Introduction to Vibe Coding: The Mindset

In 2026, Vibe Coding has become a mainstream development paradigm. Developers no longer write code line by line; instead, they describe the product’s “feel,” “logic,” and “vision” to AI using natural language, allowing large models to generate applications in real-time.

However, many beginners fall into the misconception that Vibe Coding is simply “chatting casually.” The result is often code that appears impressive but is logically broken, functionally deficient, or completely misaligned with real user needs.

Jesse James Garrett’s classic work, “The Elements of User Experience,” presents a five-layer model (strategy, scope, structure, skeleton, and surface) that addresses this pain point. This article will strip away the superficial aspects of Vibe Coding, using the lower three layers of the model (strategy, scope, structure) to deeply analyze how to conduct demand analysis, clarify product roles, and build system architecture before engaging in AI programming. We will also recommend specific AI tools suitable for 2026.

1. Strategy Plane: The Soul-Searching Demand Analysis

In Vibe Coding, many people start by telling AI, “Help me create an app like Xiaohongshu.” This is the wrong beginning.

The strategy layer is the foundation, comprising two core elements: user needs and product goals.

1. From “Vague Feelings” to “Precise Intent”

The core of Vibe Coding is the “Prompt,” and high-quality prompts stem from clear strategic definitions. Before entering your first command to AI, you must answer:

• What do users really need? (Not “what features do they want,” but “what problems do they want to solve?”)
• Why are we doing this? (Business goals, brand positioning, or data accumulation)

Practical Tool Recommendations: Deep Thinking and Strategic Alignment

At this layer, you need a large model with strong contextual understanding and deep reasoning capabilities, rather than a tool that simply writes code.

Preferred Tool: Claude 3.5/4.0 Sonnet (Anthropic)

Reason: Claude excels at understanding complex human intentions, role-playing (e.g., as a product consultant), and producing structured strategic documents. Its “long context window” allows you to upload extensive market research documents as background.

Usage: Upload a competitive analysis report and have Claude act as the “Chief Product Officer” to engage in multiple rounds of dialogue, extracting the core value proposition.

Auxiliary Tool: notebooklm

Reason: This tool is used to validate your strategic assumptions. When you believe that “Generation Z likes second-hand book trading,” use notebooklm to search for the latest 2026 market data to support or refute your viewpoint, ensuring your strategy is based on facts rather than illusions.

Usage: “Search for the 2026 market pain points report on Generation Z’s second-hand trading platforms and summarize the needs.”

Prompt Example (with Claude):

“I want to create a second-hand book trading platform aimed at Generation Z. Please do not generate code. First, as a product strategy consultant, help me analyze: what are the core pain points of the target users? (Different from Xianyu) What should our core product goals be? Based on the above analysis, extract three key user need scenarios.”

Value: This step forces you (and AI) to align on “why we are doing this” before writing code. If the strategy layer is vague, the more code generated later, the higher the cost of rework.

2. Scope Plane: Defining the Functional Boundaries of the Product

Once the strategy layer is established, we need to translate it into specific functional specifications and content requirements. This is the scope layer, which defines what the product is and what it is not.

In Vibe Coding, AI often tends to “over-generate” or create “hallucinated features.” Without constraints, AI might add complex social recommendation algorithms to a simple to-do app, leading to a bloated system.

1. Defining the “Existence” and “Non-Existence” of Features

The scope layer serves as a filter that transforms abstract strategies into concrete requirements.

• Functional Specifications: Clearly define the operations the system must perform.
• Content Requirements: Clearly define the information elements the system needs to display.

Practical Tool Recommendations: Requirements Management and Prototyping

This layer requires transforming vague ideas into structured documents or low-fidelity prototypes for subsequent handover to code generation models.

Preferred Tool: Cursor

Reason: These are the next-generation AI IDEs. They not only write code but also understand the entire project context. At the scope layer, you can use their “rules files (.cursorrules / .windsurfrules)” feature to write the MVP’s feature list into the project’s root directory rules, serving as the “constitution” for all subsequent code generation.

Usage: Create a PRODUCT_SCOPE.md file in the IDE, listing must-have and won’t-have features, and specify that this file is the global context in the settings.

Prompt Example:

“Based on the community atmosphere-first strategy, please help me develop a feature scope list for the MVP version and write it into the PRODUCT_SCOPE.md file.

Requirements: List five core features that must be included. List three features that will definitely not be included in the current version, and explain the reasons.

Write a brief ‘acceptance criteria’ for each core feature.”

Value: This step clarifies “who the product is.” A clear scope allows the AI-generated code to be more focused, with fewer bugs, and the IDE’s rules file achieves “one-time definition, global effectiveness.”

3. Structure Plane: Building the Skeleton and Logic of the System

This is the core focus of this article. After determining the strategy and scope, we need to design interaction design (how users operate the system) and information architecture (how the system organizes information).

In traditional development, this is when product managers draw flowcharts and architects create ER diagrams. In Vibe Coding, this is the critical moment when you guide AI to understand the system logic. Skipping this step often results in AI-generated code that is merely a “stack of pages” lacking data flow and state management.

1. Concept Models and System Structure

The structure layer presents users with a “concept model.” In Vibe Coding, you need to describe this model to AI:

• Object Relationships: What are the relationships between users, books, orders, and reviews?
• Operation Processes: What state changes must users go through from “browsing” to “transaction”?

Practical Tool Recommendations: Architecture Design and Data Modeling

This layer requires AI to have strong logical reasoning and code generation capabilities, especially for database design and type definitions.

Preferred Tools: Cursor (Chat + Composer) or GitHub Copilot Workspace

Reason: These tools can directly manipulate the file system. You can have them generate TypeScript Interface, SQL Schema, or Prisma Schema files directly. They understand the relationships between files, ensuring data structure consistency.

Usage: Have AI directly create schema.prisma or types.ts files, defining all entity relationships as a “Single Source of Truth” for subsequent development.

Prompt Example (with Cursor):

“Now we are entering the system structure design phase.

Please complete the following tasks based on PRODUCT_SCOPE.md, without generating frontend UI code:

Data model design: Directly create the prisma/schema.prisma file, defining core entities (User, Book, Transaction, Review) and their fields and relationships.

State machine design: Create lib/orderStateMachine.ts, using the XState library to describe the state transitions of the ’transaction’ object.

Core interaction process: Describe in words the complete interaction path for users ‘publishing a book,’ including the system validation logic at each step.

After confirming the above logic is correct and generating the files, we will start writing code.”

Value:

• Logical Closure: Ensures AI understands how data flows, avoiding the generation of “dead pages.”
• Maintainability: Establishing structure (Schema/Types) before defining presentation aligns with software engineering principles.
• Reducing Hallucinations: Clear type definitions limit AI’s freedom, keeping it on the established track.

Conclusion: Vibe Coding is Not Abandoning Thought, But Elevating It

The reason “The Elements of User Experience” is a classic is that it reveals the underlying logic of product construction, which is independent of the technology stack and whether AI is used.

In the era of Vibe Coding in 2026, the toolchain has become highly mature:

• Strategy Layer: Use Claude 3.5/4.0 for deep thinking and role simulation;
• Scope Layer: Use Cursor’s rules files and Mermaid to lock boundaries;
• Structure Layer: Use Cursor/Copilot Workspace to directly generate Schema and type definitions, solidifying the skeleton.

True Vibe Coding experts are not those who write the most elaborate prompts, but those who can internalize the five-layer thinking of “The Elements of User Experience” and skillfully coordinate the aforementioned AI tool matrix.

The next time you prepare to tell AI, “Help me write an app,” pause first, open Claude to discuss strategy, open Cursor to write the scope, and define the schema to clarify the structure.

Once you clarify these three points, your Vibe Coding journey will truly begin.