> I can’t understand how vibe-coded apps, actually work.

With a better process. e.g. plan->revision cycles, better instructions/docs like an ADR system.

I don't think vibe-coding is relegated to "build me reddit but with blockchain" and then it's done.

I think it instead describes the workflow where the software impl stays opaque but you evaluate the end product as an end user to step the product forward. It basically centers you as the tastemaker.

I'd say I vibe-code all of my personal projects now since December where AI had a breakthrough where it required less babysitting and developed good "taste" like smart sum types without being prompted to do so.

I've accumulated my own best practices like a heavy plan->revise cycle where plans ultimately promote into ./plans/impl/YYYY-MM-DD-{slug}.md, and an ADR system in ./docs/design/*.md that encodes arch/design invariants that accumulate over time, and new decisions/principles are folding back into it as they are discovered (by the AI).

During the plan revision cycles, the LLMs may ask me a multiple choice question about which decision branch to take, and lately I've just been responding with "take the ideal option" with good results -- either way it will take a well-reasoned position that I can't really argue with.

Meanwhile, my role is mainly to evaluate the end product and steer it directionally. How much I decide to prescribe and inject myself into technical decisions is a function of how serious the project is, but it's easy to notice that LLMs are simply better and better at arriving at well-reasoned decisions, and my interjections are more and more limited to technical/directional taste rather than necessity.