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We don't have to summit Everest. We can get rapid prototyping benefits without vibecoding. We've been prototyping all along. AI assistance expands what's possible without requiring us to master developer toolchains.

Understanding Vibecoding vs AI-Assisted Prototyping

I've found value in adopting AI assistance for prototyping work. It makes my work faster and more effective. Vibecoding, however, operates in developer territory with different requirements and expectations.

Andrej Karpathy coined “vibecoding” in February 2025 to describe “a new way of coding where developers fully embrace large language models and their capabilities, essentially 'giving in to the vibes' and relying on AI to generate and manage the code, rather than manually writing it.” He characterized it as accepting AI-generated code without deep inspection, particularly for experimental or throwaway projects where developers “forget that the code even exists.”

Vibecoding originated in developer playfulness, not professional practice. Karpathy was describing experimental fun with throwaway projects. I don't need to aspire to vibecoding as a professional skill because it's not intended as one. Developers have AI-assisted development for professional work. I have AI-assisted prototyping for mine.

I understand vibecoding as combining this throwaway mindset with developer-focused tools like v0/Vercel, Lovable, or Cursor. These require deployment knowledge, source control management, and ecosystem navigation. Vibecoding operates in developer infrastructure with specialized competencies.

The Qualitative Difference

I think of the complexity gap as crossing a river to reach distant shores. Developers work in specialized territory: deployment pipelines, dependency management, framework ecosystems. A vibecoded prototype lives in infrastructure that requires ongoing technical maintenance.

In my experience, the complexity gap isn't incremental. I can create sophisticated prototypes without touching developer toolchains. Then suddenly I'd find myself managing build processes and hosting environments. That's the qualitative difference I've observed.

Choose Your Heat Level 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

I like to think of it like ordering at a Thai restaurant. I select complexity based on my needs and comfort level.

I've found that AI assistance doesn't mean everything needs higher fidelity. It means I can put energy into thinking and communicating instead of pixel-pushing. I choose fidelity based on what I need to validate, not what the tools can produce.

I'm self-sufficient in prototyping as never before. AI assistance has expanded my prototyping capabilities across multiple complexity levels without requiring me to master developer toolchains. I can iterate quickly. I can explore more and elicit requirements better. I can achieve a high level of interactivity. And I can do it all while keeping the whole thing looking provisional and undone.

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This article was developed with AI assistance from Claude.