Back to Articles
Jan 17, 20261 month ago

Vibe coding: You’re Bad at Prompting

P
Param@Param_eth

AI Summary

This article dismantles the common excuse that effective "vibe coding" with AI requires expensive gear, arguing the real barrier is poor communication, not tools. The core argument is that successful AI-assisted development hinges on precise prompting, not a high-end setup. The author provides a five-step framework to bridge the gap between a developer's intent and the AI's output. Key Insights The fundamental skill for vibe coding is translating clear intent, not perfect English, into instructions the AI can execute, as AI understands commands, not emotions or vague desires. Effective prompting requires upfront planning: deciding on your tech stack, data storage, and UI patterns before you start, rather than hoping the AI guesses correctly. Critical practices include keeping a project notes.md file to build understanding and confidence, breaking requests into small, atomic tasks, and saving working code examples for easy debugging and updates. A counterintuitive but powerful tip is to prompt the AI to write code for a complete beginner, which forces clear explanations and accelerates learning over blind copy-pasting.

Save this :)

You don’t need a MacBook to code.
You don’t need a big-screen monitor.
You don’t need a standing desk.

All of these are mostly excuses.

To code and build things today, you need only:

A browser

An internet connection

And a clear thought in your mind

That’s it.

Most people believe vibe coding requires a high-end setup.

It doesn’t.

What it actually requires is knowing "how to talk to AI " not in perfect English, but in clear intent.

AI doesn’t understand your emotions.
It understands instructions.

The Biggest Myth About Vibe Coding

People think:

“I need a expensve setup to vibe code.”

Wrong.

You need to learn one thing only:

How to clearly explain what you want to build so the LLM understands it.

Example prompt:

“I want to build a landing page for my website in an aesthetic theme.”

That’s already better than what most people write.

Why Most People Quit Vibe Coding

Common complaints:

“I’m getting errors”

“My website is not working”

“This is not what I wanted to build”

And then they conclude:

“Vibe coding is shit.”

No.
The prompt was shit.

There’s a gap between:

What’s in your mind

What you actually typed

AI is not a human.

It cannot read your feelings or intentions.

If you write:

“Add a login page”

You’ll get:

Very basic

Useless login page

Then you get frustrated.

The problem is not AI.
The problem is how you communicate.

Step #1: Figure Out What You’re Building Before You Prompt

This is the most important step.

Bad prompt:

“Build a to-do list website”

Result:

Beginner-level

Generic output

Good prompt:

“Build a to-do list website using ReactJS and TailwindCSS, store data in Supabase, include alerts, and keep users updated via email.”

Result:

Much closer to what you actually want

Before prompting, ask yourself:

Should I use this tool or that one?

Which stack do I want?

Where should data be stored?

What kind of UI do I like?

Look at other apps on GitHub:

Are they using Next.js?

Which icon library?

What UI patterns?

You’re not guessing and hoping AI understands.
You are telling it exactly what to do.

Step #2: Keep Notes:

Keep Notes and become a developer

Every time you open Claude, Gemini, or ChatGPT, do this first:

“Create a file called notes.md and save every important question, answer, and decision about this project.”

Why this matters:

You understand how your project works

You remember why things were built a certain way

You can explain your project to others

You become confident

This single habit will turn you into a pro vibe coder.

Step #3: Ask for One Thing at a Time

AI is terrible at unclear big tasks.
AI is amazing at small, clear tasks.

Bad:

“Build the settings page”

You’ll get:

A useless basic page

Good approach:

“Write code to fetch user settings from the database and return them in this exact format.”

“Create a component that displays this data like this design.”

“Make it update instantly when the user changes settings and handle these specific errors.”

Step by step.
One job at a time.

That’s how real developers work—and AI shines here.

Step #4: Save Working Examples

Sometimes:

Code breaks

A model gets deprecated

Gemini code doesn’t work anymore

Libraries change

If you’ve saved a working reference file:

Feed it to Claude

Ask it to update everything

Fix all error parts

This saves hours of time.

Always keep:

Updated examples

Known-good code

Step #5: Describe Roles Properly

Stop writing:

“You are a senior programmer.”

That’s beginner behavior.

Instead, write:

“Write the code like someone who has never written a line of code before someone who messes things up and needs everything explained clearly.”

Why?

You’ll understand the code

You’ll learn faster

You won’t blindly copy-paste

------------------------------

These rules compound when you use them together.

You don’t need better tools.
You don’t need a better setup.

You need better thinking and better prompts.

Happy vibe coding.

— Param