Vibe Coding - Collins’ Word of the Year 2025
“Vibe Coding” - a phrase that has emerged from online developer culture and increasingly describes how many people now begin the process of writing software.
For some, vibe coding is familiar, for others, it may be entirely new. But as the term enters mainstream conversation, we exploring what it really means - and how it relates (and doesn’t relate) to the direction Isoblue is taking with IsoStack.
So, what exactly is Vibe Coding?
The term was popularised by OpenAI co-founder and AI researcher Andrej Karpathy, who posted playfully about a new kind of programming where developers “give in to the vibes” and let AI generate large parts of the code. It’s an intuition-driven way of working: instead of meticulously planning every detail, you sketch your intent and let AI help you explore possibilities quickly.
Used well, this approach can unlock enormous creativity. But it also has limitations - especially when you need software that is secure, scalable, and built for real-world organisations.
What Vibe Coding Is Good For
Rapid Prototyping
Turn ideas into something visible, testable, and concrete — fast.Exploration & Iteration
Ideal for the early stages of a project when you want to explore options, try out flows, or validate your thinking.Lowering the Barrier to Entry
Enables non-coders to participate in early shaping of ideas simply by describing what they want.
Why Vibe Coding isn’t enough for Production-Grade Software
Limited Fine-Grained Control
AI output can be inconsistent or high-level, making it hard to enforce structural precision.Scalability & Reliability Concerns
Early “vibe-led” code often lacks robust patterns around performance, testing, and error handling.Security Risks
Without review and strong architectural constraints, vulnerabilities can slip into the codebase unnoticed.Maintenance Difficulties
Code generated on vibes alone can become hard to understand, debug, or extend — especially for teams inheriting it later.
Read Chris’s first hand experience with early Vibe Code platforms - a lesson learnt for sure!
Vibe Code Caution post →
IsoStack isn’t a Vibe Coding tool - and intentionally so.
However, IsoStack does embrace the spirit of faster, more intuitive development. It gives individuals and small teams the ability to move quickly, experiment freely, and incorporate AI in productive ways — while still benefiting from a secure, multi-tenant, professionally engineered foundation.
IsoStack bridges the gap by offering:
A solid architectural backbone
Multi-tenant Postgres, RLS, validated schemas, modular routers, and a predictable file structure. No matter how creative your starting point is, the finished product sits on a stable, auditable, enterprise-quality foundation.Guardrails that prevent “prototype code” from reaching production
Zod validation, secure auth, controlled data flows, and permission-aware APIs ensure that only properly structured features move forward.A place for AI to assist - safely
Developers can use AI to generate early drafts, components, or workflows, but IsoStack enforces the shape and contracts those outputs must meet.A future-proof way of building faster apps
Clients get the speed of modern AI-augmented development without the fragility associated with vibe-coded prototypes.
In short: IsoStack has the security, speed and creativity - but removes the uncertainty and chaos.
Why This Matters to Our Clients
As AI becomes woven into mainstream development culture, businesses need partners who understand both the opportunity and the risk. Some teams will arrive fully aware of vibe coding; others may never have heard the term. Our role is to help clients move quickly without compromising security, reliability, or long-term maintainability.
That’s exactly the balance we’ve built into IsoStack.