The Biggest Lie of Vibe Coding: Unstable Foundations Will Eventually Collapse

Using AI to create apps in minutes is exciting, but a recent Reddit post has poured cold water on all “Vibe Coders.” The CEO of Cursor privately warned: unstable foundations will eventually collapse. Is this creating anxiety, or is it exposing the industry’s biggest lie?

The CEO of Cursor recently wrote in an internal document, later leaked online:

The foundation laid by Vibe Coding is shaky and will eventually collapse.

This statement from the CEO of a company that relies on AI programming tools carries significant weight.

Recently, a Reddit post reached 978 points, with nearly everyone voting in favor. The title read:

“If you’re going to launch a ‘vibe coded’ app… read this first”

The poster, who has been coding for over 20 years, specializing in performance and security, noted that too many people use AI to create things and launch them without the most basic checks.

The post listed a series of common mistakes made by beginners: leaking environment variables, lacking privacy policies, no error handling, and no input validation…

Among the 158 comments, a few stood out.

Most Upvoted Comments

First, with 52 upvotes:

“You forgot about the EU’s accessibility laws. If you operate in Europe, every button, image, and text must meet accessibility standards—screen readers, high contrast, keyboard navigation… I personally trust a well-made accessible website more because it shows they value quality and consistency.”

Second, with 48 upvotes, a bit sarcastic:

“You wrote this post using vibe coding, ironic.”

Third, with 8 upvotes, addressing a practical pain point:

“Leaking environment variables is too common and should be the first point. AI-generated code often misplaces things, and beginners don’t know what to check. Also, OWASP security tips—most people think AI will automatically check for security, but if you don’t explicitly ask it, it won’t. And one more thing—API rate limiting. I’ve seen several vibe coded apps get slammed, and the bills exploded because there was no protection.”

Fourth, with 5 upvotes:

“I wish tools like Replit would prominently display this information. Secure apps built on their platform benefit the platform itself, so they should provide a checklist before users hit publish.”

Postmortem of Game Development

In the r/gamedev section, a developer posted a “postmortem” report.

He attempted to use AI to create a Metroidvania game, spending about 40 hours before giving up. 290 points, 412 comments.

His core conclusion was:

“A complete project using Vibe Coding is basically a myth. Current models and agents can only create prototypes. You can’t rely on AI to compensate for not knowing how to code.”

But the first reactions in the comments were even harsher than his statement.

Most Upvoted, 816 upvotes:

“Honestly, dude, you spent a week working on a game. Game development time units are months and years, not weeks.”

Second place, 290 upvotes:

“Vibe coding for games is feasible—provided you already know how to make that game. Because each time, you have to write a new prompt to get it to do it differently since it didn’t do it right last time.”

Third place, 172 upvotes:

“This is the fundamental misunderstanding of AI-assisted programming. It’s not a replacement for programmers; it’s a tool to help you quickly write simple code so programmers can focus on solving complex problems. Once you have robust examples, AI can write other components in seconds, while a human takes minutes or hours. But you need to know what robust means.”

Fourth, 59 upvotes, shared a particularly practical insight:

“In our company discussions about AI-generated code, my catchphrase has become: there’s no such thing as free code. Some people are dazzled by quick, free solutions but don’t consider the costs of maintaining, debugging, and extending that code. Not understanding your own codebase comes with a cost.”

The Essence of the Problem: The Barrier Has Not Disappeared, It Has Just Shifted

Many believe Vibe Coding lowers the barrier to programming.

Wrong. The barrier hasn’t lowered; it has shifted from ‘writing code’ to ‘understanding code.’

The game developer spent 40 hours, and the biggest issue wasn’t that AI wasn’t smart enough, but that he didn’t know what a good code structure looks like.

A commenter put it well:

“Spending 40 hours learning GDScript might yield better results than spending 40 hours wrestling with AI.”

How Those Who Truly Use AI for Product Development Do It

I looked into the experiences of those on Reddit who have successfully launched products using AI and found they share a common trait:

They all understand programming.

They use AI to write code but review every line.

They use AI to write shaders and animation scripts but handle the core logic and architecture themselves.

AI is an accelerator, not a replacement.

What About Non-Programmers?

If you completely lack programming knowledge but want to use AI to create products, what should you do?

My advice is: learn the basics first, then use AI.

You don’t need to become an expert, but you need to know:

• What variables, functions, and loops are
• What front-end, back-end, and databases are
• What APIs are, and what requests and responses mean

These basic concepts can be mastered in a week. With this knowledge, when you use AI to write code, you’ll understand what it’s doing and can identify potential issues.

Jumping into Vibe Coding without understanding the basics is like driving an autonomous vehicle without knowing traffic rules—sure, the car moves, but if something goes wrong, you won’t even know where the brakes are.

Ultimately

Vibe Coding is not a lie.

The lie is that “anyone can use AI to create products.”

The coder who has spent a lifetime writing code made it clear on Reddit—he’s not gatekeeping; he’s reminding us:

If you want to launch something, you must be responsible for those who use it.

AI can help you write code, but it won’t replace your understanding of what good architecture, security, and user experience are.

Those who create functional products with AI but don’t understand the underlying logic will only realize how true the statement about shaky foundations is when bugs arise in production.