AI has arrived and changed industries worldwide. Many professions once thought future-proof or impenetrable have been made easier by artificial intelligence.
One key area experiencing major shifts due to AI is software development. AI has brought about the rise of “vibe coding”, an approach to software development that uses AI to generate code from natural-language instructions, rather than having all the know-how to build software from the ground up.
If you’re asking yourself, “What is vibe coding?” you might not be alone. It is everywhere now, fully embedded in the tech industry, and was, in fact, the Collins Dictionary word of the year in 2025.
To get you up to speed, we’re going to take a closer look at vibe coding, how it works, its benefits and its limitations.
What Is Vibe Coding?
Vibe coding is the process of using AI to help generate code, rather than the user writing the lines of code themselves. The term was coined by AI researcher Andrej Karpathy in 2025 and has since become the go-to and accepted term for this process in software development.
Rather than knowing and inputting the underlying code, users instead focus on what they want, whether it be a mobile app or website, and describe it in natural language to an AI agent that then creates it.
This is the crux of vibe coding: understanding. Not all AI-assisted development qualifies as vibe coding. In fact, around 84% of developers use or plan to use AI coding tools, and many users use the technology to help with testing, refinement and brainstorming whilst going over everything.
Vibe coding suggests a more wholesale creation of an entire application or website.
How Does Vibe Coding Work?
The process of vibe coding can be simple.
- You describe an idea to your chosen AI platform.
- The AI agent generates the code for you based on your prompt.
- You test the result to see if it works how you want.
- You further refine the result with repeated prompts to the AI agent to get exactly what you want.
Vibe coding means that you do not have to manually go through every line of code. Instead, you can provide feedback about features, appearance or errors and have the AI fix them.
When people think of an AI assistant, they tend to think of huge tasks being completed from a single prompt in seconds. The process of vibe coding effectively is iterative, going through it time and time again to refine and improve the result.
Vibe Coding vs Traditional Software Development
The major consideration when looking at the two methods is how the user fits into the equation.
- Code writing – Vibe coding only requires prompts in natural language, whilst traditional software development demands you write code line by line.
- Learning Curve – With traditional software development, you need to know what you’re doing. Knowledge of programming languages, architecture and how to deploy code is a must. Vibe coding is much more accessible.
- Speed – When doing everything manually, you need to take time to plan, write and review code. AI can generate and refine code quickly based on your requirements.
- Control – Traditional development gives you greater visibility and control over the underlying system, whereas with vibe coding you don’t know what is under the surface and may not have the knowledge to fix problems your requests create. You’re handing over a lot of trust to an AI and don’t have the capacity or permission to dig into the underlying code.
What Can Vibe Coding Be Used For?
Vibe coding is becoming more widespread because of its many uses. Businesses can use vibe coding to:
- Prototyping – Quickly turn ideas into working demonstrations you can test.
- Create websites – Create landing pages and full websites, even on preferred platforms such as WordPress.
- Internal tools – Build tools to help improve workflows.
- Small Applications – Can create whole apps.
- Proof of concepts – Quickly experiment and test out ideas to see if they are technically possible.
Vibe coding is not a magic bullet for businesses. Its suitability for a task will depend on complexity, sensitivity and the intended lifespan of what you want to use it for. The simpler the intended project, the more useful it will likely be.
What Are the Benefits of Vibe Coding?
There are many advantages to vibe coding.
- Allows for faster experimentation, helping you innovate quickly and test ideas.
- More accessible for non-coders, so you can create simple software even if you don’t have all the know-how.
- Can quickly build functioning prototypes from your ideas in no time at all.
- AI can automate repetitive coding tasks, fix errors and handle simple changes with your prompting.
Though vibe coding is easy to try out, speed and reliability aren’t guaranteed. Any AI-generated work should be checked and tested to ensure that the product created doesn’t have errors.
What Are the Risks and Limitations?
Like with anything, vibe coding does come with limitations.
- Security Vulnerabilities – Research found that around 45% of AI-generated code had security flaws. There can be no security checks, leaving critical data (passwords, customer information) in the open and leading to hallucinations.
- Inaccurate or inefficient code – Creating solutions based on prompts rather than using a proper architecture can lead to poorly organised code that lacks documentation, so it is hard for anyone to go in and understand what is going on.
- Limited scalability – Vibe coding can work for smaller ideas or prototypes, but something larger needs deeper architectural planning, security audits, and testing to handle more traffic.
- Maintaining without understanding – You may know what your code should do but not how it does it. If you don’t know coding, it’s unlikely you can solve problems when they arise.
Beyond these risks, there is also the question of privacy and intellectual property. You have no idea how the information you are putting into these AI platforms is being stored or how they will use it. This could leave you at risk of being the source of data leaks and data-protection noncompliance.
Even if you quickly create a functional prototype via vibe coding, that does not mean it is secure, accessible or ready to be used.
Can Vibe Coding Replace Professional Developers?
Though it may sound like the robots are taking over, no, whilst vibe coding can help with website and app development, it does not wholly remove the need for technical expertise on complex and business-critical projects.
There are many things such as architecture, testing, security, accessibility, performance and ongoing maintenance that professional developers know the ins and outs of. These are things that non-coders may take for granted or may not consider and should not be bypassed.
Whilst you can use AI-assisted coding to help with streamlining processes on the front end, experienced developers are important to help assess and improve the output before it is deployed.
When Should a Business Use a Professional Web Development Team?
Even if vibe coding has made software development more accessible to the layman, there are times when a professional is needed.
AI models are created by companies and platforms which you do not control and may not understand every aspect of. If you are looking at dealing with customer data and payments, having a trusted source handle these situations is much more appropriate.
If you are a business looking for bespoke integrations, operating in e-commerce, dealing with high traffic or targeting long-term business growth, a professional web development team can help meet these needs with personalised solutions. They are experts, capable of turning these requirements into a secure and maintainable website or application, and able to adjust as your demands change.
At Maxweb Solutions, we have been providing web development services for over 15 years, and we can help you with a range of bespoke digital solutions, including:
The Future of Vibe Coding
Vibe coding is not an outlier. It’s just one part of how most industries are moving towards AI-assisted workflows, using the technology to speed up and simplify tasks that were once time-consuming and needed high expertise.
AI agents will become better at doing vibe coding, helping developers get what they want quicker and to a better standard.
That doesn’t mean humans aren’t needed, or that software developers will become obsolete.
Without informed human insight, AI-assisted creation may be just as time-consuming as problems arise and the people using them don’t know the fundamentals to solve them. Apps and websites could become generic-looking without professional eyes, and security concerns could linger.
The best approach instead is a mix of the two, combining faster AI-assisted creation with informed human oversight to create the software you want in the most efficient way.
Get Professional Help Today to Bring Your Digital Ideas to Life
Vibe coding has opened up the software development world, but you still need expertise to effectively use it.
If you are a growing business with an idea for a website, e-commerce platform or bespoke digital solution, Maxweb Solutions can help turn your vision into reality. For professional design and development support, contact us now on our website or call the team at 0151 652 4777.
Posted on Friday, September 18th, 2026 in Web Development.
