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Vibe Coding Is Not Engineering
The question isn’t Will AI replace developers? The real question is ‘Which teams will ship faster because they use it?
How AI Agents Differ from LLMs? In today’s newsletter, you and I will break down what Vibe Coding is, where it fits in the software lifecycle, and how leaders and engineers can use it today.
Today’s edition is based on my session at AI Engineer HQ
In today’s edition:
AI Deep Dive— Vibe Coding Is Not Engineering
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[AI Deep Dive]
Vibe Coding Is Not Engineering

Most of us learned coding the same way
open an editor
write each line
debug
repeat
But the way software gets built is shifting fast.
With the rise of AI coding assistants, a new approach has emerged - Vibe Coding!
What is Vibe Coding?

Vibe Coding is writing software through natural language prompts instead of hand-coding every line.
For example, instead of writing boilerplate code, you might simply say:
“Build me a landing page with a signup form, stripe payments, and a database to store leads.”
The AI then generates the code, which you refine and integrate.
Think of yourself as the architect and AI as the junior developer doing the heavy lifting.
Where it shines:
rapid prototypes and MVPs
boilerplate or repetitive code
ui scaffolding and integrations
Coding vs Engineering
To understand where Vibe Coding fits, let’s separate coding from engineering:
coding = writing programs, functions, classes
software = many programs combined into a product
engineering = designing full systems (scaling, testing, deployment, infra, security)
AI can help with coding and parts of engineering, but full-scale engineering still requires humans.
There’s no “Vibe Engineering.”
That’s still on us.
Two Ways to Do Vibe Coding
There are two main approaches:
1) No-Code / Low-Code Platforms
Tools that generate entire apps or front-ends from a prompt.

Source: Harshal Rajhani
Examples:
v0.dev (by Vercel) - frontend UI with Tailwind/React
lovable, Bolt, Brew, Replit AI - full-stack apps, backend + UI
claude code, cursor, codeium - versatile code generation
Workflow example (V0) -
prompt: “build a course website with testimonials, payment, contact form, and database.”
output - react components + tailwind styling + backend boilerplate
integration - github sync + vercel deployment
You can iterate by refining prompts or editing code live.
2) Coding Agents in Your IDE

These live inside VS Code or other editors.
They don’t build everything, but assist as you write.
Examples:
Claude Code in VS Code (I prefer)
GitHub Copilot
Cursor
Replit AI
What they do:
suggest functions, APIs, classes
add documentation and tests
refactor existing code
generate README and CI configs
You stay in control while the AI accelerates development.
They work best if you build the project in a divide and conquer strategy.
Divide the project into smaller parts and make it build those parts, not everything together.
The reason is the context window, as the code goes on and on, and it will lose the context, even if it has a 1 million token capacity.
Why Prompting Matters
Garbage in, garbage out applies here.
A weak prompt like:
“Make a website.”
Yields poor output.
A strong prompt like:
“Build a course landing page with features, testimonials, contact form, Stripe payments, and MongoDB integration for leads.”
Produces a near-production-ready project.
Pro tip:
plan the project
divide the project it small parts
create all the prompts using ChatGPT
send it to claude code and let it build it for you
keep an eye on the system design of your project
Can AI Build Full Systems?

Not yet.
AI can generate parts of a system, but complete software requires:
environment setup
CI/CD pipelines
API key management
security and scaling
devops, monitoring, testing
Today’s reality:
AI helps you prototype fast
Humans ensure it’s production-grade
Once code is generated by any AI tool, it’s very hard to debug it.
It's really a pain in the a__.

What Leaders Should Know
don’t overspend on models
invest in frameworks and infrastructure
“how reliable is our orchestration layer?” matters more than “are we using GPT-4?”
test langchain, crewAI, llamaIndex alongside vibe tools
pick what fits your workflows
If you’re an Engineer
go deep on one framework or coding assistant (claude code - I prefer)
build secure, reusable tools (API connectors, safe DB access)
focus on observability and orchestration
that’s how you move from demos to production
Final Thoughts
The model vs. model debate is a distraction.
The real shift is happening in how we build and ship software.
Vibe Coding gives you leverage, prototypes in hours, not weeks.
But remember - AI is your assistant, not your replacement.
The winners will be those who master the plumbing
security
orchestration
data integration
reliable infrastructure
Stop obsessing over the engine.
Start learning how to build the rest of the car.
Until next time.
Happy Vibe Coding.
Just for fun
my Vibe Coding tier list.
agree or disagree? Missing something?
— Pedro Orlando (@orlandopedro_)
8:44 PM • Sep 6, 2025
Vibe coding best security practices.
— GitHub Projects Community (@GithubProjects)
12:13 PM • Sep 2, 2025
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