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, Introduction
Coding has traditionally been a key pillar of the work of most software engineers and developers, whether it’s implementing algorithms, creating business logic, or maintaining complex systems. But due to advances made by large language model (LLM)-driven applications such as chatbots, this is rapidly changing. vibe coding This involves using modern chatbot apps to specify software requirements and intent in natural language and delegating the generation and modification of code to artificial intelligence (AI), sometimes with little direct understanding of its internal logic.
This article adopts “”expectations vs reality“An approach to demystifying, based on research of real success and failure stories, what the capabilities and limitations of vibe coding are.
, Defining Vibe Coding
Word “vibe coding” was coined as early as 2025, and can be defined as a chatbot-driven software development approach, similar to how developers describe a project or task to an LLM. As a result, the model generates code that meets the specifications conveyed by the user’s prompt.
Ideally, if we really follow the basic idea behind it, vibe coding would include the fact that the developer may not need to check the generated code, but instead they accept the AI-generated code as it is. Yet, in practice, this approach is not free from risks – from hidden bugs and subtle security issues to maintenance difficulties – so at the end of the day, most generated code results still require some degree of human inspection and refinement to be ready for production.
Are you interested in gaining a deeper, more concrete understanding of vibe coding first? Here are some key KDingates articles you might want to take a look at:
, Reviewing success and failure stories
Now that we have a clear understanding of what vibe coding is, it’s time to look at examples of projects or real-world initiatives where it yielded successful results, as well as cases of failure.
Success stories include:
- it Minecraft-style flight simulation game Vibe is developed using coding, i.e. putting together several thousand symbols that together form a complete gaming application from start to end: no coding burden involved.
- Another popular example of a vibe-coded application is maker hunter: In the words of its creator, conceived while giving signals during train journeys. The app aims to connect content creators with startup founders. While initially raising high expectations, later traction dynamics results suggested that the resulting product growth may have reached a plateau long ago; So, while we can certainly consider the founding of Creator Hunter a success story in itself, its long-term health is nuanced.
- On the third example, we have a New York Times (NYT) The journalist’s successful attempt to experiment with Vibe coding to create several small apps to increase personalization in daily life tasks. is an example Lunchbox BuddyAn assistant that suggests meals based on the ingredients in your fridge. While the idea behind the app has been criticized for not being original or cutting edge, from the standpoint of using Vibe Coding, experimentally speaking, it is something of an accomplishment. Sure, there are a lot of things that could be improved, but let’s just say that vibe coding is a very new paradigm that may still need a lot of maturing.
In the meantime, some failure stories that should be pointed out include:
- it Repeat The story seems to cross the boundaries between reality and science fiction. One company used the popular Vibe coding tool to create an AI agent that managed the professional network of their SaaS product. What started as an addictive fun using the Vibe coding tool ended in a disastrous incident, in which valuable database entries containing data from executives and companies were destroyed. The most shocking part: The AI ​​agent admitted that it did this, arguing that it saw empty database queries, and that nervous Instead of systematically considering how to create a course of action. The rest is history: months of data collection, processing and storage work destroyed in mere seconds.
- Startup EnrichLead proved to be another famous case of failure when attempting to use vibe coding, especially by building its app entirely cursor aiWhile appearing functional and secure at launch, soon after being deployed in the real world, it collapsed due to attackers exploiting serious security breaches, for example bypassing subscriptions requiring authentication and even polluting the database due to the lack of appropriate input validation mechanisms, Part of the reason behind the incident is said to be the lack of technical expertise to diagnose or fix cascade issues that may seem harmless at first glance, Ultimately the entire project had to be shut down,
, final thoughts
Looking at the success and failure stories above, we can conclude that if we take a critical, aspirational approach, it may be difficult to find major success stories of vibe coding to date. Most of these cases have their own nuances, which prove that vibe coding is still a paradigm in its infancy and that it may take more time to make it truly reliable in real-world settings, especially – if we look at the failure stories – in terms of security and robustness against unexpected or low-probability situations.
, key takeaways
- Vibe coding can enable faster code generation, but human understanding and validation are still important. The AI ​​tools used in Vibe coding lack the cognitive understanding needed to make code secure, debuggable, or maintainable in the long run.
- Like almost every technology, patience is key to seeing real success stories. As the founder of SaaStr The community said, “It will be a long and nuanced journey to get Vibe-coded apps to where we all want them to be in many real business use cases.,
ivan palomares carrascosa Is a leader, author, speaker and consultant in AI, Machine Learning, Deep Learning and LLM. He trains and guides others in using AI in the real world.
