With “vibe coding,” almost anyone can be a programmer. Just ask an AI to generate code through a ChatGPT-like conversation, and refine the output.
This technique is rapidly becoming a popular way for hobbyists to build apps or websites, but professional programmers are also using it at work.
An ever-growing list of vibe-coding products are hitting the market—from big names like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Amazon, to up-and-comers like Replit and Cursor. There’s an AI coding gold rush going on; Sweden-based Lovable claims to be the fastest-growing startup ever, Forbes reports.
Still, these tools are far from perfect. They require constant re-work, prompt adjustments, and triple-checking the output. In a cautionary tale, one company tried Replit’s AI coding agent, and it deleted an entire database without permission. Still, it’s worth trying your hand at vibe coding—to familiarize yourself with the competition, if nothing else.
Windsurf is at the center of the vibe-coding world. Google recently hired its co-founder and former CEO in a deal worth approximately $2.4 billion. Days later, Windsurf was acquired by Cognition, which has its own vibe-coding tool, Devin.
“We believe sincerely that this technology is going to make everyone a developer,” Akshat Agrawal, Windsurf’s VP of product and marketing, tells us. “Basically, you don’t need coding skills to build an app, which is a huge, change. [But] we definitely haven’t figured everything out. There’s a long way to go to make these agents really mirror the capabilities of the human software engineer.”
What Is Vibe Coding?
The origin of the term “vibe coding” can be traced back to a February 2025 tweet from OpenAI cofounder Andrej Karpathy. “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 said. “It’s possible because the large language models are getting too good.”
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In short, vibe coding means giving an AI a programming task and letting it complete it for you. It generates the code, makes architecture decisions, and turns a vague concept into reality.
“It’s kind of a hilarious term,” Agrawal says. “But it really refers to, in my opinion, where you’re letting the AI do most of the coding.”
Why did it take more than two years from the launch of ChatGPT for vibe coding to take off? You can thank the industry’s push into agentic AI.
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It’s not just about asking a chatbot to spin up a few lines. It can look at files within your code repository, analyze them, and understand them. It can search the internet for information, and access third-party tools. The goal is to “mirror how a human would do work,” Agrawal says.
Being so hands-off and nontechnical comes with risks. Vibe coders will “often will have to accept that a certain number of bugs and glitches will be present,” according to Merriam-Webster’s new definition of the term.
What’s the Vibe-Coding Workflow?
People who are vibe coding in their spare time may be using OpenAI’s Code Interpreter ($20 per month), or the free versions of Windsurf, Loveable, Replit, or Claude Code.
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These tools have their own workspaces, so everything is in one place. That’s more streamlined than, say, copy and pasting snippets from ChatGPT into your main codebase. You can also take advantage of agentic features and other automations.
Professional engineers are likely using enterprise versions of vibe-coding tools, such as Microsoft Copilot. Their companies have vetted them for official use, and the AIs are baked into their Integrated Development Environment (IDE). That’s where they write, test, and debug code before pushing it to production. AI coding agents can now do some of this work.
Vibe coding for serious engineers is still evolving. Amazon’s new Kiro tool aims to offer a more structured approach, starting with upfront planning. Developers can break their projects out into chunks, enter specifications for each part, and then work with the AI to vibe code against those requirements. Kiro even generates technical design documents and performs quality checks.
In the most sophisticated tools, multiple AI agents may work on different aspects of your project, each specialized in specific tasks. They all “meet” to discuss and refine the plan. (Elon Musk likens it to a “study group” for his Grok AI chatbot.)
Ready to Try It? 5 Expert Tips to Get You Started
Here are a few easy ways to get started and elevate your game once you get comfortable.
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Try a simple, fun project: Agrawal gives the example of creating a custom version of Wordle to run on your own computer. “You’d log into Windsurf and be like, ‘Build a custom version of Wordle and run it on my computer,'” he says. “That’s all you have to do. You can customize it how you like, you know, maybe all the words are science-related or sports-related, or six letters instead of five.”
If you wanted to publish it for friends and family to use, you can ask the tool for a list of instructions on how to do that. “It would tell you, ‘Okay, first thing, you probably want to create an account here, choose this option, hook this thing up, and it’ll actually walk you through the process of deploying the feature.'”
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Prompt with detail: To minimize the AI making incorrect assumptions, use tangible examples in your prompts and include as much detail as possible about your vision.
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Work in sections: Break down the project into pieces, and ask the AI to tackle them one by one so both you and it can keep track of the task at hand.
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Pick the right model and tool: Each model has its own strengths and weaknesses. Some vibe-coding tools have a menu to choose from, and it’s worth trying a few to see which one you prefer. To that end, each vibe-coding tool is different, so try a few with their free trials before committing.
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Always check your work, and test the output: It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking AIs are all-knowing, but that is simply not the case. Always review the code and test everything before using it for your business or job, for example.
These are just a few tips we’ve heard from Agrawal, friends, family, and online forums. There’s no shortage of vibe coding lore on the web to check out, like this “ultimate guide” from one experienced Redditor. Happy vibing!
About Our Expert
Emily Forlini
Senior Reporter
Experience
As a news and features writer at PCMag, I cover the biggest tech trends that shape the way we live and work. I specialize in on-the-ground reporting, uncovering stories from the people who are at the center of change—whether that’s the CEO of a high-valued startup or an everyday person taking on Big Tech. I also cover daily tech news and breaking stories, contextualizing them so you get the full picture.
I came to journalism from a previous career working in Big Tech on the West Coast. That experience gave me an up-close view of how software works and how business strategies shift over time. Now that I have my master’s in journalism from Northwestern University, I couple my insider knowledge and reporting chops to help answer the big question: Where is this all going?
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