Vibe coding in software development: why delivery is 1.5-2x faster (not 10x) and why it still matters
The term vibe coding became a shorthand for shipping code with an LLM assistant: Cursor, Copilot, ChatGPT/Claude/Gemini, etc. It’s not “press a button and get a product”. It’s faster coding cycles: faster drafts, faster iteration, faster experimentation.
The key honesty: coding itself got dramatically faster, but software delivery is not only coding. In real projects the end-to-end speedup is usually 1.5-2x, not an order of magnitude. And 1.5-2x is still a big competitive advantage if you manage it correctly.
1) What vibe coding is in practice (no hype)
Vibe coding is a workflow where you:
- describe the task as a prompt (context, constraints, acceptance criteria),
- get a first draft (code, tests, migrations, configs),
- iterate to production quality (tests, review, security, edge cases),
- commit the result.
Think “engineer + very fast assistant”, not “robot developer”.
2) Why coding speed can be “many times faster”, but project delivery is only 1.5-2x
Because big parts of a project are only partially accelerated by LLMs.
What often accelerates a lot
- Boilerplate: models, DTOs, schemas, validation, types, serialization.
- Typical integrations: SDK client wrappers, timeouts, retries, idempotency patterns.
- Tests: baseline unit/integration tests once contracts are clear.
- Refactoring: splitting modules, renaming, simplifying logic, API migrations.
- Documentation: README, runbooks, ADR drafts, comments for complex areas.
What stays a bottleneck
- Requirements and scope: what exactly to build, what to exclude, priorities, edge cases.
- Architecture: boundaries, data flow, resilience, security, operational model.
- Production integrations: flaky APIs, rate limits, webhooks, queues, observability.
- Debugging: rare bugs, performance regressions, race conditions, incidents.
- Quality: review, API design, monitoring, maintenance, support.
On very simple tasks, the “non-coding” parts are small, so it feels like “send spec -> get result”. On complex systems, those parts dominate.
3) When vibe coding can feel like “task in -> done out”
Today it is reliable mostly for simple and isolated tasks, for example:
- implementing a small UI block without complex state,
- writing a small script/tool,
- building a standard CRUD module without deep domain logic,
- adding an obvious endpoint/handler with a clear contract,
- fixing types/lint/imports when the root cause is known.
Less uncertainty and fewer external dependencies -> more automation.
4) On complex projects, vibe coding is an accelerator, not an autopilot
LLMs help the most when you keep an engineering discipline:
- provide real context (repo structure, conventions, constraints),
- define acceptance criteria,
- ask for a plan/options before code,
- review security and edge cases,
- lock in tests as safety rails.
Otherwise you get plausible-looking code that breaks in production.
5) Project management: how to account for the 1.5-2x speedup
If the team actively uses vibe coding, planning should change:
- Estimation: boilerplate/refactoring/tests can get cheaper; integrations/architecture/production work usually doesn’t.
- Iteration speed: prototypes and validation cycles get faster, but quality must be protected.
- Risk: “generated fast, verified slow” -> you need stronger review/testing checklists.
- Specs and requirements matter even more: a good prompt starts with a good problem statement.
Practical rule: don’t cut all timelines in half. Cut the parts where the bottleneck is actually coding.
6) Budget: LLM queries are not free (plan for it)
Vibe coding often uses a lot of prompts. That’s a real operating cost.
A practical ballpark for active development is around $20/day in LLM usage (more or less depending on the model and intensity).
What affects cost:
- large context (many files/logs) is more expensive,
- prompt standardization reduces rework and wasted tokens,
- you may need a “cheap fast mode” and a “premium mode for hard tasks”.
7) How to adopt vibe coding without killing quality
Minimum set of practices:
- Definition of Done per task type: what tests/checks are mandatory.
- Prompt templates for common work (endpoint, integration, migration, tests).
- Security checklist (secrets, injections, access control, PII).
- Tests as contracts: if code is generated, tests should be generated too.
- Observability: logs/metrics/alerts, otherwise speed turns into fast incidents.
FAQ
Does it really speed up development?
Yes. It increases iteration speed and reduces routine work. End-to-end delivery is often 1.5-2x faster, not 10x.
Can I “send a spec and receive a finished product”?
Only for very simple tasks. Complex systems still need engineering control: requirements, architecture, integrations, and quality.
Does vibe coding reduce cost?
Often yes, but not automatically: integration/operations/quality work stays, and LLM usage adds budget.
If you want, I can help you adopt LLMs in engineering without sacrificing quality: review gates, security, and cost control.