Breaking up with vibe coding

Summary

We’ve all been there: headphones on, music pumping, fingers flying across the keyboard, lost in the “flow” with your favorite AI agent. This, my friends, is vibe coding. It’s when you’re in the zone, seemingly effortlessly producing code.It’s the idea that you can create great software simply by immersing yourself in the feeling of coding, trusting your intuition and riding the wave of inspiration. But lately, I’ve realized that for me, at least, the vibe is…off. It’s like I’m watching an AI agent code for me, occasionally chiming in with a suggestion or a correction, but often just observing the code unfold without fully grasping the intricacies of what’s happening can lead to wasting my time later.What is Vibe Coding Anyway?Vibe coding is less a methodology and more a state of mind. It’s about prioritizing the use of an AI agent over really thinking through the code implementation with structured planning and rigorous testing. It’s about chasing that dopamine hit of making progress, often without a clear roadmap. It’s seductive because it feels productive.Why the Vibe is Failing MeFor the last two months, I’ve been relying heavily on vibe coding, and the results haven’t been pretty. Here’s why:First, I was initially drawn to AI agents like Cline, Roo Code, and then tried the Cursor editor because they promised to enhance my coding flow. I loved the idea of having an AI partner that could anticipate my needs and help me write code faster. However, I quickly realized that this approach was leading me astray.What I realized is that using the AI agent is fine for creating a mockup of what you want, but after that, the context windows and everything leads to more and more rework over time. This happens because in your frustration, the first thing that comes to mind is just explain to the model again, without even knowing what has been implemented in the first place. This is understandable since in a matter of minute, the agent could have written a thousand lines of cod...