Practice · 2024–now · AI Present
Vibe coding
Accept AI output on feel, skip the diff, hope tests exist. Fast demos; CVEs and nobody owns the middleware.
Vibe coding failed production because accountability does not transfer with generated code. It works for throwaway prototypes and hurts when security and edge cases matter. The tool stuck; the practice of skipping review ages like "move fast and break things" with extra CVEs and post-incident Slack archaeology.
Cost of the fad
Ship-to-prod without reading the diff became a flex until incidents revealed nobody knew which prompt wrote the auth middleware. Review debt arrived in one weekend demo.
Case studies
- AI codebase rewrite pilots that shipped nothing — Six-figure LLM API and SI costs; production cutover: zero
- Low-code to replace engineering — then hire engineers — Seven-figure platform licenses; shadow IT integration debt
- Vibe-coded auth middleware nobody could explain — Sev-1 incident; emergency rewrite; weeks of audit and customer trust repair
Patterns
Context
Demos consolidate; evals remain
AI pair programming changed how code is typed faster than how it is reviewed. Agent frameworks and standalone vector stores sorted into demos versus durable plumbing; mid-market RAG folded back into Postgres. The permanent layer is familiar: evals that gate deploys, model routing for cost, tool protocols instead of plugin snowflakes, and humans who own production. Autopilot rewrites and vibe-shipped auth middleware are still big-bang migrations with better slides — and a longer on-call.
Compare with
Related
Practice · 2021–now
AI pair programming
Autocomplete that understands the file — now table stakes. Generation outran review capacity; ownership is the bottleneck.
Practice · 2023–now
AI will rewrite the codebase
Big-bang rewrite, now with a chatbot — then with agents. Same failure mode; prettier slides.
$ Exec decks promised autonomous migrations "by next quarter," then rebranded as "agentic modernization." Teams that skipped tests, ownership, and incremental strangler patterns bought expensive demos and fragile diffs.
Framework · 2023–now
LLM app frameworks
LangChain-class glue gave way to vendor SDKs and thin wrappers. The durable pieces are boring: evals, retrieval, and product UX.
Practice · 2024–now
AI review bottleneck
Copilot ships PRs faster than teams can review. Generation outran ownership and security review — the real 2026 invoice.