You know when you visit a new country and try to speak the local language but end up butchering it in ways that make everyone cringe
That’s exactly what I see happening with people discovering vibe coding lately
They come in with all these misconceptions thinking it’s just about typing random thoughts and getting perfect code
Let me tell you what vibe coding really means
It’s not about being lazy or avoiding understanding how things work underneath
Actually it requires more discipline than traditional programming in many ways
The biggest mistake I see is treating prompts like disposable throwaway commands
People type something vague like make me a website and then wonder why the results are disappointing
This completely misses the principle that intentions and interfaces are long-term assets while code becomes the disposable part
Your prompts are your new source code
They need refinement iteration and version control just like traditional code used to need
Another common error is manually editing the generated code
I get it the temptation is strong when you see something that looks almost right but not quite
But that’s like fixing a machine translation by tweaking individual words instead of improving the original sentence
You should treat current prompts as the code of the past and current code as the executables of the past
Focus your energy on improving your intention descriptions not on patching the output
Then there’s the data deletion problem
People think oh I’ll just delete this failed attempt and start fresh
But every failed prompt every unsuccessful generation contains valuable learning
While adhering to privacy regulatory and cost requirements we should avoid deleting data as much as possible
This creates a time machine effect where you can always go back and understand why certain approaches worked or didn’t
The most dangerous mistake though is treating this like magic
Vibe coding still requires you to think systematically about what you want to achieve
You need to understand the problem domain define clear interfaces and establish proper verification mechanisms
The assembly might be handled by AI but the responsibility for the final outcome remains with humans
As the principles state AI assembles aligned with humans
We define the goals and constraints while holding unshakeable final decision-making power
What I find fascinating is how this shifts the entire development mindset
Instead of thinking in terms of files and functions you start thinking in capabilities and intentions
Your focus moves from writing code to defining what needs to be accomplished
And verification and observation become the core measures of system success rather than just code quality
So next time you approach vibe coding remember you’re not just giving commands
You’re crafting precise intentions that will guide AI in assembling the right capabilities
Think of yourself as an architect describing a vision rather than a construction worker laying bricks
The quality of your vision determines the quality of the final result