What is Vibe Coding?

Vibe coding is a development approach where you describe what you want in natural language, and AI generates the code. Vibe coders focus on achieving the desired outcome instead of writing code.

Andrej Karpathy, co-founder of OpenAI, famously coined the term vibe coding, describing the concept as “amusing,” but “not really coding. I just see stuff, say stuff, run stuff, and copy-paste stuff, and it mostly works.”

Under the hype, vibe coding is still in its infancy, but it may be the natural direction for an AI-native generation of programmers.

For frontend and WordPress developers, that could mean asking an AI to build layouts, style sections, or even generate whole sites based on the desired end result. Even though you can see and edit the generated code, you never actually have to touch it.

Where did vibe coding begin?

Using AI tools to code is not a new concept. But while autocomplete tools like TabNine and GitHub Copilot do produce code to help developers work faster, they still require fluency to navigate their code-first focus.

The rise of conversational AI

In the sense that you’re vibing and not worrying about the code, vibe coding wasn’t possible until we had conversational AI models like Codex, ChatGPT, and Claude to interpret natural language and translate the desired outcome into working code.

By that time, we’d already passed the point of no return on what appears to be a vibe coding continuum, moving further toward intent-driven collaboration with LLMs and away from syntax-driven assistance and autocompletes handling repetitive boilerplate.

Vibe coding vs. AI-assisted vs. agentic development

The distinction between vibe coding, AI-assisted coding, and agentic development becomes clearer when considered as points along a vibe coding continuum. Each point differs in how the user interacts with the project. Are we talking about prompting in natural language, or parsing through code, reviewing, and editing?

As Karpathy and other AI adopters, like Simon Willison, have noted, vibe coding is specifically about ignoring the code and focusing on the end result. While the lines can blur between more traditional autocomplete tools and debugging assistance, vibe coding is a whole different ball game.

Definition drift

The biggest source of confusion (and perhaps hard feelings among developers) is that too many people toss the entire vibe coding continuum into one box. Autocomplete, assisted coding, and the more intent-driven, no-code vibe coding get lumped together.

Why defining vibe coding matters

This all-or-nothing take is not accurate or fair to people who want to experiment or professionals pressured to try something trendy.

Developers turn up their collective noses at AI-generated code because it’s not how they’d do it, and what happened to style? Non-technical people can easily land in hot water by, for example, innocently vibe coding their API keys in outputs or failing to sanitize and validate inputs.

The result is that one side can (inadvertently) be an overly enthusiastic bull in a china shop, and the other is somewhat reluctantly trying out this thing their PM hears can send velocity through the roof.

Defining expectations

Definitions set expectations, and by slotting vibe coding in as “just autocompletes,” we miss its potential and its limitations. When treated as intent-first development, with QA and production pipelines in place, it opens an avenue for innovation in traditional development.

The promise and the pitfalls

At the intent-driven point on the vibe coding continuum, there’s a lot of potential. With no need to actually write the code, not only is the barrier to entry so low you’d need a backhoe to find it, but professionals can really make vibe coding hum. It allows experienced programmers to:

• Prototype and experiment
• Iterate faster
• Explore more directions in less time

Early adopters like Karpathy used vibe coding for weekend projects, as well as tools for workflows, prototyping, and experimentation. But, with the tremendous interest and continued trajectory, vibe coding’s level of abstraction could allow developers to focus on the big picture: architecture, ensuring standards are met, and steering projects from a bird’s-eye perspective.

Seeing red flags through rose-colored lenses

Over-promising vibe coding’s potential can also make it risky. Out of sight, out of mind. So, when the code itself becomes invisible, it’s like sweeping potential problems under the rug. To further complicate things, even after reviewing, the output often ‘looks fine’ on the surface, potentially masking issues that haven’t reared their heads yet.

Without structure and oversight, vibe coding projects can quickly:

• Accumulate maintenance debt
• Introduce security flaws
• Produce bloated code that takes forever to review and understand

Common complaints from devs and non-coders

Some developers chafe at AI-generated code that isn’t structured the way they’d write it, or that hides critical logic in long, machine-authored blocks too time-consuming to read.

For non-developers, it’s kind of the opposite. The first time vibe coding works, it’s downright magical. But, without a dev’s background knowledge and experience, it can be a Pandora’s box of brittle code and problems that vibe coders have to then rely on AI to fix. It can be a little like playing a slot machine: “just one more prompt to fix this error, then I’ll stop.”

But it’s not all gloom and doom. While it’s admittedly not the same as being a competent full-stack software developer, vibe coders have a growing toolbox that sets non-coders up for success.

Vibe coding for WordPress frontend

If there’s a natural habitat for vibe coding, it’s probably in the vicinity of frontend and WordPress development. WordPress already has a ton of low-code, no-code, and drag-and-drop builders. The transition to pure vibe coding is a natural evolution.

Intent-first frontend tasks are already primed and ready for vibe coding:

• Designing layouts
• Building landing pages
• Spinning up client sites at scale

Non-technical users can describe what they want and get results without even peeking at a line of code. Developers can free themselves of repetitive, boilerplate code, explore more design options, and iterate on sites at scale.

Rethinking roles and development

Vibe coding is nowhere near a world where we don’t need developers, programmers, or software engineers. On the contrary, with oodles of vibe coding tools and projects cropping up every day, we need their expertise and skills now more than ever.

Excitement vs. trepidation

For non-developers, vibe coding is a heady power-trip. It breathes life into formerly stunted creativity, allowing ideas to become reality. But without the experience and know-how, it’s easy to drift onto treacherous ground.

For developers, the concept of vibe coding hits closer to home. Some find the idea takes something away from the part of their jobs they love the most – writing code. Some compare vibe coding to pair programming with an oddly deferential, over-eager team member with an encyclopedic recall of libraries, who’s a little too quick to bulldoze working code and makes questionable style choices.

Finding a middle ground

At this point on the vibe coding continuum, the happy medium is specialized vibe coding environments that offer both coders and non-coders flexibility in expression. In this framework, developers take on a more directorial role, delegating and validating from a front-row seat, rather than focusing on syntax and line-by-line coding. Non-technical vibe coders get a seat at the table, where they have more opportunities than ever to contribute to developing tools, services, and solutions that benefit everyone.

The cultural shift beneath the hype

Vibe coding does not equal autocomplete, and it’s decidedly not traditional AI-assisted coding. On the vibe coding continuum, it represents the point of intersection for intent-first development, where you describe what you want, and the AI handles the code. That’s an exciting shift, but it’s also fragile without the right environment.

Tools like Vibe for WordPress bridge the gap between traditional web development and free-wheeling vibe coding. Under these circumstances, vibe coding becomes a tool that helps everyone succeed, on an individual level and at scale.

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