Vibe Coding: Why the trendiest programming language is English

Vibe coding is the hottest trend in the tech world in 2026. Everyone is talking about it, from Silicon Valley to large German office spaces. And if there is an AI event in your city this week, I bet it is about vibing. But can you really develop software without understanding a single line of code? Yes, of course. At least that is the almost self-evident promise our columnist Markus Sekulla is confronted with in his self-experiment.

Recently, I received three enthusiastic messages from three different people in my digital circle. The common denominator: We are at the forefront when it comes to vibe coding.

The first time I thought: Okay, another hype. The second time: Interesting. The third time I realized: Something is happening here. Something you can either smile at or try out yourself.

Clear case: We will do, as always, a mix of both.

What is Vibe Coding?

Andrej Karpathy, co-founder of OpenAI and former Head of AI at Tesla, someone who definitely knows what he is talking about, coined the term in February 2025.

His idea: Vibe coding is software development through natural language. You give the AI instructions in English or German, and it writes the code. It implements it. It even debugs it. Afterwards, you can quickly modify the code. You basically vibe with the AI.

In short: You build apps and websites with words instead of programming languages.

Which brings me to the key question: How complicated is it, really, to go from absolute zero to a functioning one-trick-pony app? Time for the self-test.

Tool chaos, part two

Anyone who read my article on Agentic AI knows the pattern: At the beginning there is always the big question: Which tool do I use?

I ask ChatGPT: “What would you recommend?” ChatGPT names three:

Bolt.new – A browser-based tool that generates code directly in the browser and shows a live preview. No download required, fast, but limited to simpler projects.

Replit – A fully fledged online development environment with collaboration features. Works for more complex projects, but requires more onboarding.

Cursor – A desktop editor with built-in AI that looks like VS Code, but offers smarter code suggestions. More for people who already have some experience, I would say.

I ask Claude: “What would you recommend?”
Claude suggests: “Just use me – Claude Code in the Pro version.”

I like confidence. So let’s give Claude a shot.

Then comes the first wave of terms that feel like a foreign language you are somehow supposed to understand: Refactoring. Deploy. Environment. Repository. Container. Build.

It is like watching sign language – you sense the meaning, you intuitively understand the gestures, but you do not really know anything for sure.

For further reading: Here is a comprehensive overview of the tools currently on the market: https://manus.im/de/blog/best-vibe-coding-tools

The idea: A countdown I actually need

My idea: The American football season of the NFL starts on September 10, 2026. That is about seven months from now. And I do not want to keep calculating how many days our fan group still has to wait. So I try building an event countdown generator. Input: date plus name of the event. Output: a small website with an animated countdown that I can share.

I open Claude Code and type:

“Build me an animated countdown for the 2026 football season. Start: September 10, 2026. Design: modern, dark background, large numbers.”

Enter.

Claude does not respond with a counter question, as we have somewhat gotten used to with LLMs. Nor with a “That will not work.” Instead, it responds with a complete block of code. HTML, JavaScript, a bit of CSS. Cleanly formatted, including comments.

It works without an error message. No crash. No cryptic error that sends me googling for two hours. Perplexity sets in.

Sure, the app is rudimentary. It has no fancy design, no database in the background, no cloud connection. It is not ready for the App Store, but it does what I wanted.

And the crazy part: I did not write a single line of code myself. I just said what I wanted in plain language. Subject, predicate, object.

So it dawned on my, that this trend really has massive potential. I lean back with my coffee and think about other small gimmicks I could just build on the fly.

The limits: Where the vibe bubble bursts

Of course, it does not stay that simple.

When I ask Claude out of curiosity to extend the countdown: “Add a confetti rain effect when the countdown reaches zero and send me a countdown email each day during the last ten days,” things quickly become more complicated.

Suddenly, I am back in the technical jungle. Claude and I are no longer vibing that much. For now, I simply lack the understanding and context, but the more sophisticated the LLMs become the less context ist going to be needed.

And this is exactly where the limit is (as of February 2026): For simple, clearly defined tasks, vibe coding is brilliant. Almost magical. For complex, interconnected systems, you still need real know-how. Or at least someone who understands what the AI is proposing. Still, everyone I have spoken to about this topic says the learning curve is quite steep and that you can quickly overcome initial limits and start building more complex applications.

The black box has not disappeared. It has only shifted. For now.

Here is the simple page I have now bookmarked: https://football-season-countdown.netlify.app/

For further watching: A 35-minute video explaining numerous vibe coding terms and tricks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px_yUq5Nos0

Conclusion

The entry barrier has dropped dramatically. In 45 minutes, I built something that two years ago would have required 4 hours of my work or professional support, but: A sharp kitchen knife does not make you a head chef.

Text: Markus Sekulla