Claude Code’s creator explains the limits of vibe coding

• Claude Code's creator says vibe coding falls short when it comes to producing "maintainable code."
• Boris Cherny says he typically pairs with a model to write code for tasks that are more critical.
• The models are still "not great at coding," he added.

The creator of one of the most popular AI coding tools says vibe coding can only go so far.

Boris Cherny, the engineer behind Anthropic's Claude Code, said on an episode of "The Peterman Podcast" published Monday that while vibe coding has its place, it's far from a universal solution.

It works well for "throwaway code and prototypes, code that's not in the critical path," he said.

"I do this all the time, but it's definitely not the thing you want to do all the time," Cherny said, referring to vibe coding.

"You want maintainable code sometimes. You want to be very thoughtful about every line sometimes," he added.

Claude Code launched earlier this year as part of Anthropic's efforts to integrate AI more deeply into code development workflows.

Top AI coding services like Cursor and Augment run on Anthropic's models, and even Meta uses Anthropic's models inside its coding assistant. Claude Code has also taken off with non-technical developers who want to build software with natural-language prompts.

Anthropic's CEO, Dario Amodei, said in October that Claude was writing 90% of the code in the company.

For critical coding tasks, Cherny said he typically pairs with a model to write code.

He starts by asking an AI model to generate a plan, then iterates on the implementation in small steps. "I might ask it to improve the code or clean it up or so on," he said.

For parts of the system where he has strong technical opinions, Cherny said he still writes the code by hand.

Cherny said the models are still "not great at coding."

"There's still so much room to improve, and this is the worst it's ever going to be," he said.

Cherny said it's "insane" to compare current tools to where AI coding was just a year ago, when it amounted to little more than type-ahead autocomplete. Now, it's a "completely different world," he said, adding that what excites him is how fast the models are improving.

The rise of vibe coding

AI-assisted coding has been gaining momentum across the tech world.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai said last month that vibe coding is "making coding so much more enjoyable," adding that people with no technical background can now build simple apps and websites.

"Things are getting more approachable, it's getting exciting again, and the amazing thing is, it's only going to get better," he said in a podcast interview with Logan Kilpatrick, who leads Google's AI Studio.

Pichai said during Alphabet's April earnings call that AI is writing over 30% of the new code at Google, an increase from 25% in October 2024.

It's "fantastic" how quickly developers can write software with AI coding tools, sometimes while "barely looking at the code," said Google Brain founder Andrew Ng in May.

For non-technical developers, vibe coding has enabled them to automate parts of their jobs, prototype ideas, or build a creative product on the side, Business Insider reported last month.

Still, leaders caution that the technology has limits. AI-generated code could contain mistakes, be overly verbose, or lack the proper structure.

"I'm not working on large codebases where you really have to get it right, the security has to be there," Pichai said in November.