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How to Do Vibe Coding

Effective vibe coding requires structured prompting, incremental development, and safety practices. Claude Code provides the professional foundation with Plan Mode safety and CLAUDE.md persistence for successful outcome-focused development.

Core Vibe Coding Methodology​

  • Start with What You Want: Say I want a website where people can leave reviews about restaurants instead of trying to figure out technical requirements. Describe the end result you want users to experience.
  • Give Specific Details: Instead of saying make a contact form, say I want people to type their name, email, and message, then click a button to send it to me. Claude Code works better with concrete details.
  • Build One Thing at a Time: Ask for a webpage where people can type their name and email first. Get that working. Then add now let them type a message too. Don't ask for everything at once or you will fail.
  • Test Everything Yourself: Click every button, fill out every field, try to break things on purpose. Check it on your phone and resize your browser window to see if it works on different screen sizes. If something doesn't work the way you expected, ask Claude Code to fix it.
  • Save Your Work Often: When something works, save it immediately. Also ask Claude Code to document what you just built, like document how the contact form system works and any quirks of the system or document how the photo upload feature works and what file types it accepts. Vibe coding moves fast and you'll forget details, but this documentation helps Claude Code fix problems later.

Professional Vibe Coding Workflow​

  • CLAUDE.md Foundation: Document project preferences and constraints for consistent AI behavior. This file remembers how you like things done across all your sessions, preventing you from repeating the same instructions
  • Strategic Prompting: Ask How would you build this efficiently while making minimal changes?
  • Plan Mode Usage: Research and approve implementations before execution with Shift+Tab twice
  • Git Integration: Commit working features frequently for safe experimentation and rollback protection. Save progress often since vibe coding moves fast
  • Thorough Testing: Test all functionality carefully. AI sometimes creates features that look complete but don't fully work

Claude Code excels at vibe coding because it provides both the freedom to focus on outcomes and the safety features needed for professional development. The terminal integration provides direct model access without platform limitations, while Plan Mode enables safe review when needed.

Common Vibe Coding Mistakes to Avoid​

  • Infinite Debug Loops: If AI fails to fix something after a few attempts, start fresh rather than continuing to debug
  • Over-Complexity: Avoid building complex features all at once. Break them into simple, testable pieces. If you ask for "a social media app," you will fail. Ask for "a page where people can post messages" first
  • Outcome Blindness: Always test that results actually work for real use cases, not just perfect scenarios. Try logging in with a wrong password, submitting empty forms, or using your app on mobile. Don't just test the happy path
Professional Results

Claude Code keeps track of your project through CLAUDE.md and other reference markdown files that build up as you progress. Be sure to create multiple detailed markdown files throughout your project. This documentation becomes your project's knowledge base for building real applications that work reliably, not just quick prototypes.

See Also: Vibe Coding Best Practices|Plan Mode|How to Start Vibe Coding

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