What is agentic coding? How is it different from vibe coding?
Anil Yarimca
TL;DR
- What is agentic coding: it is a workflow where an AI coding agent can plan, run tools, execute changes, validate with tests, and iterate with limited human prompting, while leaving a trace you can audit.
- Vibe coding is a looser, prompt driven approach optimized for speed and experimentation, often producing a working draft quickly but with fewer built in guarantees.
- The practical difference is not “better prompts.” The difference is the operating model: supervised autonomy, tool use, validation loops, and traceability.
What is agentic coding
What is agentic coding is the practice of using an AI coding agent that can take a goal, create a step plan, use tools, run code, run tests, evaluate results, and keep iterating until the goal is met or a stop condition is triggered. The human shifts from writing every line to supervising, setting constraints, and reviewing outputs.
A useful way to spot real agentic coding is to look for an execution loop and tool grounding. The agent is expected to do more than generate code. It should be able to interact with a repo, run tests, interpret failures, and propose fixes, with approvals and traceability.
What vibe coding means
Vibe coding is a prompt first way of building where you describe what you want, the model generates code, you run it, and you iterate by prompting again. The emphasis is speed, exploration, and getting something working fast.
It is closely associated with Andrej Karpathy popularizing the term in 2025, and it is now commonly used to describe building by “describing intent and iterating” rather than carefully engineering every line upfront.
Agentic coding vs vibe coding
Here is the clean separation in practice.
Autonomy
• Vibe coding: you drive. The model responds with drafts.
• Agentic coding: the agent drives a multi step run. You supervise and approve.
Workflow shape
• Vibe coding: prompt, generate, run, react, repeat.
• Agentic coding: goal, plan, execute tool calls, validate, iterate, report.
Tool usage
• Vibe coding: tools are optional, often limited to your editor and manual runs.
• Agentic coding: tools are core, such as reading a repo, running tests, using CI signals, making structured changes, and keeping traces.
Reliability expectations
• Vibe coding: great for prototypes, fragile if shipped without extra discipline.
• Agentic coding: designed for repeatable delivery, but it needs boundaries, permissions, and validation.
Your role
• Vibe coding: builder and debugger, with the model as a fast pair.
• Agentic coding: manager and reviewer, with the agent as the doer.
When to use which
Use vibe coding when:
• You need a fast prototype or proof of concept
• Requirements are still fuzzy
• You are exploring UX, API shape, or a one off script
• The cost of a rewrite is low
Use agentic coding when:
• The task is multi step and touches a real codebase
• You need test driven changes, refactors, migrations, or repeated fixes
• You care about traceability and controlled changes
• You want the system to run tools and validate outcomes, not just write code
Example workflow
Goal: “Refactor the billing module to support a new pricing rule, with tests.”
Vibe coding approach
• Prompt for new code
• Paste changes
• Run app
• Patch failures by prompting again
Fast to draft, but you can lose track of why changes happened.
Agentic coding approach
- You provide a short spec and acceptance tests.
- The agent proposes a plan: files to touch, new tests, expected failures.
- The agent makes a small change, runs tests, observes failures.
- The agent iterates until tests pass.
- The agent produces a trace and a PR ready diff, then asks for approval.
That is the real difference: agentic coding makes validation and traceability part of the workflow, not an afterthought.
FAQs
What is agentic coding in one sentence?
What is agentic coding is building software with an AI agent that can plan, execute, validate with tools, and iterate toward a goal under human supervision and constraints.
Is vibe coding the same as agentic coding?
No. Vibe coding is prompt driven drafting and iteration. Agentic coding is goal driven execution with tool use, validation loops, and traces.
How can I tell if a product is truly agentic for coding?
Ask it to run one end to end task: plan, make changes, run tests, fix failures, and show a full run trace. If it cannot do that, it is closer to vibe coding with shortcuts.