Vibe Coding Masterclass: Karpathy's Method That Changed Everything

February 2025. Andrej Karpathy - co-founder of OpenAI, former AI director at Tesla - posted this:

'There's a new kind of coding I call vibe coding, where you fully give in to the vibes, embrace exponentials, and forget that the code even exists.'

4.5 million views. Collins Dictionary's Word of the Year. And 65% of developers now use AI coding tools weekly.

But here's the problem: Most developers are vibe coding wrong. And it's costing them more time than it saves.

Let me show you the right way.

Let's start with what Karpathy actually said. Not the headline - the details.

He described his workflow: He uses SuperWhisper to talk to Cursor Composer. Barely touches the keyboard.

He says things like 'decrease the padding on the sidebar by half' because he's too lazy to find it himself.

And here's the controversial part: 'I always click Accept All. I don't even read the diffs anymore.'

When he gets error messages, he just copies and pastes them without comment. Usually works.

He admits: 'The code grows beyond my usual comprehension.'

But he added something crucial that everyone forgets: 'It's not too bad for throwaway weekend projects.'

Weekend projects. Throwaway code. Experiments.

Karpathy wasn't describing how to build production software. He was describing a specific mode of creative exploration.

Most developers missed this distinction. And that's why they're struggling.

There's actually a research paper on this now. Let me break down the key differences.

**Vibe Coding**: Vibe coding is conversational. You describe what you want in natural language, AI generates code. You 'see things, say things, run things.'

- Human-in-the-loop at every step

- Prompt-based, iterative

- You drive, AI accelerates

- Best for exploration and prototyping

**Agentic Coding**: Agentic coding is autonomous. You give objectives, not instructions. The AI plans, executes, tests, and iterates with minimal intervention.

- Goal-driven agents

- AI plans and executes autonomously

- Human manages behavior and quality

- Best for enterprise automation

Left: GitHub Copilot autocomplete - AI assists your typing

Middle: Cursor Composer vibe coding - AI writes, you guide

Right: Claude Code agents - AI orchestrates, you supervise

I've put together a complete vibe coding resource guide at End of Coding.

Tool comparisons - Cursor vs Copilot vs Claude Code. Prompting frameworks that actually work. The mistakes to avoid.

Link in description.

Andrej Karpathy gave vibe coding a name. But he also gave us the caveat that everyone ignores: 'It's not too bad for throwaway weekend projects.'

The developers who will win aren't the ones who vibe code everything. They're the ones who know WHEN to vibe code and when to engineer.

That judgment - that's the skill that AI can't replace.

Not yet, anyway.