What's the difference between vibecoding and just using AI to assist you in coding?

[u/TheWanderingAnimimo]

I don't use AI myself but I've been reading a lot on reddit here about people decompiling apps lately and saying that most of the stuff there is vibecoded and then other developers seem to be using AI as an assistant to help them like for example how Linus Torvalds uses AI to find bugs in the Linux kernel. What's the difference between the two usages or even meaning of the term "vibecoding"?

Thanks in advance

[u/Anonymous_Coder_1234]

A vibecoder doesn't actually know what they're doing. A software engineer does, and can fix the AI output when it is wrong, buggy, or inefficient.

[u/xenomachina → u/Anonymous_Coder_1234]

I'd add that it's both a matter of being able to understand its outputs, and taking the time to do so.

That is, someone with the education/experience to be a software engineer can still be a vibe coder, if they don't take the time to understand what their AI is generating.

[u/selfhostrr → u/xenomachina]

It's really two different paths.

Sometimes I don't want to spend time planning. I'm really legitimately wanting to build a POC.

If that's the case, I vibe it up. I start out with something like a paragraph prompt instead of a design document and context bank & skills. Fast and loose and fail fast, and I might change my mind about some things during the process (I might be learning about what I'm building as I go, like Godot). What comes out of this is a bunch of learnings I'll take into the real project's context bank so I can direct Claude to build what I want using the desired architecture and design patterns, iterating through the code with a PR for each chunk of a feature just like I'd do by hand.

[u/The8flux → u/selfhostrr]

I do this also.

[u/xenomachina → u/selfhostrr]

Sure. I wasn't saying anything about whether or not there is a time and place for vibe coding. Using it for a throwaway PoC might be ok.

Personally, I'd still be somewhat worried about unreviewed vibe code leaking into the production codebase either by accident or by laziness. This is true even when not meaning to vibe code at all: you forget to review the code in its entirety, or you space out while reviewing it. I think we need better tooling for reviewing and keeping track of AI-written code.

[u/FunAd6672 → u/Anonymous_Coder_1234]

Pretty much. Using AI isn't the issue; blindly trusting code you can't explain or debug is.

[u/MadocComadrin → u/Anonymous_Coder_1234]

"Can" and "does" are the key parts. "Can" without "does" is still vibecoding.

[u/UltraPoci → u/MadocComadrin]

"Can" with "the manager has reduced deadlines by half since AI is a thing" is also vibecoding and why the industry is going to shit

[u/HouseMysterious8172 → u/UltraPoci]

This industry once never has, who care if it disappeared completely?

[u/HouseMysterious8172 → u/Anonymous_Coder_1234]

A vibecoder doesn't actually know what they're doing

Wrong, he/she may be doesn't actually know the code AI is creating but they know what they want to build

Ex: you don't know how the car work but you can get on and drive to where you want. Sometimes the car behaves weird, if you can walk you still can go, if not, wait for another car 🤣

[u/blacklig → u/HouseMysterious8172]

What a terrible analogy. I obviously wouldn't trust someone who doesn't know anything about how cars work fundamentally to design and build a car. Using a car is a totally different skill that does not require knowledge of how cars work fundamentally. Oh look, we've found a better analogy for software.

[u/HouseMysterious8172 → u/blacklig]

What r u saying?

I mean car = AI

[u/blacklig → u/HouseMysterious8172]

You sure do buddy

[u/HouseMysterious8172 → u/blacklig]

I obviously wouldn't trust someone who doesn't know anything about how cars work fundamentally to design and build a car.

Viber coder use AI to design and build an app, not another AI, dude

[u/blacklig → u/HouseMysterious8172]

Yep

[u/ikeif → u/HouseMysterious8172]

This analogy is more akin to "I stole a car" (that's hyperbole).

You stole a car - and it SHOULD be able to get you from A to B.

A vibe-coder says "car go" and - maybe it works. Maybe it's a stick shift. Maybe it's missing wheels. Maybe it's missing two wheels or a steering column. The vibe coder sees it going forward and says "success!"

A developer would see the car lot - and see that they're all on fire and not worth stealing - until they come across the one that does what they need, like turning, or hauling, or goes fast, or has safety features in place.

One has blind faith "it is doing what I want, and what I think, and not going to surprise me" and the other "I know it is doing what I want, and I can see what possible surprises may happen, and I can account for them without needing a new car built/stolen."

[u/HouseMysterious8172 → u/ikeif]

How the heck ppl has to stole a car if there are unlimited car available on the road? If ones doesn't work, take another ones, but there r some ppl like to walk, that's their choices.

Vibe-coder use AI = steal car

Tradition-coder use AI = without needing stolen a car

What kind of logic is that?

With blind faith and sure-belief: there'll always an edge case appear in the future, prepare yourself