The Actual Price of Vibe Coding

Vibe coding—when you just go with the flow, coding based on feelings rather than structured thought. It feels good. It feels productive. But what’s the real cost?

I've been vibe coding for a few weeks now, and here's what I think is the hidden cost.

1. Prone to Procrastination

Vibe coding often thrives on motivation spikes. You feel inspired, you write a lot of code, but when that vibe fades? You struggle to get started again. Unlike structured problem-solving, which follows a logical progression, vibe coding makes you dependent on mood rather than discipline.

Here's another way vibe coding cause you procrastinate:

1. You provided an instruction to do a certain changed to your code.
2. The AI is working on it.
3. You don't like to wait to see the result.
4. You jump to something else while the AI is still working.
5. You actually forgot about the project you were working on and you move to something else!

2. Loss of Critical Thinking

Instead of deeply understanding problems, you start guessing and tweaking until something works. Over time, this erodes your ability to break down complex issues. The habit of structured debugging and architectural planning weakens, making you less effective in long-term problem-solving.

3. Harder to Scale

When coding on vibes, you might not think about readability, maintainability, or how your code fits into a bigger system. This makes collaboration harder. When others read your code (or even you in a few weeks), it’s often messy, inconsistent, and full of hacks.

4. Accidental Reinforcement of Bad Habits

When you code by intuition alone, you’re likely reinforcing wrong assumptions. You might cut corners without realizing it, normalize bad patterns, and end up with a skill set that’s more about hacks than engineering.

5. Increased Mental Fatigue

Vibe coding gives short-term dopamine but leads to long-term burnout. Since you're not following a structured approach, every task feels like a new challenge, requiring fresh energy. The unpredictability of progress drains you faster than a steady, methodical workflow.

So, What’s the Alternative?

This isn’t to say you should never flow with your code. But mix it with structured approaches:

• Plan before coding. Even a simple outline helps.
• Develop debugging discipline. Don’t just tweak; analyze.
• Force yourself to slow down. Code in a way that your future self will thank you for.

Or you might want to try [an analog day a week](https://khokon.dev/weekup/blog/05-analog-day!

Vibe coding feels good in the moment, but without balance, it costs more than you realize.