Will Vibe Coding Dominate App Dev in 2026? đ (From a 10+ Year Dev's View)
Hi, Iâm an app developer whoâs shipped many projects the old-school way (hand-coding) for over a decade. Recently AI tools have exploded - speeding up my production like crazy.
Whatâs happening:
- Idea to MVP: Creators focus on ideas while AI writes most of the code.
- Hours not weeks: Tools like ChatGPT, Grok, Cursor, etc. help people pump apps faster than ever.
- Mentor in your pocket: AI tools act like a mentor and coding assistant
Vibe Coding = Rocket Fuel đ
Indies are crushing it đ„. Been seeing vibe coders sharing their apps on social media. Many of them shipping an MVP in less than a week. These all look like positive signs for the future of AI assisted coding. It makes me wonder if coding skills won't be as relevant in 2026.
Whatâs your take on AI tools for indie builders for non-coders? Should vibe coders know how to code?
Replies
Yeah, absolutely - AI does let you build amazingly fast, and Iâm excited by the possibilities.
That said, Iâm still a little divided:
On one hand: it can create something faster than you, help you a lot in areas where youâre less experienced, and make prototyping amazing.
On the other hand: I recently deleted entire files and sections because the code looked correct on review and even ran - but when I dove deeper, it did something extremely sub-optimal. It was âworkingâ, but so inefficient that no human engineer would have written it. That âinvisible inefficiencyâ is the scary part.
So yes: big upside, but we still need to stay vigilant about quality, optimization, understanding of what the AI generated, and when itâs safe to ship it.
@luiscalvilloÂ
Yeah totally - code reviews are still key.
But with AI writing so much new code, itâs getting way harder to keep up.
Weâve all had that one PR with too many changes - used to happen once in a while.
Now it can happen every day.
The scary part?
AI is really good at convincing you itâs right, even when itâs not.
Codex once built a feature perfectly - but placed the logic where it ran on every interaction + (O(n)), instead of once (O(1)) - only once.
Looked flawless⊠until my CPU started crying đ
And yeah - nothing beats the sense of accomplishment when you build something yourself.
The struggle makes it way more rewarding.
@shahar_shalev Sometimes the vibe-coder does not understand that their app has major flaws or scaling issues. That's where being an experienced programmer has a huge advantage.
Experienced Programmer + Vibe Coding = Programming Superpowers
Cal ID
AI lets indie devs move at lightspeed, but knowing why something works is still huge. Fast builds are awesome for ideas and MVPs, but deeper skills mean you can spot hidden problems and make better choices.
Yes AI is a power horse and I have used it to my best by building a framework. The problem comes when a dev doesn't guide it well and as the app grows it starts getting messing. After a point for novice devs it becomes too difficult to fix issues and continue, that's where majority of the vibe coding projects gets failed. If devs have basic foundation knowledge of software development it protects them from hitting their head into the wall and then AI works with you not against you. My framework helps with that it provides devs a guide rail so along with AI they don't just start their million dollar ideas but finish it and get to their business goals sooner.
@vatsmi Yes I did notice sometimes when building prototypes the vibe-coded project starts messing up and gets difficult to fix, even as an experienced programmer as myself. That's probably why I have been seeing services online about programmers fixing others' vibe-coded projects.