An Introduction to Vibe Coding: The Future of AI-Powered Development
Hey there, I'm going to share with you some things I've learned over the last few weeks and months that have completely changed how I now approach coding and how I use AI throughout the day. By the way, in case you don't know, my name is Dan, and I'm a senior software engineer, and I've been working with AI now for many years.
Just a heads up, this article will have three parts: 1. First, I'll quickly explain what exactly is Vibe Coding and why it's so game-changing. 2. Then, I'm going to share some of the best tools, including some new ones that have only been released this week. 3. Finally, I'll give you some tips and tricks to massively improve your Vibe Coding results.
What Exactly is Vibe Coding?
In short, it's the practice of using natural language prompts—just like the way you'd explain something to a colleague—but this time to direct AI to write, refactor, or understand your code. Instead of typing the code line by line, which requires a deep understanding of the programming language, you can simply explain what you want to achieve and let the tool write the code for you.
Instead of being a coder per se, you become like a project manager where you assign instructions or tasks to an AI system, and it does the work that would have previously been done by a specialized engineer.
Now, it is worth pointing out that Vibe Coding doesn't remove the need for problem-solving or architecture, especially for the more ambitious projects. But it does dramatically reduce the effort involved in getting things off the ground. Instead of having to learn programming languages in depth, you can focus on how to solve the problem more generally and then use AI to work out the specifics.
The Best Tools Out There Right Now
Let's walk through some of the best tools out there right now. I'll go through them in order of complexity and price, starting with tools that require almost no setup, all the way to those that give you full control over how AI interacts with your codebase. I'll also include a couple of very recent options that are just starting to show real potential.
1. Google AI Studio
One option I've been experimenting with more recently is Google AI Studio, which is surprisingly capable, especially given that it's currently free. It runs in the browser, so you don't need to set anything up locally, and it just allows you to build anything from small applications or even if you just want to do some test code ideas using Gemini's models. I found it to be really useful for testing out front-end applications or concepts or even just quick back-end logic in a kind of stripped-down IDE format. While it doesn't give you deep access to file systems or complex project workflows like some of the CLI tools which we'll cover later, it's still very accessible and a good entry point for anyone new to Vibe coding.
2. Claude Pro
Next up is Claude Pro, which is about $17 a month if you pay annually. It's also browser-based, which makes it easy for those new to the game. Just open it up in a browser and start chatting. This is what I typically recommend to people first who've never coded before. You can describe what you want to build, and Claude will write the code for you and show you the results. It's perfect for small scripts and basic web apps or even just testing out concepts. The downside is that once you're finished, if you actually want to deploy it, you'll most likely have to copy and paste everything manually, and there's no project memory or file system. But it's a great starting point, relatively inexpensive, and ideal for proof-of-concept type projects.
3. Cursor
Next, there's Cursor, which I describe as an AI-optimized code editor. It's built on top of VS Code but with some clever AI features built-in. - Pricing: The pro plan is about $20 a month, and they've recently improved their pricing model. It now comes with unlimited completions and agent requests, whereas there used to be a 500-request cap, but that's now been lifted. There's also a $200 a month ultra plan for people who need high throughput and the very best models. - Features: It's great for navigating a codebase, writing new modules, refactoring, and even running tests. Cursor is probably the best $20 you can spend when it comes to a fully functional code editor with AI, and it's very well-suited to Vibe Coding.
4. Claude Code
If you're looking for something arguably more agentic, Claude Code is worth a look. It's a CLI (command-line interface) tool that allows you to talk to Claude directly from your terminal. - Pricing: You get very light access with the standard Claude Pro plan, but realistically, you'll probably want to go for one of the Claude Max plans, which is between $100 a month and $200 a month, depending on whether you have moderate or heavy use. - Features: This setup gives you deeper integration and much better control across your projects. It's more advanced to get going, but once you do, it's even more automated, so it's better suited to people who are already quite comfortable in the terminal.
5. Warp 2.0
Another promising entry here is Warp 2.0, which just launched and is worth mentioning. Warp is also a command-line tool, but in this case, it replaces the terminal itself rather than works within it. It's essentially a modern terminal with an AI, intelligent autofill, AI-driven suggestions, and agent-like workflows, including coding agents. This now makes it a viable tool to do Vibe Coding. - Pricing: Warp offers a generous free tier with around 40 to 100 AI requests per month. For heavier users, there are multiple paid plans, including the Team or Turbo Tiers, starting at around $15 to $30 a month per user, which includes increased limits, team collaboration tools, and more responsive AI integrations.
6. Gemini CLI
While we're on that topic, Gemini CLI is Google's new offering in this space. It only came out this week and it's very clearly inspired by Claude Code—the setup, the interaction model, and even some of the developer experience. - Features: It's built on Gemini 2.5 Pro, offering support for large projects with its 1 million token context window. - Pricing: What makes Gemini CLI stand out right now is its pricing. It's currently free during its preview phase. You get up to 60 requests per minute and 1,000 requests per day. That's a huge amount of usage for an AI-based coding workflow. Whether it stays this generous is anyone's guess, but right now, it's probably one of the best value options for command-line Vibe Coding out there.
7. All-in-One Tools (Replet, VO Bolt, Lovable)
Next, we have the all-in-one tools. The first one I'm going to mention is Replet, but there are others too, like VO Bolt and Lovable. They do have some slight differences, but overall, they're roughly speaking trying to achieve a similar thing, which is they try to help you create full-stack applications without the need to write any code. So you could say, in a sense, that they're aimed more at beginners, but this isn't quite true because it's very practical and efficient to get projects off the ground using one of these tools.
Tips for Better Vibe Coding Results
Now, the thing with Vibe Coding that's worth mentioning is some of the strategies that really help you get the most out of them. The best one that I've come across is to try to flesh out the plan or the action before you actually begin coding.
For example, let's say your goal is to create a web app to solve a particular problem. Rather than just saying, "This is the problem, go away and solve it and write code to do it," instead, create a high-level plan with all the things that you're trying to do, achieve, features you want to add, and even tests to try and pass. If you do this first and then when you're happy with it, then go ahead and implement it, you'll be surprised how much better the results will end up being.
Not only is it less efficient from a time perspective to go ahead in the wrong direction and then try to steer the large language model back into the kind of thing that you originally intended, but it's also not the best from a practical perspective because an AI will be much better off at achieving the task that you intended if you're able to first explain in-depth and broadly what you want to try and achieve.
To Summarize and Wrap Up
- If you're brand new and just want to experiment: Try Claude Pro or Google AI Studio, as they are excellent starting points.
- If you're more serious and want an AI-native IDE: Cursor Pro is, in my view, the sweet spot for value and power.
- If you have some CLI experience and building bigger things is appealing: Claude Max with Claude Code or Gemini CLI gives you incredibly deep functionality.
- If you're focused on UI or full-stack prototyping: Replet, VO Bolt, and Lovable each offer fast, AI-powered creation with varying levels of abstraction.
