Some think "vibe coding" tools like Claude Code are dangerous, others find them a revelation. Both are true, and its all about the state of mind you bring to using them.
If you surf social media looking for opinions, there are really two schools of thought about tools like Claude Code and similar. There are people who are really excited. They’re having so much fun. They feel like they’re on the cusp of infinite productivity. On the other hand, there are people who are skeptical, scared, or even a little bit angry. They feel like these vibe coding tools are just going to produce mountains of technical debt, security problems, and similar issues... and that it’s all going to be a disaster we shouldn't be courting.
Both of these viewpoints are absolutely true. Which card you get from the dealer is going to depend on your state of mind. In important ways, it’s not what you think about Claude Code but rather how you feel when you use it.
If you look for more nuanced conversations, many people agree that Claude is good at telling you about best practices if you lead with information about your guardrails. “I don’t want to have technical debt. I have a sensitive API key. Security is important for what we’re building.” If you frame things this way, it does a good job helping you plan, and you’ll end up in the right place.
This fits with the tagline: You are the executive function of the AI. If you are a demigod that can now do anything in a big hurry, what do you want to do?
And this is a good segue to the danger in the other viewpoint. If you’re a little bit manic, if you’re having a little too much fun feeling powerful, if what you want to do is add 10,000 features a day all day just to bask in the glory of your superficial productivity, then you are exactly the person who is going to end up with mountains of technical debt, security problems, and all of these other widely-forecasted nightmares.
This is not really a problem with the tool. The problem is that when you thought about what to do with your demigodly powers, you didn’t think about wanting a secure app or leaving behind a clean codebase for other people. You chose what you wanted to do carelessly.
Thus, it’s really all about the frame of mind you bring to using these tools. If you’re running an organization I hope you’re thinking about setting a cultural tone for everyone else. In many applications of AI, if you bring a grounded state of mind - if you’re thinking about what you really need to accomplish, what success looks like, what the risks are, and what the realistic timeline is - it can be great working with tools like Claude Code.
If you’re manic and just here to have a good time driving the race car of infinite productivity then you’re going to get in trouble.
It’s all about staying grounded.