Vibe coding: Vibe coding is building software by describing what you want to an AI coding assistant in plain language and accepting the code it produces, iterating on results rather than reading or writing the code yourself.
The term was coined by Andrej Karpathy in early 2025 to describe a loose, conversational style of programming: say what you want, run what the AI writes, describe what is wrong, repeat. Tools such as Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Replit, and Lovable make this workable for people who have never written a line of code, and much faster for those who have.
It works surprisingly well for small, self-contained things: a calculator for your pricing rules, a script that cleans a spreadsheet export, a simple internal dashboard, a prototype to show your team. The AI handles syntax, libraries, and boilerplate, and you supply the requirements and the judgment about whether the result is right.
It breaks down when the stakes go up. Code you cannot read is code you cannot audit, and AI-written software can have security holes, hard-coded secrets, and logic errors that only show up on real data. Vibe-coded tools should stay away from customer data and payments unless a developer reviews them, and anything your business depends on needs someone who can maintain it when the AI's next suggestion makes it worse.
Example at work
A freight broker describes a tool to a coding assistant: "Take this CSV of quotes, flag any lane where our margin is under 12 percent, and show the results in a table I can sort." Twenty minutes and four rounds of feedback later, it works on her laptop. She uses it daily but keeps the real quote records in the company TMS.
Why it matters
Vibe coding puts real software within reach of non-programmers, which changes what you can build for yourself on a Tuesday afternoon. Knowing its limits, mainly around security, data, and maintenance, keeps a handy personal tool from becoming a liability.
Related terms
- No-codeNo-code refers to tools that let people build apps, automations, and websites through visual interfaces and plain-language instructions instead of writing programming code.
- CopilotA copilot is an AI assistant built into the software you already use, suggesting, drafting, and completing work alongside you rather than replacing you. Copilot is also Microsoft's brand for its AI assistants across Windows, Microsoft 365, and GitHub.
- AI agentAn AI agent is a system that uses an AI model to pursue a goal on its own by planning steps, using tools such as web browsers, files, and software APIs, and adjusting based on results, rather than answering a single prompt.
- Workflow automationWorkflow automation connects apps and steps so that a trigger, such as a new form response or an incoming email, automatically runs a sequence of actions, increasingly with an AI step that reads, decides, or writes along the way.