The Vibecode Manifesto

🌀 The Vibecode Manifesto

How to Build with AI Without Losing Your Soul (or Your Stack)

Welcome to Vibecoding—where humans lead and AI assists.
Where speed is magic, but security is sacred.
Where clean code means fewer bugs, sharper logic, and zero ethical regret.

As engineers—vibecoded or not—we carry real responsibility.
Customers trust us with their data. It's our job to protect it.
Respect the process. Don't go rogue trying to vibecode everything solo.
Lean on proven protocols, frameworks, and best practices.

This is your compass—a set of ethical and technical rules to keep you and your users grounded, secure, and sane.

💡 1. Start With Intention, Not Just Inspiration

Before you touch a single key—or summon your AI sidekick—sketch it out. Think like a product owner, architect, and user all at once.

What's the goal?
Who's using it?
What could go wrong?

📝 A quick doodle now saves you hours of debug despair later.

🧠 2. Write Your AI a Diary: context.txt

Your AI can't read your mind—but it can read context.txt. Put it in your project root, and keep it fresh. It should include:

Tech stack & library versions
App goals & architecture
API endpoints (planned & real)
Database schema
Constraints, edge cases, vibes

🎯 No more AI hallucinations. Just grounded guidance.

📚 3. Feed It Real Docs, Not Vague Vibes

Want your AI to be smart? Give it the cheat sheet:

Paste your exact framework versions
Drop in Tailwind, FastAPI, Vue, or Nuxt docs

Be specific. Think like a mentor, not a StackOverflow ghost.

👵 AI is smart, but not psychic. Be the senior dev you needed.

🧾 4. Track Everything in changelog.txt

If it changes and you didn't log it—did it even happen?

New feature? Note it.
Refactored logic? Log it.
AI rewrote a function? Time-stamp that magic.

📘 This is not just for AI. It's for your future self, too.

🕹️ 5. You're the Architect. Cursor is the Assistant

AI is your co-pilot, not your overlord. You decide:

Which services talk to each other
Where the data lives
How secure is secure enough

⚠️ If you can't explain it, the AI can't build it.

🧩 6. Structure Brings Sanity

Without structure:

APIs go unused
Versions mismatch
"Vibecode" becomes "why-is-this-code"

🧱 Structure isn't boring—it's the beat that keeps the vibe alive.

🔒 7. Secure Fast, Not Just Fast

Speed is sexy. But safety is sacred.

Encrypt what matters
Don't store what you shouldn't
Use OAuth, rate limits, and validation like seatbelts

🛡️ Trust is UX. And security is design.

🌱 8. Respect User Data Like It's Sacred

User data isn't "content"—it's consent.

Don't scrape, store, or snoop without a reason
Anonymize early. Audit often.
Always ask: Would I want this done to my data?

👁️‍🗨️ Privacy isn't optional. It's personal.

🛠️ 9. Plan Like a Pro, Build Like a Beast

The checklist before you code:

✅ context.txt created
✅ Docs uploaded
✅ Database mapped
✅ Services defined
✅ changelog.txt ready

💪 Preparation beats panic. Every. Single. Time.

🎶 10. Build in Flow, Not in Friction

Coding with AI should feel like jazz:

Fluid back-and-forth
Minimal repetition
Always in sync with the story

🎷 If it feels like a fight, realign your rhythm.

🤝 11. Leave the Codebase Better Than You Found It

Your future teammates—and AI—will thank you:

Clear comments
Defined functions
Named things like you care

📦 A clean repo is a love letter to your collaborators.

🧘‍♂️ 12. When In Doubt, Slow Down

Yes, speed is cool. But clarity is cooler.

Pause. Refactor. Think.
Don't ship vibes you wouldn't want in prod.

💡 Fast is fine—until it breaks.