In the past couple of months of working on side projects, I've come to see the limitations of vibe coding. I believe it works very well when you need to quickly get a prototype or a visual render of what you're trying to build, however it becomes problematic as you try maintain, debug, scale or even just understand the code.
For that reason, I've been leaning more towards vibe architecting as opposed to just simply vibe coding. Essentially, I'm working with the AI as a junior developer (sometimes a peer or senior if it's a framework I'm not to familiar with) and I take my time to review the changes it presents before approving(side-eye Cursor).
For example where a simple vibe code prompt could be:
“Give me a Python script that generates Drake-style lyrics from user input”
A vibe architect's prompt would look like:
“How would you build a system that makes it easy to generate lyrics like Drake, and others; with structure, and in a way that others can extend or deploy?”
I've made a simple list below of what I believe are the differences between a vibe coder and a vibe architect. Both have their usefulnesses and drawbacks so it's important when to apply which approach:
| Context | Vibe Coder | Vibe Architect |
|---|---|---|
| Prompt Style | Going with the flow, less conversational with the AI agent | More in-depth, goes into details about structure |
| Code Review | Basic reviews; pretty much accepts anything. Trusts the AI to deliver quality code. | Doesn't just accept every change; scrutinizes as much as possible and asks detailed questions about performance, code & folder structure |
| Versioning & Committing Changes | Little to none | Highly structured with appropriate messages and strategies |
| Design Philosophy | More focused on rapid prototyping; getting something to work; "hack & ship" | Focused on building systems - systems that can scale, adapt, and evolve |
| Project Size | Usually small to medium | Medium to large |
| Primary Focus | Speed & Creativity | Scalability & Structure |
| Test Coverage | Very basic | Prompts as many test cases as possible |
| Deliverable | An MVP | Scalable system |