Vibe Coding: Getting Stuck on 60%? Why No-Code Tools Hit a Wall

I am a software engineer and I got a call yesterday from an old friend who is trying to use Replit to build a childcare related mobile app. He needed help and was facing issues with authentication, security, user roles, user permissions, and other custom features like a dynamic calendar to directly view attendance.

How did he get stuck on 60%?

Even though registration works fine, issues start to come up when introducing roles and permissions. Other problems arise when he needed complex algorithms that aren't standard templates like calculating prorated childcare fees based on attendance, or generating custom reports that require specific data relationships. These features are the core selling points for him.

After checking the wireframes on Replit that looked pretty decent, I told him that I am not willing to go into vibe coding headaches and if I was going to assist him, I would need to build the app from scratch using prebuilt modules I have built for multiple startup apps before.

I explained that I would use AI to customize and puzzle my prebuilt modules quickly and the money you would put into Replit, give that and a bit extra to me and own your code, have no customization limits and no subscription fees.

For example, I have a tested module for authentication and authorization that includes both front-end and back-end code for registration, login, forgot password, and email verification. I would customize the registration form to collect the specific fields his childcare app needed such as the childcare name. With AI assistance, I could modify these proven modules in minutes rather than fighting with an AI module from zero.

He is serious about building this app and he had subscribed to multiple vibe coding builders such as Bubble and Lovable and agreed that having an experienced software engineer build it from scratch for a competitive price seemed like a better decision and would give him time to focus on getting that first client.

By competitive pricing, I mean breaking down the project into core features and quoting each one separately. Since I have a production level architecture with routing, database connectivity, API, error handling, and other base infrastructure already built, I only charge for the actual business features or core functionality needed.

For example, authentication and authorization might cost $250–300, while a product listing page with filters could be $300.

Finally, we decided to use Replit as a presentation or a demo for all the features and requirements he wanted in the app. After that I would take these blueprints which would help me understand the functionality of all the features when I build it. The demo shows what he wants and I build what actually works.

I respect non-coders learning to build, but when you're serious about building a real business (not just learning or experimenting) and professional development is priced competitively nowadays, how do you calculate what's actually the better investment?

Why Vibe Coding Leads to Spaghetti Code

Beyond the 60% ceiling, there is another major risk with vibe coding: spaghetti code. Spaghetti code is exactly what it sounds like, a tangled mess where everything is connected in weird, complicated ways. The code works somehow, but nobody really understands why or how. When something breaks, you're stuck with no idea which part needs fixing or how the different pieces connect together.

AI-generated code is not properly tested. It might run fine for small projects today, but what about when you need to scale up or add new features? The AI does not think about future scalability. It just solves the immediate problem. So you end up with this patchwork of solutions that do not work well together. And since you do not understand the code, you cannot fix it yourself when things go wrong.

Take online shops for example. You could use tools like Cursor or Replit to vibe code an entire e-commerce site from scratch. But when your site needs to handle hundreds of orders on Black Friday, or process sensitive payment data securely, that is when the weaknesses show up. For a startup shop, a battle-tested platform like Shopify gives you reliability so you can focus on your products instead of waking up to emergency calls about your site being down.

Vibe coding can be great for testing ideas fast, but it is not a replacement for solid development when you are building something serious. The architecture just is not designed to scale, and without understanding your own code, you are setting yourself up for painful problems down the road.