Experimenteren met Vibe Coding

AI makes software development more accessible than ever. But does it really work? Vibe coding promises a revolution: you type what you think, and AI builds it for you. No wireframes, no designs, no hours of coding, just prompt, click, done. But is it the future of development, a new hype, or an interesting new and useful tool?

AI experiments are part of our work.

At Leukeleu, we are always curious about technological innovation. Not because we want to ride the next wave, but because we want to understand what it can bring us (and our customers). AI is no exception.

In addition to our regular work, we consciously take the time to experiment. What works, what doesn't, and what are the limits (now)?

Vibe coding, generating software based on natural language, is one such development that cannot be ignored. Time for a practical test!

The assignment: build a simple planning tool

We wanted to create a small, functional application and write as little code as possible ourselves. The assignment:

• Create an app that allows us to enter hours in the weekly schedule for each employee
• Drag employees to projects on specific days and hours
• Show a visual warning when overplanning
• Save the schedule with local storage in the browser

We used Bolt.new (similar to Lovable) and got to work. Prompt-driven coding, with AI at the wheel or as a co-pilot. The division of roles was not yet entirely clear to me.

The result: something beautiful quickly, but difficult to get right

The first prototype was ready in no time. The interface looked sleek. The drag-and-drop functionality worked surprisingly well. It was fun! But it didn't stop there.

Vibe coding is not magic, but it is a useful tool

The big insight? Vibe coding is a very useful tool for us and enables us to support a new and better form of prototyping.

It is ideal for playing around with and quickly building something tangible. But as soon as it really has to work and be secure, scalable, and maintainable, Vibe coding is not the solution.

As with many technical shortcuts, if you take the shortest route, you will pay the price later. AI is fast, but it does not understand context or privacy/security requirements. These are all things that you will have to build in later.

When does it work?

Vibe coding is valuable if you:

• want to quickly test or validate an idea
• need a simple interface without heavy logic
• want to experiment yourself without depending on developers

But it is unsuitable if you:

• process privacy-sensitive data
• have complex business rules
• want certainty about performance and maintainability

So... are we going to use it more often?

Yes! We definitely see the added value of AI in the design phase. For prototyping and inspiration.

And no... For real applications, we will continue to build as we always do: with insight, structure, and an eye for the long term. Of course, with the support of AI, but we will not let AI take the wheel.

As we said earlier: AI makes our work easier and strengthens us in our activities. And that's what makes it interesting.