Vibe Coding with Heart

Vibe coding: One short prompt or real involvement?

Many people attack AI-assisted development. They use “vibe coding” dismissively because websites and apps can now be made quickly and cheaply with a few short prompts.

But AI is, first of all, an instrument. For me, the question is not simply whether someone used it. The question is how much effort that person put into their work.

Did they enter a short prompt and publish whatever came back? Or were they involved in every part with their own ideas, attention and heart? That is the difference that matters to me.

App development and web design: Every detail matters

With apps and websites, some people write a simple prompt: “AI, create a shop for this business.” Then they paste in all the information and accept the result without looking closely at each part.

But others work with AI on every single button: every bit of padding, every colour and every interaction. They decide exactly how the navigation should work and how the page should behave while scrolling.

These people are involved in every area. They pay close attention, go through the individual features and test for themselves whether the result works the way they want.

To me, that is very different from entering a short prompt and never checking anything afterwards. A person has thought things through, made decisions, tested the result and kept working on the details.

I call it “Diligent Passion AI Coding”

That superficial kind of vibe coding exists. But for people who use these tools with effort, passion and heart, I use a different name: Diligent Passion AI Coding.

I mean someone who uses AI while remaining wholeheartedly involved in their work. They do not leave everything to a single prompt. They work carefully through every part.

An example: JavaScript navigation that returns when you scroll back up

When people program, they often work in individual blocks. They might write a JavaScript function for a particular part of a website. Take a navigation that disappears while scrolling down and comes back while scrolling up: “Back to Reveal.”

Someone has a precise idea of this feature. They know when the navigation should be visible, when it should disappear and how the interaction should feel. Previously, they would have typed the JavaScript themselves. Now they describe their intention in a precise prompt and use AI to help implement it.

On the left is the JavaScript building block. On the right is the same task expressed as a precise AI prompt. The existing header is selected through data-scroll-header; its stylesheet responds to data-hidden. Load the JavaScript after the header, for example using defer.

const header = document.querySelector('[data-scroll-header]');

if (header) {
  let lastY = window.scrollY;
  let travel = 0;
  let scheduled = false;

  const show = () => { header.dataset.hidden = 'false'; };

  const update = () => {
    scheduled = false;
    const y = Math.max(0, window.scrollY);
    const delta = y - lastY;
    lastY = y;

    const isUsingNavigation =
      header.contains(document.activeElement) ||
      header.querySelector('dialog[open]');

    if (y <= 80 || isUsingNavigation) {
      travel = 0;
      show();
      return;
    }

    if (delta === 0) return;
    if (Math.sign(delta) !== Math.sign(travel)) travel = 0;
    travel += delta;

    if (Math.abs(travel) >= 12) {
      header.dataset.hidden = String(travel > 0);
      travel = 0;
    }
  };

  window.addEventListener('scroll', () => {
    if (scheduled) return;
    scheduled = true;
    requestAnimationFrame(update);
  }, { passive: true });

  header.addEventListener('focusin', show);
  update();
}

A person has thought carefully about the feature and decided exactly what they want. They are no longer typing all the code by hand. Instead, they state their requirements precisely and then check the result.

If they go through every part this way and test it themselves, that is very different from saying, “Create a website for me,” and never looking at anything afterwards.

What about someone who simply pays other people to do it?

When work made with AI is automatically dismissed as “cheap,” I want to make a comparison. What about someone who has plenty of money, hires somebody as cheaply as possible and simply says, “Create a website for me”?

That person may have made no effort themselves. They handed the job to someone else and accepted the result. They were not involved in every button, every colour and every feature.

How many websites and apps are made without the business owner or CEO being wholeheartedly involved, while employees do the actual work?

Now compare that with someone who uses AI but puts their whole heart into it. They look closely at everything, test the interactions thoroughly and work on every detail until it matches their intention.

Then ask yourself: what is actually “cheaper” in this comparison? The work of someone who uses AI but carefully examines and tests everything? Or the contribution of someone who simply pays another person and has something developed without putting their heart into it, only to make a business out of it?

For me, effort, involvement and heart matter

That is why we should look beyond whether AI was used. We should also look at what the person contributed: their ideas, their decisions, their testing and their effort.

A short prompt and an unchecked result are not the same as work where someone has carefully followed every part and tested it themselves.

AI is an instrument. What someone does with it, and how much heart they put into it, makes the difference to me. That is the attitude I mean by Diligent Passion AI Coding.