Vibe coding is the practice of building software by describing what you want in natural language — and having AI write the code. The term was coined in February 2025 by Andrej Karpathy (co-founder of OpenAI, former head of AI at Tesla) to describe an emerging mode of software development:
"There's a new kind of coding I call 'vibe coding', where you fully give in to the vibes, embrace exponentials, and forget that the code even exists."
In vibe coding, the developer (or non-developer) is the product designer and decision-maker. The AI writes the code. The human guides, tests, and steers.
The basic vibe coding loop:
1. Describe what you want: "Build me a web app that lets users input their monthly expenses and shows a pie chart by category."
2. AI generates code: The AI writes the code — HTML, JavaScript, Python, whatever the task requires.
3. See it run: Use a tool like Cursor, Replit, or Bolt.new to run the code immediately.
4. Describe improvements: "Make the chart dark mode. Add a 'reset' button. The numbers should show with two decimal places."
5. Repeat: The AI revises. You test. You describe the next change.