What vibe coding gets right, and where it breaks

“Vibe coding” means building software by describing what you want to an AI tool and accepting what it gives you. Lovable, Bolt, v0, Cursor and Replit all make this possible. A few years ago it sounded like a joke. Now people launch real products this way.

We see a lot of these projects after they hit a wall. Here is an honest look at what they get right and where they tend to break.

What it gets right

• Speed to a first version. You can test an idea in a weekend instead of a month. That alone is worth a lot.
• Good-looking screens. AI tools are very good at layout. Most vibe-coded apps look better than first versions used to.
• Standard building blocks. The tools use common pieces like React, Tailwind and Supabase. That means any developer can work on the code later.
• Founders who understand their product. People who build their own first version know exactly what they want. That makes the next step much easier.

Where it breaks

The breaks are rarely in the parts you can see. They are in the parts that only matter once real people show up.

Logins and accounts

Logins that work in the preview and fail on the real domain are the most common problem we see. Close behind: users who can see each other’s data because database rules were never set.

Secrets in the wrong place

Keys for paid services often end up in the browser code, where anyone can copy them. It works fine until someone does.

The fix loop

After a while, every fix breaks something else. The project has no saved versions and no tests, and each AI change drifts a little further from what worked.

Real traffic

An app that is fine with five test users can slow down or fall over with five hundred. Database queries that load everything, missing indexes and no limits on expensive calls all show up at once.

So, is vibe coding a good idea?

Yes, for getting started. It is one of the best ways to find out if an idea is worth building. Just plan for a second phase, where a person checks security, cleans up the base and sets up a safe way to keep going.

That second phase is usually much smaller than a full rebuild. Most of what the AI made can stay.