Vibe coding is a misnomer — it was never about coding, it's about solving problems and creating things, and calling it 'coding' signals complexity that deters people.

Masad explains why he dislikes the term 'vibe coding': it frames the activity as a technical skill rather than a general tool for creativity and problem-solving, which scares off non-technical people. ✦ AI generated

Amjad Masad · Platformer · 2026-08-07 · original ↗

It was never about coding. It's always about solving problems, about creating things — making software, making apps, making games. The whole mission of Replit was always to make it so that anyone can get access to this technology. This technology has always been accessible to 0.5% of the human population, those who could afford a computer science degree. When you put 'coding' in the name, you're immediately signaling to people that they have to learn something complicated. Of course, you put 'vibe' in front of it, and maybe that makes it a little more digestible. But still, I talk to a lot of people, and they're just like, 'Yeah, I'm not into coding.' Well, have you tried vibe coding? 'Well, yeah, it is coding. I'm not a coder.'

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