AI Vocabulary · 04 Building with AI
What is Vibe Coding?
Building software by describing what you want to an AI and accepting its code without really reading it.
Vibe coding means describing an app in plain language, letting a coding agent or AI tool write the code, and judging only whether the result seems to work. You don't review the code itself. The term became popular in 2025, as tools made it possible for non-programmers to build working software in an afternoon.
It is excellent for prototypes, internal tools and experiments. It becomes risky when the result handles real customer data, payments or security, because nobody has checked what the code actually does. Once something matters, it needs proper review, testing and a human in the loop.
Why it matters for you
Vibe coding lets you test an idea before you spend money on developers. It also lets you speak more precisely with your tech team, because you have built something yourself.
Own it
Keep what you build in your own repository rather than only inside a tool's account. And know where the line is: a prototype is yours to vibe; a product people rely on needs someone who understands the code.
Where it comes from
Andrej Karpathy, a co-founder of OpenAI, coined the term in a post on X on 2 February 2025, describing coding where you "fully give in to the vibes" and barely look at the code. The phrase spread so fast that Collins English Dictionary named "vibe coding" its Word of the Year for 2025 (Wikipedia).
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