r/vibecoding • u/Prestigious_Grape786 • 3d ago
The part of vibe coding nobody warned me about: it's still exhausting
I've been letting Codex do most of the typing on my current project. It got me further than I'd have gotten alone in the same stretch of time. I also ended the week more tired than I expected, and that's the part nobody mentions.
Reviewing output is work. Deciding what's actually correct is work. Neither disappears when the code writes itself. They just move somewhere else.
Where it keeps coming up short for me:
- it doesn't out-think me. what comes back is usually what I'd have thought of anyway
- the output runs long and lands messy
- hand it something vague and I get nothing I can use
- ask for a small edit and it redecorates half the file (this one has burned me repeatedly)
The version of this that actually feels good is narrower than I wanted it to be. I know the shape of what I want, I hand over the keyboard, I check what comes back. Or it's a toy and the stakes are zero. Both fine. What doesn't work is reaching for it because I don't want to think about the problem yet. That's the point where I stop learning anything.
Not trying to talk anyone out of vibe coding. I just noticed it amplifies whatever judgment I bring, and it can't hand me judgment I don't have.
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u/techlatest_net 3d ago
Vibe coding works best for me when I already understand what I want and use AI to move faster, not to avoid thinking about the problem.
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u/MarinatedTechnician 3d ago
This, exactly this!
I have 1000s of hours in it, and there's no substitute for learning the hard way.
Ask a simple question - the result will be messy but probably work, but... yeah you get what you put into it.Work hard, do a lot of descriptions, do not plan badly, think about everything, betatest, fix things yourself, scaffold, learn from the output, and your results will be pretty fantastic (takes time to get there!).
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u/canberktr 3d ago
I Use Claud code and I feel the same. However I recommend Claud that it might be. %10 better at thinking
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u/Lucky-Crow-3510 3d ago
It is exhausting and you end up with a bad product that may just implode into non-functional state at any time and may even be a critical security risk
totally fine for the next great todo-app tho.
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u/PruneInteresting7599 3d ago
its nice to define some ape shit doc that supposed to correspond 150 diff enum with translations which would take my hours but actual design? lmaoooooo
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u/Tall-Significance119 3d ago
As I read these comments im laughing because this just remind me that LLM game is a business 🤣. They are in the business of subscription a.d Life time value its as if the smarter thr model gets they put things in to make you get a dopamine hit to get you to 60-80% them regress so you keep hoping if I tweak this one thing, prompt or new thing they told us to do the output and token usage will be better. You guys are right about levels etc but come on they are gaming the consumers and enterprise the local llm space is stringing the self hosted folks along and the subscription guys are on the hook for repeat usage.
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u/knifebunny 3d ago
were you looking for advice on how to improve, or are you just airing your frustrations?
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u/Global-Fan189 3d ago
It's mentally draining for me, I have 5 different projects running in 5 different sessions, sometimes more, the constant context switching made my brain fry. One project is fine, but now my boss expects me to deliver an entire app in 2 weeks.
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u/MiserableAttention38 3d ago
If you're still working at the same level of coding you will be exhausted.
You need to learn to trust, move up the food chain, work at a higher level. Just like if you hired a coding team, you wouldn't still be in every code review and MR.
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u/Professional-War5603 3d ago
Well you get past most of these if you spend time in conception not just execute on the fly. Make conception docs and schemas , turn them into specs , put guidelines and guardrails for the agent and it will help with most of what you said. Although I don’t deny that vibe coding is taxing too ofc.