-built components which great for basic apps, but difficult to customize beyond a certain point.

• AI-generated code isn’t written with future maintenance in mind. It may lack structure, best practices, and consistency, making it harder to debug or update.

• If you build your app entirely on a specific platform, you might have trouble migrating to a custom codebase later.

💡 How to Avoid These Pitfalls

So how do you enjoy the benefits of vibe coding without falling into these traps? Well, I have this handy 5 step guide.

1. Learn the Basics of Coding. You don’t need to become a professional developer. But understanding the basics of data flow, APIs, and debugging will help you manage AI-generated code better. Even just knowing how to read error logs can save you hours of debugging when something breaks.

2. Start Small, Then Transition. Vibe coding is perfect for MVPs. But once your app starts gaining traction, start replacing the complex parts with custom code for better performance and flexibility.

3. Get Professional Input Early. Bringing in a developer early on can help you avoid technical debt and build a scalable foundation.

4. Test and Document Everything. AI-generated code changes quickly, and without proper testing and documentation, you’ll struggle to manage it over time. Setting up automated tests will help you catch issues early before they become serious problems.

5. Keep Your Exit Strategy Open. Don’t lock yourself into one platform. If you outgrow it, you should have the option to transition to custom code without starting from scratch.

Vibe Coding is Powerful. But It’s Not a Shortcut. The key is balance. Use vibe coding to get started, but learn the basics of programming, involve experienced developers early, and plan for future growth. That way, you’ll have the best of both worlds - the speed of AI-generated code and the stability of well-structured custom code.