Vibe coding: what it is, where it breaks, and how to do it responsibly

What is vibe coding?

Vibe coding is a way of building software in which you describe the result you want to an AI agent, run what it builds, and keep steering with more prompts instead of writing or reading the code yourself. The term was popularized in early 2025 by AI researcher Andrej Karpathy, and it stuck because it named something many people were already doing.

The appeal is obvious: you go from idea to working screen in minutes. AI coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex or Gemini CLI can create files, install packages, run the app and fix their own errors. For a lot of people, it is the first time they have been able to build software at all.

Who uses vibe coding?

Vibe coding is used by anyone who wants software faster than they can write it: developers prototyping, and a growing group of builders who do not code for a living.

• Developers testing an idea, building a throwaway script or scaffolding a new project.
• Founders building a first version to show customers or investors.
• Designers turning a mockup into a working front end.
• Product managers and marketers building internal tools, landing pages and dashboards.
• Students and hobbyists learning by building.

The second group gains the most, and also takes on the most risk, because they cannot always tell good code from bad code by reading it.

How does vibe coding work?

Vibe coding works as a loop of prompt, run, look, and prompt again. You judge the result by how the app behaves, not by the code.

1. 1

   Describe

   Tell the agent what you want: “a page that lists my orders with a search box.”

2. 2

   Let it build

   The agent creates and edits files, installs what it needs and runs the app.

3. 3

   Look at the result

   Open the app. Does it do what you asked?

4. 4

   Steer

   Describe what is wrong or what to add next. The agent changes the code again.

5. 5

   Repeat

   Keep going until it looks right. Traditionally, this is where vibe coding ends: nobody reads the diff.

Where does vibe coding break down?

Vibe coding breaks down when the project has to keep working after today. The same things that make it fast — one agent, one long conversation, no review — are what make it fragile.

• Unreviewed changes — the agent edits files you never look at. Bugs, leaked secrets and security holes ship because the screen looked fine.
• One agent, one thread — everything happens in a single sequential session. While the agent works, you wait; when it goes down a wrong path, you have no alternative to compare.
• One checkout — every experiment lands in the same folder. There is no clean way to try two ideas or to throw one away.
• Silent regressions — fixing today's bug breaks last week's feature, and without tests nobody notices.
• Context loss — long conversations exceed what the agent can keep in its context window. It forgets earlier decisions and contradicts itself.
• Compounding mess — each prompt adds code on top of code nobody understood. Eventually even the agent cannot make a change without breaking something.

What is the difference between vibe coding and responsible AI-assisted coding?

The difference is not how much the AI writes — it can write all of it — but whether there is a review gate between the agent's changes and your main branch.

Can I keep the speed of vibe coding and still review?

Yes. Review does not have to mean reading every line yourself. It means that every change passes through a checkpoint: a diff you can see, a second agent that criticizes it, and a decision to accept or discard.

Vibe code with a safety net. Tallos gives every task its own workspace and puts review before merge.

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How do you vibe code responsibly?

You vibe code responsibly by adding three things to the loop: isolation, review gates and a second agent. None of them slows you down much, and each one removes a failure mode above.

1. 1

   One task, one workspace

   Start every idea in its own isolated workspace, such as a git worktree with its own branch. If it goes wrong, you throw the workspace away and your main project is untouched.

2. 2

   Keep tasks small

   “Add a search box to the orders page” beats “build my app.” Small tasks produce diffs you can check and keep the agent inside its context window.

3. 3

   Ask for tests

   Tell the agent to add or run tests for what it changed. Tests are how the agent checks itself, and how you check it without reading every line.

4. 4

   Look at the diff

   Even if you do not read code fluently, the diff tells you which files changed and how much. A “small fix” that touches 40 files is a warning.

5. 5

   Add a reviewer agent

   Let a second agent review the first one's work and list what must change. Loop until it approves, then look yourself.

6. 6

   Try two approaches

   When the first attempt is wrong, do not argue with it for an hour. Start a second agent on the same task in another workspace and keep the better result — see running agents in parallel.

7. 7

   Accept on purpose

   Merge only what you decided to keep. Everything else stays on its branch or gets deleted.

For a practical checklist of what to look for in an AI diff, read how to review AI-generated code.

How does Tallos make vibe coding safer?

Tallos is an ADE that keeps the fast, conversational loop of vibe coding and adds the gates around it. Each vibe coding failure maps to a specific feature.

The build + review squad is the closest thing to a safety net for vibe coders: you describe the objective, one agent builds it, a second agent reviews it, and they loop until the reviewer approves. You see the result only after that, with a report of what changed.

What should non-developers know before vibe coding?

Non-developers can vibe code real projects if they treat the agent like a contractor whose work gets inspected. A few habits go a long way.

• Never paste passwords or API keys into a prompt. Ask the agent to read them from environment variables.
• Ask the agent to explain its changes in plain language before you accept them.
• Use a reviewer agent — a second opinion costs minutes and catches the obvious mistakes.
• Keep the project in git so every change can be undone.
• Be careful with autonomous permissions. An agent that runs commands without asking can change anything its process can reach, not only your project.
• When something is used by other people or handles money or personal data, get a human developer to review it.

Tallos runs on macOS and Windows and works with the agent subscriptions you already have. See diff review for how review works inside the app.