Just a couple of years ago, building even a simple app meant spending sleepless nights learning syntax, hunting down missing semicolons, and reading miles of documentation. Today, a new approach is taking the industry by storm — "vibe coding".
The term was popularized by Andrej Karpathy (former Director of AI at Tesla). The concept is simple: you no longer write code by hand. You communicate with an AI in natural language, share your "vibe" (the idea, logic, and mood of the product), and the AI writes the code for you. You transition from being a programmer to being a director.
In this article (the first of two parts), we will explore how vibe coding is changing the market, who can now build websites without developers, and what tools to use. In Part 2, we’ll provide a step-by-step guide on how to build your own free AI development studio using VSCode.
Who Benefits from Vibe Coding?
This approach is highly valuable for everyone involved in digital product creation:
- Designers and Creators: Previously, you’d design a beautiful mockup in Figma and wait for a developer to bring it to life. Now, you can just ask the AI: "Convert this mockup into code and add scroll animations like on the Apple website."
- Businesses and Startups: Perfect for testing hypotheses (MVPs). Need a quick pricing calculator for your landing page? AI can build it in 15 minutes. This saves weeks of time and thousands of dollars.
- Professional Developers: Pros don't fear vibe coding; they love it. AI takes over the boilerplate routine (writing basic structure, finding typos), freeing up the engineer’s time to focus on complex architecture and security.
Should You Rely Entirely on AI? An Honest Look
Can someone with zero IT knowledge sit down and "vibe code" a complex marketplace or banking app? The short answer is no.
Think of AI as an incredibly fast, smart, but sometimes careless Junior Developer. And you are the Tech Lead.
Where vibe coding works perfectly:
- Building landing pages, promo sites, and digital business cards.
- Writing small utility scripts (e.g., parsing competitor prices into Excel).
- Creating simple web apps (habit trackers, calculators, internal CRM dashboards).
Where the problems begin:
- Hallucinations: AI might invent a function that doesn't exist, breaking the code.
- Security: AI doesn't always write secure code. Trusting it with passwords or credit card data without human review is dangerous.
- Context Limits: When a project gets too large (hundreds of files), the neural network starts getting confused, forgetting past instructions, and breaking things that worked an hour ago.
Conclusion: You don't need to know JavaScript syntax, but you must understand the logic (how data flows from user to server) and know how to properly test the results.
How to "Vibe" Correctly: Good vs. Bad Prompts
The golden rule of vibe coding: AI cannot read minds. If you just say "make it pretty," it will do what it thinks is right, and you probably won't like it. Your prompt should look like a clear brief for a real human, just written in plain English.
Here are a few examples of how to communicate with AI in Cursor or VSCode:
Example 1: Building a Section from Scratch (UI/UX)
❌ Bad prompt: "Make product cards for a sneaker store."
✅ Good prompt (Vibe coding):
"Build a 'Popular Products' section for a premium sneaker store. The design should be minimalist, Apple-style: white background, dark gray text. Create a grid of 3 cards. Each card must include: a sneaker photo, title, price, and an 'Add to Cart' button. Add a micro-animation: on hover, the card should smoothly elevate by 5 pixels and cast a soft drop shadow. Use Tailwind CSS."
Example 2: Adding Functionality (Logic)
❌ Bad prompt: "Write a shipping calculator."
✅ Good prompt (Vibe coding):
"Write the logic for a shipping calculator. We have three fields: 1. A dropdown with cities (New York, LA, Chicago). 2. A weight slider (from 1 to 50 lbs). 3. An 'Express Delivery' checkbox. The base price is $10. For every pound over 5 lbs, add $2. If 'Express Delivery' is checked, multiply the final total by 1.5. Display the final price at the bottom in large green numbers. The total must recalculate in real-time as the user changes inputs."
Example 3: Fixing Errors (Debugging)
❌ Bad prompt: "My form isn't working, fix it."
✅ Good prompt (Vibe coding):
"I added a contact form to the homepage, but when I click the 'Submit' button, the page just reloads and no data is sent. Check index.html and script.js. Make sure the form submits without refreshing the page (prevent default), and upon successful submission, replace the form with a 'Thank you, we will contact you soon!' message."
The Clash of Titans: What to "Vibe Code" With in 2024-2025?
The tool market is growing daily. Let's compare the three main approaches available today.
1. Cursor: The Industry Standard (All-Inclusive)
Cursor is a code editor built on the popular VSCode, but AI is deeply integrated into its core foundation.
How it works: It features a tool called Composer. You press Cmd+I and type: "Create a registration page with email validation and a nice loading spinner." Cursor creates the files, writes the code, and links them together autonomously.
- Pros: Works out of the box. Perfectly understands your entire project context. Very low barrier to entry for beginners.
- Cons: It's a paid tool (around $20/month). The free tier has strict limits on the smartest models (like Claude 3.5 Sonnet).
We describe in plain language the design and logic we need. The AI understands the context.
In 15 seconds the code is written, the logic works and modern styles are applied.
2. Claude Code: Raw Intelligence
Claude Code (by Anthropic) is a cutting-edge tool that operates directly in your command line. Claude is currently considered the best AI for coding.
How it works: You open the terminal in your project folder and type: "Find out why the 'Buy' button isn't clickable on mobile, and fix it." It reads the files, finds the bug, and rewrites the code itself.
- Pros: Incredible level of intelligence. Handles complex logical tasks better than any competitor.
- Cons: Runs via the console (which can intimidate beginners). You pay per use (API calls), which can be cheaper or significantly more expensive than a flat Cursor subscription, depending on how much you code.
3. VSCode + Free Plugins (The Practical Choice)
Visual Studio Code (VSCode) is a classic, completely free code editor by Microsoft. By itself, it doesn't write code for you, but thanks to a massive plugin ecosystem, you can turn it into an AI powerhouse (using extensions like Roo Code or Cline).
How it works: You install the editor, download AI extensions, input your API keys, and get functionality nearly identical to the paid Cursor.
- Pros: Absolutely free (or pennies for API usage). Maximum control over the process. Great flexibility: use OpenAI today, Google tomorrow, Anthropic the next day.
- Cons: Requires time to set up. Beginners might find it tricky to integrate keys and choose the right plugin.
Which One Should You Choose?
If you have the budget and want results immediately — download Cursor.
If you are an experienced developer needing maximum analytical power — choose Claude Code.
But if you want a powerful AI web development tool for free and are willing to spend 30 minutes setting it up — we highly recommend the VSCode + Plugins combo.
Exactly how to turn standard VSCode into your personal AI developer using free extensions is what we’ll cover step-by-step in Part 2 of our article. Stay tuned!
