been looking at a lot of vibe coded apps lately and honestly the problem is not that the code is always terrible
some of them are actually impressive
the real problem is that most of them are built like a demo that accidentally became a product
and that’s where things get messy
because for a demo you just need the happy path to work
user clicks button → thing happens → nice UI → everyone is excited
but for a real SaaS you need to know what happens when stuff goes wrong
user refreshes mid action
stripe webhook arrives late
ai call fails
job runs twice
user cancels payment
someone tries to access another users data
the db has 3 different fields meaning the same thing
you change one onboarding step and billing breaks for some reason lol
this is the part people underestimate
AI is very good at creating more app
but it’s not automatically good at making the app coherent
it will add a new table instead of understanding the old one
add a new status instead of fixing the logic
hide a button instead of protecting the endpoint
make a flow work once instead of making it safe to run 1000 times
and because the UI still looks fine, founders think they’re close
but they’re not close to production
they’re close to a bigger mess
my rule now is pretty simple
if your app has no users yet, vibe hard, move fast, break stuff, who cares
but once you have users, payments, private data, or even a serious waitlist, you need to slow down a bit and check the boring stuff
where does the truth live
who can access what
what happens when payment fails
what happens when AI fails
what happens if the same action runs twice
can you understand the database without asking the AI 15 times
can someone else safely work on this app
can you debug a user issue without guessing
that’s the difference between a prototype and a SaaS
not the design
not the landing page
not how fast you shipped it
it’s whether the thing can survive real usage
also one thing I see a lot
people keep asking AI to “clean” or “improve” code that already works, without understanding what depends on it
that’s how you break your own app
if a flow works and users are happy, freeze it
new ideas should go in a sandbox, not straight into the live logic
vibe coding is amazing for validation
but after validation your job changes
you’re not just prompting features anymore
you’re making product decisions
data decisions
security decisions
cost decisions
architecture decisions
even if you’re non technical, these decisions are still yours
so before you launch something people depend on, don’t ask “does it work”
ask “what breaks when real users touch it”
that question alone will save you a lot of pain
curious what scares people most in their vibe coded app right now
auth, stripe, database, ai costs, permissions, or just not knowing what the AI built anymore
