Category · 36 posts
Vibe coding works great until you try to ship to production. Then the security holes, the missing auth, the database that doesn't scale, the AI hallucinating critical business logic — it all comes due at once.
This cluster is the honest version of what vibe coding actually delivers in 2026. Hands-on reviews of every major tool (Cursor, Claude Code, Bolt, Lovable, Replit, base44, Windsurf, Codex). Comparisons that name the trade-offs. And rescue case studies from real client work — what breaks, how to fix it, when to keep the AI code vs. start over.
Quick Answer
Curated by Justin McKelvey · 36 posts in this cluster · Updated August 2026
9 tells that a codebase was written by AI — from someone who rescues AI-built apps for a living. Why detector tools fail on code, what actually matters, and the exact order to fix things in.
Seven AI coding agents are worth using in 2026 — Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Cursor, Windsurf, Bolt, Lovable, and Replit Agent — plus the question the tool lists skip: which AI model is actually best for vibe coding, and what it costs per month.
Cursor vs Claude Code vs Codex in June 2026: honest pricing, where each wins and loses, and the 2-of-3 stack pro developers actually run. From a fractional CTO who bills with them daily.
Bolt and Lovable both promise to turn prompts into apps. I built the same MVP in each and reviewed the code as a fractional CTO. Here's which one is actually safe to ship.
Windsurf is an agent IDE. Claude Code is a terminal agent. I shipped real features with both. Here's what each one is actually good at and which to pick.
A YC-backed B2B SaaS shipped its MVP with AI-generated code. The UI looked complete. There was no real auth, no payments, no onboarding, no data integrity. Here's how we got it production-ready in 6 weeks — and what every vibe-coded MVP actually needs to survive real customers.
Claude Code and Cursor are the two most important AI coding tools in 2026. They're not competing — they solve different problems. Here's when to use each (and why most serious developers run both).
Replit is browser-first and collaborative. Cursor is a desktop IDE with deep AI integration. Plus the 6 best Replit alternatives in 2026 — when to use which.
Lovable and Cursor aren't really competitors — they're different categories of AI coding tools. Lovable builds your app from a prompt. Cursor helps you build it yourself. Here's when each wins.
I built the same production app with 8 vibe coding tools, then re-ranked them in July 2026. Full verdict table: rank, price, who each one is for, and the honest weakness nobody puts in the marketing copy.
Vibe coding means building software by describing what you want in plain English and letting AI write the code. Here's what that actually looks like in practice, where it works, and where it falls apart.
Vibe coding isn't bad. But it isn't magic either. After shipping 50+ products and rescuing a growing number of vibe-coded apps, here's my honest take on when it works, when it breaks, and what nobody tells you.
Cursor is the best vibe coding tool for developers. Here's how to actually use it — agent mode, rules files, model selection, and the workflows that make you 3-5x faster.
10 real vibe-coded projects reviewed by a fractional CTO. What tools they used, what worked, what broke in production, and what it cost to fix.
Claude Code is the best vibe coding tool for complex backend work. Here's how I use it daily as a fractional CTO — real workflows, real projects, and when to use it vs. Cursor.
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