What is vibe coding?
Vibe coding is building software by talking to AI in natural language and letting it write the code: you explain clearly what you want, the AI writes, tests and fixes. Former Tesla AI director Andrej Karpathy coined the term in February 2025, meaning roughly "go with the vibe and forget the code itself". A year on it has gone from a joke to a serious way of working: engineers use it to skip repetitive work, and people with no engineering background use it to ship live products. Everything on this page is what I actually use, not theory.
The 7 core techniques
Source: Anthropic's official docs, code.claude.com/docs/en/best-practices
1Let the AI check its own work
Tell it to test what it built and fix it if it does not work
“Build me a login feature, test it yourself when you are done, and fix it if the login does not work”
2Ask before building
Tell it to list a plan and wait for your go-ahead. Far less goes sideways.
“Look at the current code first, list a plan, and wait for me to confirm before you touch anything”
3Be specific, do not say “make it nicer”
The more specific you are, the closer the result is to what you want
“Make the heading 24px, round the button corners, switch the background to a dark color”
4Show it a reference
The AI copies more reliably than it invents
“Look at how page A is built, then build page B the same way”
5Stop it the moment it goes wrong
The more mistakes pile up, the more confused it gets. Starting over beats patching.
6One thing at a time
Do not drop ten requirements at once, it will mix them up
7You decide what the product looks like
AI can write code, but it will not decide what your product should be. The clearer your thinking, the faster it builds.
First time vibe coding, where do you start?
1Pick one free tool
Use claude.ai or chatgpt.com in the browser, install nothing for now. An unfamiliar tool makes you blame the method for your frustration.
2Start with a one-page site
Build one and you understand the whole flow
“Make me an introduction page with a photo, three paragraphs of text and one button”
3When something errors, paste the error message back word for word
You do not have to understand it, the AI does, and it will fix it
The 3 places people get stuck
Every fix makes it worse
Five rounds in and it is still broken. Starting over is faster than continuing to patch (technique 5)
Too many requests at once
Ten requirements in one sentence and the AI skips or botches some. Split them up and go one by one (technique 6)
Too vague
Say “make it look nicer” and it can only guess. Giving it a website you like as a reference is the fastest fix (technique 4)
Vibe coding tool comparison
The 7 techniques above work in any tool, they are not tied to a product. New tools keep coming out, but the principles of how you talk to an AI stay the same. Here are the current mainstream options for reference:
Open the tool comparison (tools change fast, check each official site)
Claude Code
Anthropic
Terminal, desktop app, web and VS Code extension · reads files, edits them and runs commands on its own
Paid only
Cursor
Cursor Inc.
An editor built on VS Code · lets you pick different AI models
Free tier has usage limits
GitHub Copilot
Microsoft
Runs inside VS Code and other editors · has a free plan
Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)
Cognition (renamed from Windsurf in June 2026)
An editor plus a view for managing several AI agents
Brand merge finished in June 2026, features carried over from the Windsurf days
Codex
OpenAI
Terminal version (Codex CLI), also built into the ChatGPT desktop app · reads files, edits them and runs commands on its own
Sign in with your ChatGPT account
ChatGPT
OpenAI
Most users · the free tier can build a simple web page
Free learning resources
Official docs
Free tools you can use right now
A small tip: start with one tool
Add a second once you know the first, you do not need to install them all
Common questions
Do you need to know how to code for vibe coding?
No. Building a website used to mean writing it yourself or hiring an engineer. Now you say what you want and the AI builds it. What you do need is to say clearly what you want.
Claude Code, Cursor, ChatGPT, which one fits best?
Claude Code and Codex read files, edit them and run commands on their own, which suits whole projects. Cursor is an editor built on VS Code. ChatGPT has the most users, and the free tier can build a simple web page. GitHub Copilot has a free plan. Pick one and get comfortable with it first.
Which technique matters most?
Ask before building (technique 2). Have the AI list a plan and wait for your go-ahead, and you avoid most of the cases where the result comes back completely off.
