There’s still a lot of talk about vibe coding. I’ve written about it before, but after watching the Cursor and Claude drama on Twitter, I realized my approach might not match the noise.
Programming languages are like spoken languages. There are infinite ways to say or build something, but only a handful of those ways are worth using long-term. Anyone can hack together a feature, but there’s a big difference between working code and maintainable, clear code that will not become a liability six months later.
That’s why I lean on packages and frameworks. Laravel and Filament give me guide rails that reduce decision fatigue and keep me from drifting into patterns that will be hard to maintain or hand off later. These frameworks used to make it easier to onboard a new developer, and they still do, but now they also make it easier when I’m working with ChatGPT or other AI tools.
My process is straightforward. I figure out the flow of what I want to build. I think through how I want users to move through the app, where data should live, and what it needs to feel like to use. Then I run it by ChatGPT to see if there’s a cleaner or faster way to structure the work. I’ll have it draft out the form, the controller, the model logic—whatever the next block of work is.
Sometimes ChatGPT gets it right on the first try. Other times, it tries to add unnecessary complexity. For example, when I needed to add password reset support in Filament, it suggested writing a bunch of extra logic when all I actually needed was to chain ->passwordReset() onto the provider. I’ve learned to check its output against the documentation and trust my nose when something feels off.
Even with occasional cleanup, this workflow has doubled or even tripled my development speed. I’m no longer stuck wiring up repetitive boilerplate for hours, and I get to focus on the high-level decisions that actually shape the user experience. I can then review the code to ensure nothing crazy is happening before moving on.
Some developers say using AI to draft code takes the fun out of the job. They like solving the puzzle, tinkering with the syntax, and chasing the perfect line of code. I don’t. I’m not here to write cryptic runes to convince a computer to understand me. I like programming because it lets me build things that are useful to other humans. AI has allowed me to do that faster, whether I’m working on a mobile app, a web application, or a hardware project with an ESP32 that lights up when you press a button.
Tools are meant to help us build. For me, frameworks like Laravel and Filament paired with ChatGPT have become tools that remove the clutter between an idea and its execution. They let me focus on building something worth using, and that’s the part of programming I’ve always cared about most.
