What is vibe coding?

Vibe coding isn’t a formal technical term, but it’s become a slang or colloquial expression among programmers and tech communities—especially on social media and in creative coding circles.

What “vibe coding” usually means:

  1. Coding based on intuition or feel
    Instead of rigidly planning everything out, you’re:
    • Freestyling as you code
    • Trusting your gut
    • Letting ideas evolve naturally
    • Following the “vibe” of what feels right in the moment
  2. Flow state or artistic mindset
    It’s often associated with being in a flow, where:
    • You’re fully immersed in the process
    • You’re experimenting and playing with ideas
    • You might not be solving a defined problem—just exploring
  3. Aesthetic-driven coding
    Especially in creative coding (e.g. making generative art, animations, visuals with tools like p5.js, Processing, or shaders), vibe coding can mean:
    • Writing code to produce visually interesting or aesthetically pleasing results
    • Not optimizing or following best practices strictly
    • Prioritizing vibes over efficiency
  4. Non-serious, low-stakes projects
    It often happens during:
    • Hackathons
    • Side projects
    • Late-night tinkering
    • “Coding for fun” rather than for work

Example in practice:

“I didn’t plan this out—I just started vibe coding and ended up with this weird little game that turns your keyboard into a synth.”

So, vibe coding is more about the mindset and approach to coding than any particular language or framework. It’s spontaneous, creative, and informal.

credit: ChatGPT