vibe-coding

A shift from long-lived SaaS platforms to ephemeral, bespoke tools built to solve immediate problems and then discarded or regenerated.

Programmer and blogger; associated with “Landing the Plane”, Beads, Gas Town, and (with Gene Kim) book Vibe coding / FAAFO.

This note summarizes the “Three Developer Loops” framework from the book Vibe Coding by Gene Kim and Steve Yegge. The core idea: AI-assisted development happens across three different feedback-loop timescales. Practices (and patterns) must match the loop you’re currently in to maintain speed without sacrificing quality. The three loops (timescales) Inner Loop (seconds to minutes): Rapid, conversational collaboration with an AI assistant for constant, fast iterations. Middle Loop (hours to days): Continuity across multiple sessions, coordination between agents, and context management. Outer Loop (weeks to months): Long-term architecture, system-level sustainability, and organizational governance. Across all three loops, apply the same control logic: ...

Gene Kim and Steve Yegge coined the term FAAFO to describe the five dimensions of value that vibe coding (AI-assisted programming) creates: Fast: Rapid code generation and iteration Ambitious: Projects once too difficult become feasible Autonomous: Technical self-sufficiency across domains—developers can tackle tasks that previously required specialists or experts in areas outside their expertise Fun: Programming becomes addictive again through rapid feedback loops Optionality: Low-cost parallel experimentation enables keeping options open While speed is the most visible benefit, the authors argue it’s actually the least interesting. The deeper value lies in the other four dimensions—particularly how vibe coding reshapes what’s feasible for individual developers and small teams. ...