My First Dive into Vibe Coding

A few weeks ago, I kept hearing whispers about "vibe coding"—a trendy approach where you team up with an AI coding assistant, like Cursor, to build applications. The idea is simple: you provide high-level instructions, and the AI churns out the code, handling the nitty-gritty details while you steer the ship. It sounded intriguing but overhyped. Could an AI really help me create a functional, polished application without me wrestling with every line of code? Curiosity got the better of me, so I decided to put vibe coding to the test with a project I'd been procrastinating on for ages: my personal tech blog website.

My first attempt was, frankly, a letdown. I installed Cursor, an AI-powered coding tool with a chat interface, and dove in with high hopes. But things quickly went south. The AI seemed to stumble over itself, generating code that didn't quite work. When bugs cropped up, Cursor's attempts to fix them often made things worse. I found myself debugging issues manually, which was the opposite of the seamless experience I'd been promised. Frustrated, I was ready to write off vibe coding as a gimmick—a flashy concept that couldn't deliver in the real world.

But something nagged at me to give it another shot. Maybe I was approaching it wrong. So, I decided to try again, this time with a shift in mindset. Instead of hovering over every detail, I leaned back, focused on giving clear, concise instructions, and trusted Cursor to handle the coding. To my astonishment, it worked like magic. In just a few hours, my tech blog website came to life—clean, functional, and honestly better than I'd imagined. It was as if I had a super-speedy coding partner who could translate my ideas into reality with minimal fuss. That experience flipped my skepticism into excitement.

Riding that high, I wanted to push vibe coding further. I'd long been frustrated by how much time I waste picking movies to watch. Scrolling through streaming platforms, sifting through reviews—it's a draining ritual. So, I set my sights on a more ambitious project: a movie recommender website that could suggest films based on my preferences. Armed with my newfound trust in vibe coding, I started late one evening. What followed was a whirlwind of creativity and adrenaline. I couldn't sleep, fueled by the thrill of watching the app take shape in real time. By morning, I had a fully functional movie recommender—sleek, user-friendly, and far beyond what I thought I could build in a single night. A project that would've taken me a month (and endless UI/UX debates with myself) was done in hours.

Vibe coding completely changed how I approach building apps. It's not flawless—clear communication with the AI is key—but when it clicks, it's a game-changer. As of now, vibe coding for me is a solid tool for prototyping. I am yet to see how it fares for a more complex production application. I'm continuing my journey with vibe coding to see how it goes.

Check out my movie recommender app: FlickVibes

-- Kalyan

Note: This article was written with AI assistance.