In the last decade, coding has undergone multiple evolutions – from low-code to no-code platforms, and now, a new paradigm is emerging: Vibe Coding. Unlike traditional coding that demands syntax mastery, vibe coding focuses on intent-first interactions, where humans express their needs in natural language or even visual/gestural cues, and AI translates those “vibes” into functional code or workflows.
Vibe coding is the emerging practice of expressing your intent in natural language – then letting artificial intelligence (AI), typically a large language model (LLM), turn your request into real code. Instead of meticulously writing each line, users guide the AI through prompts and incremental feedback.
The phrase, popularized in 2025 by Andrej Karpathy, means you focus on the big-picture “vibes” of your project, while AI brings your app, script, or automation to life. Think of it as shifting from “telling the computer what to do line by line” to “expressing what you want to achieve, and letting AI figure out the how.”
What Exactly Is Vibe Coding?
Vibe coding is the practice of using natural, context-driven prompts to co-create software, analytics models, or workflows with AI. Instead of spending time memorizing frameworks, APIs, or libraries, you explain the outcome you want, and the system translates it into executable code.
It’s not just about speeding up development — it’s about democratizing problem-solving for everyone, not just developers.
Who Can Benefit from Vibe Coding?
1. Software Developers
- Use Case: A full-stack developer wants to prototype a new feature for a web app. Instead of manually configuring routes, data models, and UI components, they describe:
“Build me a login page with Google and Apple SSO, a dark theme toggle, and responsive design.” - Impact: Developers move from repetitive coding to higher-order design and architecture decisions.
- Tools: GitHub Copilot, Replit, Cursor IDE.
2. Data Scientists
- Use Case: A data scientist is exploring customer churn in retail. Instead of hand-coding all preprocessing, they vibe with the AI:
“Clean this dataset, remove outliers, and generate the top 5 predictors of churn with SHAP explanations.” - Impact: Faster experimentation and less time lost in boilerplate tasks like data cleaning.
- Tools: Jupyter Notebooks with AI assistants, Dataiku
3. Business Professionals (Non-Technical Users)
- Use Case: A marketing manager needs a personalized email campaign targeting lapsed customers. Instead of calling IT or external agencies, they simply ask:
“Create a 3-email reactivation journey for customers who haven’t purchased in 90 days, with subject lines optimized for open rates.” - Impact: Empowers business teams to execute data-driven campaigns without technical bottlenecks.
- Tools: Jasper, Canva, HubSpot with AI assistants, ChatGPT plugins.
Case-study: Vanguard & the Webpage-Prototype Case in Vibe Coding
“Even financial giants like Vanguard are using vibe coding to prototype webpages — cutting design/prototyping time from ~two weeks to ~20 minutes.”
Vanguard’s Divisional Chief Information Officer for Financial Adviser Services (Wilkinson) described how Vanguard’s team (product + design + engineering) is using vibe coding to build new webpages more quickly. Andrew Maddox
They reported that a new webpage which used to take ~2 weeks to design/prototype now takes 20 minutes via this vibe-coding process. That’s about a 40% speedup (or more, depending on what part of the process you’re comparing) in prototyping/design handoff etc.
The caveat: engineers are still very involved — particularly in defining boundaries, quality / security guard rails, ensuring what the AI or product/design people produce makes sense and is safe / maintainable.
Why Vibe Coding Matters
- Bridges the gap between technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Accelerates innovation by reducing time spent on repetitive, low-value tasks.
- Fosters creativity, allowing people to focus on “what” they want instead of “how” to build it.
- Democratizes AI/ML adoption, giving even small businesses the ability to leverage advanced tools.
Popular Vibe Coding Tools
- Lovable: Full-stack web apps; “dream out loud, deploy in minutes”.
- Bolt: Integrates with Figma, GitHub, Stripe; great for visual + technical users.
- Cursor: Chat-based AI coding, integrates with local IDE and version control.
- Replit: Cloud IDE, easy deployment, collaborative.
- Zapier Agents: No-code workflows automated by AI
The Road Ahead
Vibe coding is not about replacing developers, analysts, or business strategists — it’s about elevating them. The people who thrive in this new era won’t just be coders; they’ll be designers of intent, skilled in articulating problems and curating AI-driven solutions.
In the future, asking “what’s the vibe?” may not just be slang — it might be the most powerful way to code.
