Vibecoding Guide

Vibecoding means building software by describing what you want to an AI tool and letting it write the code. You guide, test, and decide. The AI types.

With vibecoding you can build:

• Websites and landing pages
• Internal tools and dashboards
• Small web and mobile apps
• Automations and scripts
• Prototypes to test ideas

You do not need to write every line. You do need to understand what you ship.

Lovable

Builds full web apps from prompts in the browser. Easiest start.

Claude Code

Anthropic’s coding agent for the terminal, desktop app, and IDEs. Included in paid Claude plans.

OpenAI Codex

OpenAI’s coding agent in the ChatGPT desktop app, CLI, and IDEs. Included from ChatGPT Plus.

Cursor

An AI code editor for hands-on building.

Grok Build

SpaceXAI’s open-source terminal coding agent.

Beginners often start in a browser builder, then move to a coding agent for more control.

• Who the app is for
• The problem it solves
• The one most important action
• Screens and what each shows
• Data it stores
• Sign-in needs
• What is out of scope for version one

Interview me about my app idea one question at a time, then write a one-page spec with a small version one.

Create CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md with:

• What the app does
• The tech stack
• How to run and test it
• Code style rules
• Things that need your approval

• Ask for a plan first
• Approve or edit the plan
• Build one feature
• Run it and try it yourself
• Commit to Git
• Move to the next feature

Small, tested steps beat one giant prompt.

• Describe the user’s goal, not just the feature
• Give acceptance criteria: “Done when…”
• Share screenshots of what you want
• Paste exact error messages
• Ask the AI to explain anything unclear

• Use a proven sign-in service
• Use a hosted database with access rules
• Make sure users can only see their own data
• Keep secrets in environment variables
• Store only data you need

• Ask for automated tests on core features
• Run tests after every change
• Test on a phone
• Try wrong inputs on purpose
• Ask a friend to use it without help

Review this app for security problems: exposed secrets, missing access checks, unsafe inputs, and data that should not be public. List issues by severity and fix them one at a time with my approval.

For payments, health, or sensitive personal data, get a human expert review too.

• Use a preview deployment first
• Set environment variables on the host
• Connect your domain
• Test the live version
• Set up error monitoring

• Use smaller models for simple changes
• Start fresh sessions for new tasks
• Keep rules files short
• Use free tiers for hosting and databases while small
• Set spending limits on every service

• Ask the AI to explain each change
• Read the code for your core features
• Learn the basics of your stack
• Learn Git
• Fix one bug yourself each week

The best vibecoders understand more every week.

• Building everything at once
• Skipping tests and backups
• Pasting API keys into prompts
• Shipping code you never ran
• Running agents with all approvals turned off on your main computer

Act as my senior developer and teacher. App: [idea] for [users]. Read the project rules first. Interview me, write a one-page spec, and wait for approval. Then recommend a simple stack and explain why. Build one feature at a time: plan, build, test, explain in plain language, and commit. Never put secrets in code, never delete data, and ask before installing packages or deploying.