There's a term floating around the developer community that perfectly captures how building software feels right now: vibe coding. It's the idea that with AI as your pair programmer, you can stay in flow — trusting your instincts, iterating fast, and letting the creative momentum carry you forward.
I'm a senior developer and hands-on CTO with years of experience shipping production software. But when I sat down one Friday evening with nothing but an idea and an AI assistant, what happened next genuinely surprised me.
I built vibeGuard — a fully functional Chrome extension that scans web apps for security vulnerabilities — in a single weekend.
The Friday Night Spark
It started with frustration. I'd been reviewing a client's web app and noticed API keys sitting right there in the JavaScript bundle. Not hidden. Not obfuscated. Just... there. Waiting for anyone with DevTools to find them.
I'd seen this pattern dozens of times as a CTO. Developers ship fast, security gets checked later (or never), and sensitive data ends up exposed in production. The existing tools — expensive enterprise scanners, CLI-based linters, complicated CI pipelines — none of them caught what was actually running in the browser.
What if there was something simpler? Something that just... watched?
Saturday: From Zero to Scanning
By Saturday morning, I had my AI assistant open and started describing what I wanted. Not writing code line by line — describing behavior. "Scan all script tags on the page for patterns that look like API keys." "Check outgoing requests for known tracker domains." "Analyze response headers for missing security configurations."
This is what vibe coding feels like at its best. You're not fighting syntax or debugging import paths. You're thinking about what the software should do, and the AI handles the how. When it gets something wrong, you course-correct. When it gets something right, you build on it.
By Saturday evening, I had a Chrome extension that could:
- Detect 50+ secret patterns in page source and scripts
- Identify known third-party trackers
- Check for missing security headers
- Flag mixed content and insecure form submissions
Was the code perfect? No. Was it functional and genuinely useful? Absolutely.
Sunday: Polish and Ship
Sunday was about refinement. Better pattern matching. A clean popup UI. Error handling for edge cases. The kind of work that used to take weeks of back-and-forth with a team now happened in hours.
By Sunday night, vibeGuard was submitted to the Chrome Web Store.
What Vibe Coding Actually Taught Me
1. Speed Doesn't Mean Sloppy
There's a misconception that building fast means cutting corners. With AI assistance, the opposite can be true. I spent more time thinking about architecture and security because I spent less time on boilerplate. The vibe wasn't "move fast and break things" — it was "move fast and think clearly."
2. Trust the Flow, Verify the Output
AI-generated code is remarkably capable, but it's not infallible. I caught several instances where the AI suggested patterns that would have created false positives, or missed edge cases in URL parsing. The key is staying engaged — reviewing what gets generated, testing aggressively, and never blindly trusting output.
3. Domain Expertise Still Matters
The AI could write the code, but it couldn't tell me which security checks matter most, or how developers actually experience vulnerability reports. That came from years of being a CTO, reviewing security audits, and watching teams struggle with existing tools. Vibe coding amplifies expertise — it doesn't replace it.
4. The Solo Founder Path Just Got Real
Five years ago, building a Chrome extension with a Next.js dashboard, authentication, and a database would have been a multi-month project for a small team. Today, a single developer with AI assistance can ship the same thing in days. This changes everything about what's possible for indie developers.
The Irony of Building a Security Tool with AI
Here's the thing that keeps me up at night: the same AI tools that helped me build vibeGuard are helping millions of developers ship code faster than ever. And most of that code isn't getting security-reviewed.
Every vibe-coded app that goes to production without a security check is a potential liability. API keys in bundles. Trackers nobody consented to. Missing headers that leave users vulnerable.
That's exactly why vibeGuard exists. It's a security tool built with the vibe coding ethos — fast, practical, developer-friendly — designed to catch the things that slip through when you're shipping at AI speed.
Ship Safe, Vibe On
If you're a developer riding the AI wave (and you should be), don't let security be the thing that breaks your flow. Install vibeGuard, click the icon after you deploy, and make sure your vibe-coded masterpiece isn't leaking secrets.
The future of development is fast, AI-assisted, and creative. Let's make sure it's secure too.