Vibe Coding, Then “Everyone’s Doing It”, Now “Everyone’s Double-Checking”

What is vibe coding?

Vibe coding is building software by describing what you want to an AI in plain language and accepting the code it writes, often without reading it closely. The term was coined by AI researcher Andrej Karpathy in early 2025. It’s great for prototyping because you can create something that looks sophisticated in a very short amount of time.

From hype to “wait, let me check that”

When the term first went viral, it was everywhere: demos, tutorials, and “I built this in an afternoon” posts. Then the apps met real users, real data, and real security reviews. Stack Overflow’s 2025 survey found that more than half of professional developers use AI coding tools daily, yet 46% distrust their accuracy. Usage went up, and trust did not follow.

The vocabulary shifted too. Karpathy himself no longer defends pure vibe coding and now prefers the term “agentic engineering.” The tools aren’t going away. People are just treating them as a fast first draft that still needs a human reviewer.

Why do vibe-coded apps sometimes not work?

AI tends to build the part you can see first and the part you can’t see later, if at all. The usual culprits:

1. No logic behind it. No function, form handler, or API call was ever attached.

2. No real database. The page shows made-up sample data, so “Save” has nowhere to save to.

3. Mismatched pieces. The AI generated a front end and a back end in separate prompts, and they don’t agree on names, fields, or endpoints.

4. Silent errors. Something fails in the browser console, and nothing on the page tells you. The page will just still look beautiful.

4. Missing context. The AI never knew what your data looks like, so it guessed.

FAQ

1. Is vibe coding bad?

No. It’s a fast way to prototype and explore ideas. It becomes a problem when a prototype is treated as a finished product without anyone testing it.

2. Is vibe coding still popular?

Yes, but the attitude has changed. People still use AI to build, and they’re now more careful about reviewing and testing what it produces.

3. What’s the easiest way to give a vibe-coded app a real backend?

Use a structured database you already trust, and connect your AI tool to it instead of letting it create mock data. With Ragic, you build your forms and records visually, then point the AI at them.