The Hitchhiker's Guide to Vibe Engineering
DON'T PANIC
A field manual for building software with AI -- without losing your mind or your engineering instincts.
Part 0: Philosophy
Part 1: Fundamentals
DON'T PANIC
Your first AI coding experience will go through three phases. The goal is phase 3.
2 min readThe Towel Principle
Version control is your towel -- the one thing you should never code without.
5 min read42
AI gives you answers. Engineering gives you the right questions.
5 min readThe Babel Fish Problem
The AI does not understand your intent. It predicts tokens based on patterns.
6 min readPart 2: Applied Wisdom
Mostly Harmless
A risk classification system for knowing when to vibe and when to verify.
5 min readThe Total Perspective Vortex
Understanding what AI actually is -- and is not -- without losing your mind.
6 min readThe Restaurant at the End of the Sprint
Sprint planning, estimation, and project management with AI assistance.
6 min readSo Long, and Thanks for All the Code
The hardest skill in vibe coding is knowing when to stop.
6 min readPart 3: Surviving Success
Field Guide Entries
Accept All
Caution to DangerThe practice of accepting AI-generated code without reading the diff.
3 min readCode Review
EssentialHuman examination of code before it ships -- not optional with AI-generated code.
3 min readContext Windows
Caution AdvisedThe amount of text an AI can remember at once -- and what happens when you exceed it.
2 min readHallucinations
DangerWhen an AI generates something that looks correct, sounds confident, and is completely made up.
3 min readThe MVP Sanity Check
DangerA diagnostic test for vibe-coded products that have reached real users.
5 min readPrompts
Mostly HarmlessThe text you give to an AI to tell it what you want -- garbage in, garbage out.
2 min readTesting
EssentialYour primary defense against confident wrongness in AI-generated code.
3 min read