Vibe Coder

Vibe Coder is a guided conversation that turns an idea or an existing codebase into a complete Vibeless project. It drafts the spec, architecture, phases, tickets (units of work), and decisions with you, step by step, and creates the project when you approve the result.

Where to find it

Select Vibe Coder in the sidebar, or press Ctrl+V. Press Ctrl+Shift+V to switch between Vibe Coder and the Dashboard. Both shortcuts are ignored while the cursor is in a text field, so Ctrl+V still pastes there.

You can also type a name in the new project dialog (Ctrl+N) and choose its Vibe Coder tile. The wizard opens on the new-idea path with that name filled in.

Vibe Coder needs a paid plan. On the free plan the panel shows an Upgrade to Unlock card with an Upgrade Plan button, which opens the upgrade page in your browser.

What you see

The first screen offers 2 cards:

• New Project starts from an idea. Select Start from Idea.
• Existing Project starts from a codebase on your machine. Select Import Codebase.

If you already have as many active projects as your plan allows, both cards are disabled and a banner explains the limit. Locked projects and projects owned by someone else do not count toward it.

Once a path is chosen, the panel has these regions from top to bottom:

• Header. The panel title, the path (New Project or Existing Project), a credit meter, and New Session. The meter reads "N credits left". If you are on a team plan, it reads "credits left · team pool", because your turns draw from the team's shared budget.
• Step bar. One numbered button per step. The current step is highlighted and finished steps show a check mark.
• Step explainer. A link such as What's a goal statement? opens a plain-language description of the current step.
• Conversation. Your messages on the right, the assistant's on the left. Proposals appear as structured panels of tables, cards, and lists.
• Confirmation bar. "Ready to confirm step and move on?" with Edit and Confirm & Continue.
• Message box. Type a message and press Enter to send it, or Shift+Enter for a new line.

The steps

The new-idea path has 10 steps. The existing-project path has 6. The labels below match the step bar.

How to use it

Start from an idea

1. Select Start from Idea.
2. Describe the software you want to build in the message box and press Enter.
3. Read the proposal. Answer any clarifying questions (see below).
4. Select Confirm & Continue to accept the step. The next step generates its draft on its own, so you land on a proposal rather than an empty box.
5. Repeat for each step. To change a proposal, type what you want different and send it. The assistant redrafts the current step.
6. On Review & Create, read the verdict and the issues. Enter a Project Name and select Create Vibeless Project.

Each automatic draft is one turn and uses credits, the same as a message you type.

Answer clarifying questions

Some steps ask questions. Each question shows why it matters. When a question offers options, select one; select it again to clear it. Your choices are sent together when you confirm the step, and the next step uses them. When a question has no options, it says Type your answer in the box below. Type your answer and send it.

Choose between trade-offs

On the Tech Stack step the assistant may show a Decision required card. Each option lists what it optimizes for and what it trades away. Select an option and choose Use this choice. The assistant redrafts the tech stack with your choice. This does not move you to the next step. Only the latest proposal's card can be used.

Go back to an earlier step

Select Edit on the confirmation bar to return to the previous step, or select any earlier step in the step bar. Going back clears what that step and every later step produced, and the step you return to generates a fresh draft. Steps you have not reached yet cannot be selected.

Start over

Select New Session to discard the session and return to the path cards. The session is kept in memory: switching panels keeps it, but closing the app discards it.

The architecture step

The Architecture step asks for 3 choices. The assistant marks its pick in each section with a Recommended badge. Select any card to change your choice.

• System Architecture (how the app deploys and how its pieces talk): Monolithic, Modular Monolith, Microservices, Serverless, Event-Driven, Hybrid, or Custom.
• Code Organization (how the codebase is structured inside): Layered, Clean Architecture, Hexagonal (Ports & Adapters), Feature / Vertical Slice, Simple / Flat, or Custom.
• UI & State Pattern (how the interface manages state): MVC, MVVM, MVU, Flux / Redux, Server-Rendered, None, or Custom. Choose None for a project with no user interface, such as an API, a CLI, or a service.

Selecting Custom shows a text field where you describe your own choice. Clearing the field clears that choice.

The AI Rationale panel explains the recommendation under System, Organization, UI, and Synergy (how the three choices fit together). An Also considered line lists options the assistant rejected and why.

If the assistant does not have enough to recommend, it asks a question instead. Once all three choices are set, messages you send on this step discuss them. The assistant either confirms the choices or changes them, and it changes a choice only for a reason grounded in your project.

On the existing-project path there is no separate Architecture step. Codebase Analysis infers the three choices from your code.

Import an existing project

1. Select Import Codebase. A folder picker opens.
2. Pick the root folder of the project. If you close the picker, the panel shows No project selected. Select Pick Directory to try again or Cancel to go back.
3. Wait while the panel shows Scanning project…. The scan runs on your machine.
4. Review the What will be sent card. Nothing leaves your machine before you confirm it.
5. Select Send and continue. Codebase Analysis then generates its draft, and the steps continue as on the new-idea path.

The What will be sent card lists every file that will be uploaded, with its path, category, and character count. Categories read Stack summary, Entry point, Route, Config, Schema, Env template, CI, or Doc. A file cut at the size limit shows truncated. The card also shows:

• How many files were left out to stay under the upload limit, if any.
• The size of the directory tree, which carries file and folder names only.
• The agent-instruction docs (such as CLAUDE.md) sent as background.
• How many values were redacted and by which rule, or "No secrets detected." The card never shows the redacted values.

Select Copy list to copy the full list to your clipboard.

The full folder path on your machine is never sent; only the folder name is. Files that typically hold secrets are never uploaded. These include .env files (other than .env.example, .env.template, and .env.sample), private keys, credential files, and anything inside a .git folder. In the files that are sent, text shaped like an API key, token, password, or connection-string password is replaced before upload. Redaction is a pattern match, not a guarantee, so keep real values out of template files. VibeCoder uploads lists every rule and limit.

If the scan fails, the panel shows Scan failed with the reason. Select Try Again or Cancel.

What Create Vibeless Project does

When you select Create Vibeless Project, Vibeless creates the project and opens it as your current project. It writes:

• Spec fields. The project name, goal statement, description (by default, your original idea text), tech stack (one entry per category, with its rationale), constraints, and non-goals.
• Phases, in order, with status, description, acceptance criteria, boundary, and deliverables.
• Tickets. On the new-idea path, the full tickets from Task Generation go into the first phase. On the existing-project path, the Forward Plan tickets go into the phase marked active. These tickets carry their spec, constraints, acceptance criteria, and context dependencies. Other phases get tickets with a name only.
• Decisions. Each constraint is also logged as a decision with its rationale. Decisions from the draft (such as those found by Codebase Analysis and Decision Backfill) are logged too. Each architecture choice becomes a decision, except a UI pattern of None.
• Architecture document. A document built from your architecture choices, rationale, rejected alternatives, tech stack, constraints, and phase list. It appears on the Architecture tab of the Spec Editor. Agents receive it at session start and through the vibeless_get_architecture MCP tool.
• Project folder (existing-project path only). The new project is linked to the folder you scanned.

After the project is created, Vibeless also starts looking for rules it can enforce from the new spec, in the background. Proposals appear for your review in Enforcement Proposals on the Dashboard's Enforcement tab.

If any part of the export fails, Vibeless deletes the partly created project and shows the error. You can then select Create Vibeless Project again. A failure to link the folder or write the architecture document does not stop the project being created.

What to check next

Review the AI-written draft before an agent starts work.

• Read the goal, constraints, and non-goals in the Spec Editor. Agents read these fields but can never change constraints or non-goals.
• Check phase order and boundaries in the Phase Planner.
• Read the first phase's tickets in Tickets, especially the acceptance criteria.

VC Copilot

VC Copilot is a chat side panel for asking questions while you edit a single item. It appears in these sheets:

• A ticket's detail sheet.
• Log Decision in the decision log (see Logs).
• A context node's edit sheet (a context node is one entry in the spec map; see Context Editor and Search).
• The hook editor.

Select the VC button at the top of the sheet. The sheet widens and the copilot opens beside the form. The copilot sees the form's current contents, including unsaved text.

The copilot answers only and never changes the form. Replies render as formatted text with lists, code, and links. Links open in your browser. Images and embedded HTML are not shown. The copilot remembers the last 10 messages, and the conversation is discarded when you close the sheet.

Each question uses credits and needs a paid plan, the same as Vibe Coder.

Rules and limits

• Vibe Coder and VC Copilot need a paid plan. Every turn uses credits, including drafts that generate automatically.
• The conversation shows the 20 most recent messages. Older ones drop off, but your accepted results stay in the draft.
• On the existing-project path, nothing is sent until you select Send and continue. A new session scans and asks again.

If something looks wrong

A message reads "Something went wrong. Please try again." The turn failed with an error the app does not name. Select Try again under the message. The app replays the same turn without adding a duplicate message. When the AI service is busy, the app already waits and retries up to 3 times before showing this.

"You're out of credits for this billing period." Your credit budget is used up. No retry button appears. Upgrade your plan or wait for the next billing period.

"Your plan doesn't include this" or "This feature isn't available on your current plan." Your plan has no LLM features. An Upgrade required notice also appears.

"Your session expired. Please sign in again." Vibeless signs you out. Sign in and continue.

"This project's context has grown too large to send in one request." The draft is too big for one turn. Your project data is safe. If it keeps happening after you update the app, report it.

Creating the project shows "Project limit reached". Your plan is at its project limit. Select Upgrade on the notice, or delete a project, then select Create Vibeless Project again.

VC Copilot shows "Something went wrong. Please try again." The connection dropped or the turn failed. A reply never stays stuck on "Thinking...". Send the question again. Credit, plan, and sign-in errors show the same messages as Vibe Coder.