dev-backbone-template/SKILLS/26-vibe-coding-fundamentals.md

Vibe Coding With Fundamentals (Safety Rails)

Use this skill when you’re using “vibe coding” (fast, conversational building) but want production-grade outcomes.

The good

• Rapid scaffolding and iteration
• Fast UI prototypes
• Quick exploration of architectures and options

The failure mode

• “It works on my machine” code with weak tests
• Security foot-guns (auth, input validation, secrets)
• Performance cliffs (accidental O(n²), repeated I/O)
• Unmaintainable abstractions

Safety rails (apply every time)

• Always start with acceptance criteria (what “done” means).
• Prefer small PRs; never dump a huge AI diff.
• Require DoD gates (lint/test/build) before merge.
• Write tests for behavior changes.
• For anything security/data related: do a Reviewer pass.

When to slow down

• Auth/session/token work
• Anything touching payments, PII, secrets
• Data migrations/schema changes
• Performance-critical paths
• “It’s flaky” or “it only fails in CI”

Practical prompt pattern (use in PLAN)

• “State assumptions, list files to touch, propose tests, and include rollback steps.”