What Is Prompt Engineering (and Vibe Coding)?
AI coding assistants (like Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, and ChatGPT) can now write, edit, and even run code from natural-language instructions. Two terms have emerged to describe working with them.
Prompt engineering
The practice of writing instructions that reliably get an AI model to produce the output you actually want. It's less about "magic words" and more about being clear, specific, and giving the right context, the same skill you'd use writing a good ticket for a human teammate.
Vibe coding
A newer, more informal term for a style of development where you describe what you want in plain language and let an AI agent write (and often run) the code, iterating conversationally instead of typing every line yourself. It can be incredibly fast, but it shifts your job from writing code to directing and reviewing code.
The spectrum
| Autocomplete | Prompted generation | Vibe coding | |
|---|---|---|---|
| You write | Every line, AI suggests completions | A prompt, AI writes a function or file | A goal, AI plans and executes multi-step changes |
| You review | Character by character as you type | The generated snippet | The whole diff, tests, and behavior |
| Best for | Familiar, fast-moving code | Well-scoped, isolated tasks | Larger features, paired with careful review |
NOTE
None of this changes who's responsible for the code that ships. Whether you typed it or an AI did, you still own the bugs, the security holes, and the technical debt. This course is about using these tools well, not blindly.