Short answer: To vibe code a website, you describe the site you want in plain words, let an AI build a first version, and then keep talking to it until it's right. The first draft takes about a minute. The part that decides whether you end up with a real website is what comes after: editing, hosting, a domain, and changing things six months from now.
The term is Andrej Karpathy's. In February 2025 he described a way of programming where you "fully give in to the vibes" and stop reading the code. Collins made it their word of the year the same year. Since then, "vibe code a website" has become one of the most common ways people try to get a site online without hiring anyone.
We built an AI builder into LINJERUM Studio, and this is how we'd go about it.
What vibe coding a website actually means
You write what you want. The AI writes the code. You look at the result and ask for changes in words, not by moving boxes around. "Make the header calmer." "Add a page for the classes." "The phone number should be at the top."
There are two kinds of tools that do this, and they're further apart than they look.
- General code tools like Lovable, Bolt and Replit write an app from your prompt. They can build almost anything, but when they're done you own a codebase, and hosting, forms and edits are your problem.
- Website builders with AI write the site inside a platform that already hosts it, handles the domain and lets you change a word by clicking on it. You can build less, but less can go wrong.
For a portfolio, a small business or a local shop, the second kind is almost always the right one. You want a website, not a software project.
What one prompt produced: five HTML pages, a stylesheet and a bit of JavaScript. You can read it, but you never have to.
How to vibe code a website
Write the prompt like a brief, not a wish
"A nice website for my pottery studio" gets you a nice website for someone else's pottery studio. The AI fills every gap with the average of the internet. Give it the things only you know: who you are, where you are, what people come to you for, and how it should feel.
One prompt in our AI builder: a pottery studio in Copenhagen, two potters, weekend classes, calm and earthy, five pages. Five linked pages came back in under a minute.
Name the pages you want. Say who the site is for. If you have a phrase you always use with customers, put it in. That's the difference between a site that sounds like you and one that sounds like a template.
Read the first draft like a stranger would
Open it on your phone. Can you tell, in five seconds, what the business does and where it is? Is there a way to get in touch without scrolling to the bottom? Does anything say something that isn't true?
That last one matters. AI likes to fill gaps with things that sound right. Our prompt said "Copenhagen" and nothing more. The site came back with a street address, a neighbourhood, opening hours and a phone number.
None of this was in the prompt. Nørrebro, Jægersborggade, Rantzausgade 41, the hours and the phone number were all made up.
It looks finished, which is the problem. Go through every name, number and promise on the page, and delete anything you can't stand behind.
Ask for one change at a time
"Make it better" gets you a different site, not a better one. "Move the class schedule above the shop" gets you exactly that. Small, specific requests are easier to check and easier to undo when the AI gets it wrong.
If a change goes sideways, undo it instead of asking the AI to fix the fix. Three corrections deep, the page usually looks worse than where you started.
Do the details yourself
AI gets you most of the way very fast. The last part, the real photos, the exact prices, the sentence that sounds like you, goes quicker by hand than by prompt. Typing "change 'workshop' to 'class' in the second paragraph" takes longer than clicking the word and changing it.
This is where the tool matters. Some vibe coding tools only let you talk. There's no way to click a heading and fix a typo. WPBeginner tested four of them and found exactly this with Lovable: no visual editor once the site is generated. Before you choose a tool, check that you can edit by hand.
Publish on your own domain
A site on a long preview link isn't a website yet. Connect your domain, check that the contact form actually sends somewhere, and open the published site on a phone that isn't yours.
The same site on a phone. The AI made it responsive without being asked. Check anyway.
What breaks after the first prompt
The demo is the easy part. These are the things that tend to show up a few weeks later.
- Hosting. General code tools hand you code. Putting it online, keeping it online and paying for it is a separate job. WPBeginner's Replit test ended with a choice between expensive hosting or deploying it yourself.
- Forms. A contact form that looks right and sends nowhere is easy to miss. Test it with your own email.
- Changing a price in March. If the only way to edit is to prompt, every small change is a small risk. You ask for a new price and get a new layout too.
- Search. Page titles, descriptions and a sitemap don't write themselves unless the tool does it for you. Ask, or check.
None of this is a reason to avoid vibe coding. It's a reason to vibe code somewhere that already takes care of the boring parts.
When vibe coding is the wrong choice
If you already know what a good website for your kind of business looks like, starting from a finished design is often faster than describing one. A template has already made the hundred small decisions about spacing, type and order that a prompt leaves to chance.
That's why LINJERUM Studio has both. Start from a template and change the text and photos right on the page, or describe the site in the AI builder and take it from there. Either way you build for free and only pay when you publish.
FAQ
Can I vibe code a website without knowing how to code?Yes. That's the point of it. You'll get further if you know what you want the site to say, and a tool that lets you edit by clicking saves you from needing to read the code when something small is off.
Is vibe coding a website free?Building usually is, up to a limit on prompts. Putting the site online on your own domain costs money on every platform, whether it's called hosting, a plan or a subscription. On LINJERUM Studio you build for free and pay when you publish.
Is a vibe coded website good for SEO?It can be. Search engines don't care how the code was written. They care whether the page loads fast, has a clear title and description, and answers what people search for. Check those three before you publish.
What's the best tool to vibe code a website?For an app with logins and a database, a general code tool like Lovable or Replit. For a website for a business, a website builder with AI, so hosting, the domain and editing are already handled.
