Stop Vibe Coding. Use Spec-Driven Development Instead.

Leader posted Originally published at dev.to 1 min read

Vibe coding is how juniors ship bugs fast.

You describe a feature in natural language, the AI generates code,
you tweak until it works. Fast? Yes. Scalable? No.

At scale, vibe coding gives you:

  • 500 lines of unreviewable code
  • Features you didn't ask for
  • An agent that rewrites half your codebase

The fix: Spec-Driven Development

Senior engineers don't prompt AI directly. They write specs first.

Three documents you need:

1. PRD (Product Requirements Doc) — what you're building and why

2. Technical Design Doc — architecture, data models, API contracts

3. AI Spec — precise instructions for the agent, edge cases included

The agent works from the spec. Not from vibes.

Example: JWT Authentication

Instead of prompting "add JWT auth", you write a spec that defines:

  • Token structure and expiry
  • Refresh logic
  • Error handling for each case
  • What the agent should NOT touch

Result: reviewable, production-grade code.

The 5-step workflow

  1. Write PRD
  2. Write Technical Design Doc
  3. Generate AI Spec from the two above
  4. Run agent against the spec
  5. Review diff — not the entire codebase

Full breakdown with examples in the video:
https://youtu.be/5ve3_inIN-8

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