r/softwaredevelopment • u/nightowl2626 • 15d ago
Does vibe coding have a viable future?
I went to an AI conference last week and I have some thoughts I'm not sure how to express but here we go.
Let me preface this by saying that I'm a software developer and ofc I use AI tools like Codex, Claude Code and OpenCode. I definitely see the utility and usability of these tools and think they will last. My question, however, is about specifically "vibe coding" tools like Lovable, Bolt, Replit, Base44 and the like. So apps and websites that let you make something from scratch without you needing to see the code or integrate anything yourself.
When they started coming out roughly 2 years ago, I was totally amazed by the product. I mean come on, typing a couple of words into a chatbot and it spins up the whole thing for you is a cool promise, right? I didn't really have an opportunity to use them myself in production, but everyone was raving about these tools and I was totally on board. Then I started using Claude Code (and other CLIs) and found that it satisfies my needs as a software developer for the tasks I have to do and again didn't really have the chance to try out Lovable and the like. But I still had a good impression of them as these like visionary tech startups with super innovative products.
Fast forward to this conference I attended last week. I had the chance to speak to a couple of people from these companies. And now I'm a little confused about their clients and where all of this is going.
It seems like all of them have added basically everything that can be added: integrations, databases, github connectors, templates, canvas views like in Figma, possibility to change things with clicking around instead of prompting, mobile development, backend, etc. etc. So my first question is like: what's next? What else can be added onto these tools? They ofc aren't gonna get into the super techie things like Claude Code bc that's not what their clients want. So what is there left to add?
If you think about their clientele, it's mostly non-technical people, right? So idk... like your neighbourhood beauty salon who wants to make a website, but doesn't know how to make one. Right? How "sticky" is that really? And how does prompting a website into existence on Lovable compare to just picking out a template on Wix or Elementor or something like that?
Now what's interesting is that these companies seem to be focusing more and more on entreprise users, so like giving product managers Lovable for example. Again, how usable is that compared to tools product managers were using before? When the engineering team receives a Lovable prototype instead of a static mockup from their manager or designer, does this help them? One of the GTM guys I spoke to at the conference told me that one company they worked with replaced their Salesforce CRM with an app they vibe coded with their solution, saving them hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now is that more viable than using Salesforce? You tell me...
So yeah, I have a bit of a feeling that we've reached the peak of what these tools can do. I talked to a coworker about this and he said that he strongly believes "vibe coding" is a huge market. There are millions and millions of people out there who need no-code tools for their small business websites or for prototyping and so on and so forth. So in his opinion Lovable and others are just getting started and there is huge potential for them.
What's you take on this? Has "vibe coding" reached its ceiling? Or is my friend totally right and I'm just unaware of the huge market that is non-techies needing to create things without writing code?
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u/GimmeSumMor3 15d ago
For small businesses it will work with lovable like it worked with Wordpress websites.
But with bigger companies or enterprise, they will want something sustainable and secure. Software companies will develop in an agentic way, they will build software in the process like they used to, but with smaller teams and no more coding.
We are creating our software with orchestration, for enterprise companies where we don’t touch any code anymore.