Vibe Coding, an industry frenzy born out of illusions and anxieties

"I have an idea to change the world, all I need is a programmer." - This satirical meme that has circulated in the internet circle for years seems to have come true in the AI era with Vibe Coding.

Vibe Coding, or Atmosphere Programming, doesn't require typing code line by line, nor does it require struggling with the chaotic API documents of software vendors. You just need to express your ideas (describe the atmosphere) in natural language. For example, "Help me create a website with XX functionality in one sentence" or "Create an app that helps me earn $1000 every day." The Coding Agent can then generate almost all the code, which has made it very popular in the software industry and developer communities.

Many AI programming tools have advertised with slogans like "Develop in one sentence" or "Create an app in one sentence," which has misled ordinary people into thinking that Vibe Coding can enable anyone to develop software, and that programming beginners can become programmers just by chatting with AI. Some business owners have laid off most of their IT teams. As a result, the remaining programmers have to fix the bugs generated by AI while catching up on the previous development progress.

Behind the frenzy are a large number of unfinished creative projects, an exponentially growing pile of messy code, and homogeneous daily - disposable applications. What's the current development status of Vibe Coding? Let's take a look at the real lives of developers.

Vibe Coding: Who is assisting whom?

Can Vibe Coding really complete full - scale development with just one sentence? Obviously not.

I have a friend with zero programming experience. She felt that the existing recording apps on the market couldn't meet her needs, so she always wanted to develop an app with better functionality. However, self - learning Python was too difficult, and outsourcing the project seemed too costly. Then came AI, and she used an AI chatbot to generate the application pages.

The preview was really impressive at first. But when she wanted to make some detailed changes, she found that in subsequent steps such as route configuration, database connection, function addition and deletion, end - side deployment, and exception handling, her lack of programming skills as a beginner was exposed, and she couldn't complete a full software development cycle.

Vibe Coding can create an initial prototype from scratch, but it can't make up for the engineering capabilities required to take it from 1 to 100. Novices who believe the slogan of "Create a website/app in one sentence" end up with unfinished projects after their initial investment.

A knowledgeable friend said that Vibe Coding is for professional programmers to slack off, not for novices to make wishes. But to be honest, it doesn't work that way.

Once concepts like Vibe Coding became popular, bosses who don't understand development had unrealistic expectations for AI programming. A programmer complained to me that their boss recently subscribed to a Copilot enterprise account and then cut all project deadlines to 70% of the original, with the reason being "AI can help you write code." Instead of slacking off, there is more hidden overtime because not only is the development time shortened, but programmers also have to clean up after AI, which brings us to the issue of technical debt in Vibe Coding.

Generally, professional programmers prepare context for the agent to help AI understand the task. However, current Vibe Coding tools on the market still make too many assumptions and add unnecessary backup plans on their own. This not only causes the code volume to expand exponentially but also leads to the accumulation of low - quality information and incorrect outputs as the number of conversations increases, resulting in context rot and worse output results. In complex projects, context rot makes correction more difficult and increases maintenance costs. A survey shows that 45% of developers feel frustrated when debugging code generated by AI.

(Source: stackoverflow research report)

If software engineering is built on a huge pile of messy code, then Vibe Coding, where almost 100% of the code is generated by the Agent, is like an automatic code - generating machine that creates a mess. Programmers need to provide guidance, make corrections, and carry out management at every step, which adds new workload. The saying "The more human input, the more intelligent the output" also applies to Vibe Coding.

If you blindly believe that Vibe Coding simplifies development, it will actually bring invisible pressure to IT teams and programmers.

Independent developers don't need to deal with complex corporate software projects, so can they avoid technical debt? Indeed, individual developers can choose to create simple - function software, such as batch - generating "weather forecast mini - programs" or "to - do list apps," to avoid problems like code redundancy and context rot.

The problem is that these simple applications are also prone to over - saturation. In Southeast Asia, there are a large number of projects quickly generated by Coding Agents. After getting users' subscription fees, the developers just disappear, leaving behind a bunch of daily - disposable applications with no maintenance, turning the software industry into a digital version of Myawaddy in northern Myanmar.

Although Vibe Coding sounds great, to deliver a complete and complex project, it still currently requires a lot of human assistance. It's not realistic to have 100% of the code automatically generated by the agent.

Wish - based development is unlikely to become mainstream

Of course, opponents will say that if you think Vibe Coding is not useful, it's because you're not using it correctly. For example, generating a simple game like Tetris in one sentence can actually work, and the code written by AI is fine.

Some also cite industry data. For instance, in 2025, the technology industry in the United States laid off more than 0 employees, and India's Infosys also had major layoffs. Doesn't this show that AI programming is replacing entry - level programmers, and that Vibe Coding has disruptive value?

All of the above situations are true. However, wish - based development like Vibe Coding is unlikely to become mainstream in the short term. Why?

Let's look at the so - called successful cases. Most of the applications like generating Tetris or Snake games in one sentence are toy - level applications using pre - set templates. They are not difficult to implement and don't have much commercial value, which is completely different from the useful systems that enterprises and individual users really need.

How many users are still short of a Tetris game? And which enterprise would pay for such a simple application? An enterprise - level application that includes functions such as industry logic understanding, user permission management, data flow, concurrent processing, and third - party payment interfaces involves a large number of engineering details that can't be handled by just one sentence to the Coding agent.

(Source: LinkedIn research report)

The so - called wave of programmer unemployment actually shows that AI can't replace high - level programmers. The changing skill requirements in the job market confirm this. Take the most popular technical position, SDE, in North American technology companies. The requirements for the SDE 1 position have been upgraded from "able to write good code" to "able to collaborate with AI to solve complex problems."

Some technology companies also have high expectations when recruiting. They require candidates to be able to use AI programming tools, retain the ability to write code manually, have product capabilities to understand business and describe requirements, aesthetic capabilities to review AI - generated code, and the systematic thinking ability of an architect. The salaries of such senior engineers are also rising.

From this perspective, Vibe Coding hasn't disrupted the software development industry. It has just accelerated the polarization among programmers. The development threshold has been raised from being able to write code to using AI, understanding business, and having good aesthetics.

If it's not that amazing, why has Vibe Coding become an industry frenzy?

An industry frenzy driven by illusions and anxiety

A programmer friend who is an ordinary employee complained: "No matter how big the illusions about AI programming are, they won't affect the overall situation. But if bosses have even a slight illusion about AI, it will cause chaos."

It can be said that the popularity of Vibe Coding is a conspiracy between AI programming platforms deliberately creating bubbles and the FOMO (fear of missing out) emotions of the developer community.

It's normal for emerging technology concepts to have bubbles. In fact, it's almost necessary. Through carefully designed demonstration scenarios, the public is made to believe that "everyone can program," which attracts more users and promotes the healthy development of the technology ecosystem. For example, Cursor and ChatGPT Plus both have high monthly fees. This business model requires a continuous expansion of the user base, which naturally leads to the slogan of "Develop in one sentence."

The problem is that you can't just give people bubbles; there has to be some real substance.

Some startups often exaggerate the magic of writing code in one sentence. For example, the unicorn Builder.ai defrauded top - tier capital such as SoftBank and Microsoft of $1.6 billion in investment over 8 years through pre - recorded demos and a fictional AI assistant named "Natasha." Although it eventually collapsed due to financial fraud, this model has been widely imitated in the industry, which has contributed to the public's technological illusions.

Many startups claim that 95% of their code is generated by AI. These cases are packaged as "zero - code startup myths" and widely spread. In fact, in 2025, the vast majority (72%) of developers did not use Vibe Coding.

A 2025 Stack Overflow survey shows that Coding Agents are not yet mainstream. Most developers (52%) either don't use agents or prefer to use simpler AI tools. The so - called industry boom is clearly exaggerated by the media and public opinion.

(Source: stackoverflow research report)

This phenomenon takes advantage of the FOMO anxiety of developers and programmers.

The popularity of Vibe Coding is closely related to the deep - seated career crisis sense of the programmer community.

During the layoff waves at tech giants like Meta and Microsoft, 70% of the laid - off employees were junior programmers. Facing this survival threat, developers have to turn to tools like Vibe Coding for self - protection, even though they know that the code generated by Vibe Coding comes with technical debt. Data shows that programmers' favorability towards AI has decreased from 77% in 2023 to 72% in 2024 and is only 60% this year, reflecting their contradictory mindset of "afraid of falling behind if not using it, afraid of being deceived if using it."

The herd mentality in the technology community further amplifies this effect. When AI media and KOLs talk about Vibe Coding every day, it creates a group pressure of "everyone is using it, and if you don't, you'll fall behind." However, there is often a time lag between trends and reality. Generally, in order to attract traffic and attention, the media and KOLs prefer to focus on some novel and explosive news, but these advanced technologies are still far from being implemented.

Just as a new drug won't claim to cure all diseases and needs to provide users with strict indications and side - effect warnings, Vibe Coding shouldn't make a one - size - fits - all promise. Because software engineering is never just about writing and running code. It requires an understanding of business, respect for rules, and a commitment to quality.

The slogan of "Generate in one sentence" masks the risks of technical debt in Vibe Coding and ignores the professional qualities of developers. When Vibe Coding becomes a machine for creating piles of messy code, daily - disposable applications, and unfinished projects, it's perhaps time to cool down this industry frenzy.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Brain Pole Body" (ID: unity007). The author is Tibetan Fox. It is published by 36Kr with permission.