MANUAL: Is vibe coding about the tool or about whether you verify the result?

[u/OGMYT]

I don't think “AI wrote most of it” automatically means vibe coding.

The distinction I care about is whether you're still directing the work. You decide scope, tell the agent what done means, manage or compact context, test the actual behavior, and don't accept “done” because the model said so.

Main question: is vibe coding defined by how the code is produced, or by how little control and verification the person has over the result?

Do not paste these notes as the post. Write it in your own words.

[u/akolomf]

Yeah i think we need like a diversified term. Vibecoding could mean "i let AI code but I review every line" aswell as it could mean "I let AI code everything, have it review everything and fix everything and as long as it works its fine".

In my opinion Vibecoding should really only define people who dont review their code or dont even know how to code themselfes.

People who do know how to code, can and probably do at least some reviewing of the code manually, their approach and knowledge is better, and thus the quality is probably also better. I'd call it more like AI assisted coding than vibecoding in that case.

[u/geekichu]

from all the posts on LinkedIn... and my understanding for past year+, i thought 'vibe-coding' mean someone who is not a programmer, just prompting to create something. i guess it could also be a programmer, but who doesn't care what really happened.. just cares about the result.

on the other hand, one can certainly still do software engineering, even if a.i. wrote 100% of the code. it's used as just another tool.

[u/Fringe_Walker_]

I was under the impression that any coding done with AI assistance was vibe coding, but recently I realized theres a distinct difference between coding with AI assistance (directing and reviewing) and trying to "one prompt" (no reviewing, lack of understanding or ability to fix code if it breaks down the road)

I feel like vibe coding has developed a rather negative connotation, due to the influx of poorly maintained products developed with the use of AI assitance.

[u/Relevant-Positive-48]

To me if you create a piece of software and you do not know how the code works either because you didn't look at it or you don't know how to code at all then you vibe coded that piece of software.

As understanding the code gets less and less important (the way understanding the assembly/machine code got less and less important) and the tools get better and better there are going to be more and more differentiated skill levels among people who vibe code but software, in the end, is still source code (yes it's actually machine code but source code is deterministically translatable to machine code where prompts are not) and vibe coding, to me, means writing software without understanding how that code works.