Let's stop calling it vibe-coding.
Source: Dev.to
Introduction
Anyone can vibe‑code, and that accessibility makes this era of development exciting. From an accessibility standpoint, we’ve shifted from needing to know syntax to just needing an idea. That power is also dangerous—the yin and yang of the practice.
Concerns with Vibe‑Coding
Talking to traditional developers reveals real worries: security, reliability, and scaling. Stories like “Claude deleted my entire database!” or “Users can see other users’ data!” illustrate the anxiety that vibe‑coding feels unserious and risky.
Synthetic Application Development
Instead of “rolling your own auth,” synthetic applications place real systems, APIs, and authority behind AI‑generated software. This approach keeps the AI’s creativity while relying on battle‑tested platforms for the heavy lifting.
- Build on existing, proven architecture rather than inventing everything from scratch.
- Platforms such as Lovable, Replit, Xano, n8n, and others enable this model.
Synthetic Application Development (or Synthetic Engineering) means:
- Keeping your hands on the steering wheel.
- Understanding the underlying system.
- Having confidence in the platform you’re building on top of.
Analogy: Payments
No sane startup builds its own PCI‑compliant payment system from scratch. Even brilliant engineers use services like Stripe, whose business is correctness, auditability, and battle‑tested compliance—things a single product team cannot achieve alone.
Synthetic applications work the same way:
- AI can design experiences, propose workflows, and orchestrate actions.
- Security, data integrity, identity, and compliance are handled by dedicated platforms built for those purposes.
You still build the product; you just don’t gamble with the foundations.
Conclusion
Vibe‑coding hasn’t disappeared; it has evolved. It remains the creative spark—fast, messy, and expressive. Synthetic Engineering is the discipline that takes those ideas and gives them structure, authority, and durability in the real world.