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Vibe Coding: Between Magic, Rituals, and AI

Published:  at  12:15 PM
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Vibe Coding: Between Magic, Rituals, and AI

Related article: Vibe coding boosts your services

Vibe Coding: Between Magic, Rituals, and AI

In my youth readings, one passage particularly struck me. In the first volume of Foundation by Isaac Asimov, Hober Mallow, a master merchant of the Foundation, discovers an operational atomic power plant on a remote planet. Intrigued, he goes there and notices a troubling fact: the people watching over this technology no longer understand how it works. They are guardian-technicians, inheritors of knowledge they only repeat. Their knowledge is no longer scientific, it has become ritual. They know how to press the right buttons, but ignore why it works. Knowledge has become mystical.

Code is technical knowledge, resting on many pillars (HTML, HTTP, browser for a web application, for example). The knowledge we acquire through experience about these foundations allows us to better anticipate performance or security issues that certain approaches can generate.

All the developers I’ve worked with who continued in this profession were driven by a thirst to understand, a quest for the “right way” to do things. Others gradually turned away from code, failing to find meaning or mastery in their practice.

Vibe coding is an approach to development where most of the code is generated by an AI agent through a chat interface. For example: “Add an address field to my form.” The agent then handles writing the HTML code and the associated processing code.

This method allows obtaining results without prior technical knowledge and seems to redefine the rules of what a “developer” is. But whether coded traditionally or “vibe coded,” an application remains subject to the same fundamental requirements:

If you create an app just to feed a TikTok titled “The End of Devs,” these constraints probably don’t matter. But as soon as you aim for a sustainable product, these criteria apply. A non-coder — or even a young developer — will naturally struggle to guarantee these three pillars. And therefore, their code will struggle to hold up in a complex and evolving environment.

But we shouldn’t despise vibe coding either. It allows non-developers to create simple MVPs, capable of seducing first users or even investors. It can spark vocations, encourage those who would never have dared to venture into code.

Vibe coding isn’t a promise of tenfold productivity. It’s a new way to prototype, to test, to create. A new source of wonder and frustration, but which, in the end, will make you more agile, more inventive, more efficient — and yes, more productive.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is vibe coding?

Vibe coding is a development approach where most of the code is generated by an AI agent through a chat interface, using plain language requests like adding a form field, instead of the developer writing HTML or processing logic directly. It lets people obtain working results without prior technical knowledge, functioning more like a conversation than traditional programming.

Can vibe coding replace traditional software development?

Not for products meant to last, because any application, whether hand coded or vibe coded, still needs to be performant and responsive, able to evolve at reasonable cost, and secure for data and processes. A non-coder or inexperienced developer typically struggles to guarantee these three pillars, so vibe coded applications tend to hold up poorly in complex, evolving production environments.

Why does technical foundation still matter when using AI to write code?

Technical foundations such as HTML, HTTP, and browser behavior let a developer anticipate performance and security issues before they appear, rather than discovering them after deployment. Without that understanding, code generated by an AI agent risks becoming ritual knowledge, where someone knows which request produces a working result but not why it works or when it will break.

Who benefits most from vibe coding despite its limitations?

Non-developers and beginners benefit most, since vibe coding lets them build simple MVPs capable of attracting first users or investors without prior coding skills. It can also spark new vocations by encouraging people who would never have dared start coding, even though the resulting product is best treated as a prototype rather than a production-grade application.



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