Start Vibe Coding Today

Welcome to the vibe coding masterclass.

In this series I will take you from complete beginner to advanced, step by step. You will learn what vibe coding is, how to get started, how to write better prompts, how to connect a database, how to work with GitHub, and how to build real applications.

Let us start at the very beginning.

What is vibe coding

Vibe coding is a new way to build software.

Instead of writing code by hand, you build applications just by typing a prompt and having a conversation with an AI coding agent. It is similar to ChatGPT, where you ask a question and it answers. Here, you describe what you want and the AI writes the code and builds the app for you.

So rather than talk about it, let us build something.

The demo: a portfolio from a single prompt

For this demo I used a tool called v0.

You can also use bolt.new or lovable.dev, which do the same kind of work. In any of these editors you will find a box to write your prompt, and you can start with something as simple as:

Create my portfolio website.

That basic prompt works. But the more context you give, the more useful the result.

Start basic, then enhance the prompt

A simple prompt gets you a generic site, so add detail.

To make the site actually about you, include things like:

• Your resume, LinkedIn, GitHub, and X
• The pages you want (homepage, about, resume)
• What goes on each page
• Your design preferences: colors, fonts, branding

One more tip for a portfolio: because you want it to be found, mention that you want to use Next.js, since it is better for SEO. I pasted my enhanced prompt, attached my resume, and let v0 pull from my LinkedIn and GitHub. A minute later it had built a clean portfolio with all my information organized nicely.

Keep iterating until you are happy

The first build is a starting point, not the final answer.

From here you just keep asking for changes: add my photo, make this button work, change this section. You can also borrow from sites you like. Find a portfolio you admire, take a screenshot or copy the link, and tell the AI you want yours to look and work like that.

This back and forth continues until the site is exactly what you want.

The buttons that matter

Every one of these tools gives you a few powerful options.

• Code view: see the actual code behind the scenes. You do not have to, but you can.
• Download: pull the whole project onto your computer to keep working locally.
• GitHub: connect a repository so your code stays in sync.
• Database: wire up a database when your app needs one.
• Publish: deploy straight to a live URL, hosting included.

That last one is the magic. Traditionally you buy hosting, configure it, then deploy. These agents do all of it from the browser, and every change creates a version so you can roll back if something breaks.

Which tool should you start with

You have two kinds of tools to choose from.

• Browser-based: v0, Lovable, and Bolt. Nothing to install, and they connect to things like databases and payment gateways for you.
• Installed on your computer: Cursor, which we will cover in detail later.

When you are starting out, I strongly recommend a browser tool. Begin with v0, Lovable, or Bolt, get a feel for how everything works, and move to Cursor or VS Code once you are ready for more complex builds.

The honest downsides

Before we finish, let us talk about the criticism of vibe coding.

People who say it has problems are not wrong, but they are not entirely right either. The real risks are:

• You ship code you do not understand, and that grows as your apps get more complex.
• Security issues, like exposed keys that get exploited. I have been in software for 25 years, and even senior developers miss these, which is why a security audit matters for anything production-ready.
• It can make you a weaker coder if you stop paying attention and stop learning the fundamentals.

That last point matters most for new programmers. AI does not remove the need to build your foundation, your logic, and your problem-solving mindset.

The takeaway

Vibe coding is here to stay, and it is only going to grow.

So do not get scared of the downsides, and do not pretend they are not real. Understand them, learn to work around them, and you will be far ahead of people who do neither.

Stay with this series and you will go from this first simple build all the way to complex, production-ready applications.