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Vibe coding
AI-dependent computer programming technique

Vibe coding is an AI-supported software development style popularized by Andrej Karpathy in early 2025 that involves a fast, collaborative approach where a developer works with a large language model as pair programmers. Instead of micromanaging, developers embrace a creative flow, accepting AI-suggested completions and focusing on experimentation rather than correctness. Karpathy used vibe coding to create prototypes like MenuGen by guiding AI-generated source code through natural language instructions. Advocates claim it enables even amateur programmers to produce software without extensive training, while critics warn of accountability and security risks. The term was added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as slang in March 2025.

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Definition

Computer scientist Andrej Karpathy, a co-founder of OpenAI and former AI leader at Tesla, introduced the term vibe coding in February 2025. The concept refers to a coding approach that relies on LLMs, allowing programmers to generate working code by providing natural language descriptions rather than manually writing it.111213

Karpathy described his approach as conversational, using voice commands while AI generates the actual code. "It's not really coding - I just see things, say things, run things, and copy-paste things, and it mostly works."14 Karpathy acknowledged that vibe coding has limitations, noting that AI tools are not always able to fix or understand bugs, requiring him to experiment with unrelated changes until the problems are resolved.15 He concluded that he found the technique "not too bad for throwaway weekend projects" and described it as "quite amusing".

The concept of vibe coding elaborates on Karpathy's claim from 2023 that "the hottest new programming language is English", meaning that the capabilities of LLMs were such that humans would no longer need to learn specific programming languages to command computers.16

A key part of the definition of vibe coding is that the user accepts code without full understanding.17 Programmer Simon Willison said: "If an LLM wrote every line of your code, but you've reviewed, tested, and understood it all, that's not vibe coding in my book—that's using an LLM as a typing assistant."18

Reception and use

In February 2025, New York Times journalist Kevin Roose, who is not a professional coder, experimented with vibe coding to create several small-scale applications. He described these as "software for one", referring to personalised AI-generated tools designed to address specific individual needs, such as an app that analyzed his fridge contents to suggest items for a packed lunch. Roose noted that while vibe coding enables non-programmers to generate functional software, the results are often limited and prone to errors.1920

In one case, the AI-generated code fabricated fake reviews for an e-commerce site. He also observed that AI-assisted coding enables individuals to develop software that previously required an engineering team. In response to Roose, cognitive scientist Gary Marcus said that the algorithm that generated Roose's LunchBox Buddy app had presumably been trained on existing code for similar tasks. Marcus said that Roose's enthusiasm stemmed from reproduction, not originality.2122

In March 2025, Y Combinator reported that 25% of startup companies in its Winter 2025 batch had codebases that were 95% AI-generated, reflecting a shift toward AI-assisted development within newer startups.23

Three engineers interviewed by IEEE Spectrum agreed that vibe coding is a way for programmers to learn languages and technologies they are not yet familiar with.24

Inspired by "vibe coding", The Economist suggested the term "vibe valuation" to describe the very large valuations of AI startups by venture capital firms that ignore accepted metrics such as Annual Recurring Revenue.25

Limitations

Quality of code and security issues

Vibe coding has raised concerns about understanding and accountability. Developers may use AI-generated code without fully comprehending its functionality, leading to undetected bugs, errors, or security vulnerabilities. While this approach may be suitable for prototyping or "throwaway weekend projects" as Karpathy originally envisioned, it is considered by some experts to pose risks in professional settings, where a deep understanding of the code is crucial for debugging, maintenance, and security. Ars Technica cites Simon Willison, who stated: "Vibe coding your way to a production codebase is clearly risky. Most of the work we do as software engineers involves evolving existing systems, where the quality and understandability of the underlying code is crucial."26

Task complexity

Generative AI is highly capable of handling simple tasks like basic algorithms. However, such systems struggle with more novel, complex coding problems like projects involving multiple files; poorly documented libraries; or critical code that has real-world impacts.27

Challenges with debugging

LLMs generate code dynamically, and the structure of such code may be subject to variation. In addition, since the developer did not write the code, they may struggle to understand syntax/concepts that they themselves have not used.28

See also

References

  1. @karpathy (2025-02-02). "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" (Tweet). Retrieved 2025-07-03 – via Twitter. https://x.com/karpathy/status/1886192184808149383 ↩

  2. Karpathy, Andrej (2025-04-27). "Vibe coding MenuGen". karpathy.bearblog.dev. Retrieved 2025-07-03. https://karpathy.bearblog.dev/vibe-coding-menugen/ ↩

  3. Edwards, Benj (2025-03-05). "Will the future of software development run on vibes?". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2025-06-03. The technique, enabled by large language models (LLMs) from companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, has attracted attention for potentially lowering the barrier to entry for software creation. But questions remain about whether the approach can reliably produce code suitable for real-world applications, even as tools like Cursor Composer, GitHub Copilot, and Replit Agent make the process increasingly accessible to non-programmers. https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/03/is-vibe-coding-with-ai-gnarly-or-reckless-maybe-some-of-both/ ↩

  4. "What is 'vibe code'? Former Tesla AI director Andrej Karpathy defines a new era in AI-driven development". The Times of India. 2025-03-02. Retrieved 2025-06-03. Karpathy's "vibe coding" is a recognition of how sophisticated AI systems have evolved. In describing on X (formerly Twitter), he added that LLMs, like the Cursor Composer with Sonnet, are advancing to a degree that nearly eliminates the use of traditional coding mechanisms. Describing his own experience, Karpathy explained how he converses with AI tools almost in a passive manner—merely talking to them and having the AI handle the rest. This method eliminates manually typing code as well as keeping track of all the minute information in the program. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/what-is-vibe-coding-former-tesla-ai-director-andrej-karpathy-defines-a-new-era-in-ai-driven-development/articleshow/118659724.cms ↩

  5. Roose, Kevin (February 27, 2025), "Not a Coder? With A.I., Just Having an Idea Can Be Enough.", The New York Times, ISSN 0362-4331, retrieved June 3, 2025, Vibecoding, a term that was popularized by the A.I. researcher Andrej Karpathy, is useful shorthand for the way that today's A.I. tools allow even nontechnical hobbyists to build fully functioning apps and websites, just by typing prompts into a text box. You don't have to know how to code to vibecode — just having an idea, and a little patience, is usually enough. "It's not really coding," Mr. Karpathy wrote this month. "I just see stuff, say stuff, run stuff, and copy paste stuff, and it mostly works." https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/technology/personaltech/vibecoding-ai-software-programming.html ↩

  6. Chowdhury, Hasan; Mann, Jyoti (2025-02-13). "Silicon Valley's next act: bringing 'vibe coding' to the world". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 2025-02-26. Retrieved 2025-03-03. https://www.businessinsider.com/vibe-coding-ai-silicon-valley-andrej-karpathy-2025-2 ↩

  7. "What is 'vibe code'? Former Tesla AI director Andrej Karpathy defines a new era in AI-driven development". The Times of India. 2025-03-02. Retrieved 2025-06-03. Karpathy's "vibe coding" is a recognition of how sophisticated AI systems have evolved. In describing on X (formerly Twitter), he added that LLMs, like the Cursor Composer with Sonnet, are advancing to a degree that nearly eliminates the use of traditional coding mechanisms. Describing his own experience, Karpathy explained how he converses with AI tools almost in a passive manner—merely talking to them and having the AI handle the rest. This method eliminates manually typing code as well as keeping track of all the minute information in the program. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/what-is-vibe-coding-former-tesla-ai-director-andrej-karpathy-defines-a-new-era-in-ai-driven-development/articleshow/118659724.cms ↩

  8. Chowdhury, Hasan; Mann, Jyoti (2025-02-13). "Silicon Valley's next act: bringing 'vibe coding' to the world". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 2025-02-26. Retrieved 2025-03-03. https://www.businessinsider.com/vibe-coding-ai-silicon-valley-andrej-karpathy-2025-2 ↩

  9. Edwards, Benj (2025-03-05). "Will the future of software development run on vibes?". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2025-06-03. The technique, enabled by large language models (LLMs) from companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, has attracted attention for potentially lowering the barrier to entry for software creation. But questions remain about whether the approach can reliably produce code suitable for real-world applications, even as tools like Cursor Composer, GitHub Copilot, and Replit Agent make the process increasingly accessible to non-programmers. https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/03/is-vibe-coding-with-ai-gnarly-or-reckless-maybe-some-of-both/ ↩

  10. "vibe coding". Slang & Trending. Merriam-Webster. March 8, 2025. Retrieved 2025-06-02. Vibe coding (also written as vibecoding) (Vibecode/Vibecoder) is a recently-coined term for the practice of writing code, making web pages, or creating apps, by just telling an AI program what you want, and letting it create the product for you. In vibe coding the coder does not need to understand how or why the code works, and often will have to accept that a certain number of bugs and glitches will be present. The verb form of the word is vibe code. https://www.merriam-webster.com/slang/vibe-coding ↩

  11. Edwards, Benj (2025-03-05). "Will the future of software development run on vibes?". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2025-06-03. The technique, enabled by large language models (LLMs) from companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, has attracted attention for potentially lowering the barrier to entry for software creation. But questions remain about whether the approach can reliably produce code suitable for real-world applications, even as tools like Cursor Composer, GitHub Copilot, and Replit Agent make the process increasingly accessible to non-programmers. https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/03/is-vibe-coding-with-ai-gnarly-or-reckless-maybe-some-of-both/ ↩

  12. "What is 'vibe code'? Former Tesla AI director Andrej Karpathy defines a new era in AI-driven development". The Times of India. 2025-03-02. Retrieved 2025-06-03. Karpathy's "vibe coding" is a recognition of how sophisticated AI systems have evolved. In describing on X (formerly Twitter), he added that LLMs, like the Cursor Composer with Sonnet, are advancing to a degree that nearly eliminates the use of traditional coding mechanisms. Describing his own experience, Karpathy explained how he converses with AI tools almost in a passive manner—merely talking to them and having the AI handle the rest. This method eliminates manually typing code as well as keeping track of all the minute information in the program. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/what-is-vibe-coding-former-tesla-ai-director-andrej-karpathy-defines-a-new-era-in-ai-driven-development/articleshow/118659724.cms ↩

  13. Chowdhury, Hasan; Mann, Jyoti (2025-02-13). "Silicon Valley's next act: bringing 'vibe coding' to the world". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 2025-02-26. Retrieved 2025-03-03. https://www.businessinsider.com/vibe-coding-ai-silicon-valley-andrej-karpathy-2025-2 ↩

  14. Chowdhury, Hasan; Mann, Jyoti (2025-02-13). "Silicon Valley's next act: bringing 'vibe coding' to the world". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 2025-02-26. Retrieved 2025-03-03. https://www.businessinsider.com/vibe-coding-ai-silicon-valley-andrej-karpathy-2025-2 ↩

  15. "What is 'vibe code'? Former Tesla AI director Andrej Karpathy defines a new era in AI-driven development". The Times of India. 2025-03-02. Retrieved 2025-06-03. Karpathy's "vibe coding" is a recognition of how sophisticated AI systems have evolved. In describing on X (formerly Twitter), he added that LLMs, like the Cursor Composer with Sonnet, are advancing to a degree that nearly eliminates the use of traditional coding mechanisms. Describing his own experience, Karpathy explained how he converses with AI tools almost in a passive manner—merely talking to them and having the AI handle the rest. This method eliminates manually typing code as well as keeping track of all the minute information in the program. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/what-is-vibe-coding-former-tesla-ai-director-andrej-karpathy-defines-a-new-era-in-ai-driven-development/articleshow/118659724.cms ↩

  16. Naughton, John (2025-03-16). "Now you don't even need code to be a programmer. But you do still need expertise". The Observer. Retrieved 2025-03-16. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/mar/16/ai-software-coding-programmer-expertise-jobs-threat ↩

  17. Edwards, Benj (2025-03-05). "Will the future of software development run on vibes?". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2025-06-03. The technique, enabled by large language models (LLMs) from companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, has attracted attention for potentially lowering the barrier to entry for software creation. But questions remain about whether the approach can reliably produce code suitable for real-world applications, even as tools like Cursor Composer, GitHub Copilot, and Replit Agent make the process increasingly accessible to non-programmers. https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/03/is-vibe-coding-with-ai-gnarly-or-reckless-maybe-some-of-both/ ↩

  18. Edwards, Benj (2025-03-05). "Will the future of software development run on vibes?". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2025-06-03. The technique, enabled by large language models (LLMs) from companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, has attracted attention for potentially lowering the barrier to entry for software creation. But questions remain about whether the approach can reliably produce code suitable for real-world applications, even as tools like Cursor Composer, GitHub Copilot, and Replit Agent make the process increasingly accessible to non-programmers. https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/03/is-vibe-coding-with-ai-gnarly-or-reckless-maybe-some-of-both/ ↩

  19. Roose, Kevin (February 27, 2025), "Not a Coder? With A.I., Just Having an Idea Can Be Enough.", The New York Times, ISSN 0362-4331, retrieved June 3, 2025, Vibecoding, a term that was popularized by the A.I. researcher Andrej Karpathy, is useful shorthand for the way that today's A.I. tools allow even nontechnical hobbyists to build fully functioning apps and websites, just by typing prompts into a text box. You don't have to know how to code to vibecode — just having an idea, and a little patience, is usually enough. "It's not really coding," Mr. Karpathy wrote this month. "I just see stuff, say stuff, run stuff, and copy paste stuff, and it mostly works." https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/technology/personaltech/vibecoding-ai-software-programming.html ↩

  20. Naughton, John (2025-03-16). "Now you don't even need code to be a programmer. But you do still need expertise". The Observer. Retrieved 2025-03-16. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/mar/16/ai-software-coding-programmer-expertise-jobs-threat ↩

  21. Naughton, John (2025-03-16). "Now you don't even need code to be a programmer. But you do still need expertise". The Observer. Retrieved 2025-03-16. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/mar/16/ai-software-coding-programmer-expertise-jobs-threat ↩

  22. Roose, Kevin (February 27, 2025), "Not a Coder? With A.I., Just Having an Idea Can Be Enough.", The New York Times, ISSN 0362-4331, retrieved June 3, 2025, Vibecoding, a term that was popularized by the A.I. researcher Andrej Karpathy, is useful shorthand for the way that today's A.I. tools allow even nontechnical hobbyists to build fully functioning apps and websites, just by typing prompts into a text box. You don't have to know how to code to vibecode — just having an idea, and a little patience, is usually enough. "It's not really coding," Mr. Karpathy wrote this month. "I just see stuff, say stuff, run stuff, and copy paste stuff, and it mostly works." https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/technology/personaltech/vibecoding-ai-software-programming.html ↩

  23. Mehta, Ivan (2025-03-06). "A quarter of startups in YC's current cohort have codebases that are almost entirely AI-generated". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on March 6, 2025. Retrieved 2025-03-06. https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/06/a-quarter-of-startups-in-ycs-current-cohort-have-codebases-that-are-almost-entirely-ai-generated/ ↩

  24. Smith, Matthew S. (8 April 2025). "Engineers Are Using AI to Code Based on Vibes". IEEE Spectrum. Retrieved 2025-04-12. https://spectrum.ieee.org/vibe-coding ↩

  25. "AI valuations are verging on the unhinged". The Economist. 25 June 2025. Retrieved 2025-06-28. https://www.economist.com/business/2025/06/25/ai-valuations-are-verging-on-the-unhinged ↩

  26. Edwards, Benj (2025-03-05). "Will the future of software development run on vibes?". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2025-06-03. The technique, enabled by large language models (LLMs) from companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, has attracted attention for potentially lowering the barrier to entry for software creation. But questions remain about whether the approach can reliably produce code suitable for real-world applications, even as tools like Cursor Composer, GitHub Copilot, and Replit Agent make the process increasingly accessible to non-programmers. https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/03/is-vibe-coding-with-ai-gnarly-or-reckless-maybe-some-of-both/ ↩

  27. "What is Vibe Coding? | IBM". www.ibm.com. 2025-04-08. Retrieved 2025-06-14. https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/vibe-coding ↩

  28. "What is Vibe Coding? | IBM". www.ibm.com. 2025-04-08. Retrieved 2025-06-14. https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/vibe-coding ↩

  29. Clark, Mitchell (2025-05-13). "'Vibe coding' is turning AI prompts into a new form of creativity". NBC News. Retrieved 2025-06-19. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/noncoders-ai-prompt-ideas-vibe-coding-rcna205661 ↩