Presented by Salesforce Vibe coding — the fast-growing trend of using generative AI to spin up code from plain-language prompts — is quick, creative, and great for instant prototypes. But many argue that it’s not cut out for building production-ready business apps with the security, governance, and trusted infrastructure that enterprises require. In other words, a few saved hours in development can mean a future full of security vulnerabilities, endless maintenance, and scalability headaches, says Mohith Shrivastava, principal developer advocate at Salesforce.”For rapid experimentation, building minimum viable products, and tackling creative challenges, vibe coding is a game-changer,” Shrivastava says. “However, that same speed and improvisational nature are exactly what makes its application in a professional, enterprise setting a topic of intense debate. And the skepticism from the developer community is 100% justified.”Risks and rewards of vibe coding The excitement is all about speed: going from a rough idea to a working prototype in hours, not weeks, is a massive advantage. But as Shrivastava shared, developers have been vocal about the potential downsides.”When you apply vibe coding indiscriminately to an entire application stack, you’re not just moving fast; you’re accumulating risk at an unprecedented rate,” Shrivastava explains. “The cons are significant.” That includes potential security nightmares, as AI models don’t typically take into consideration the company’s specific security policies. They can easily introduce vulnerabilities like hardcoded secrets or use insecure, hallucinated packages. Then there’s the issue of what Shrivastava calls “spaghetti code on steroids,” or verbose code that lacks a coherent architectural pattern, creating a mountain of technical debt.Equally c …
