🚧 Vibe Coding with Safety Nets: Professional Habits for AI-Assisted Devs

By Alan (DevOps Engineer & Automation Enthusiast)

If you’re deep into vibe coding — letting tools like Claude, GPT-4, or Jules take the wheel while you “go with the flow” — you’re not alone. But here’s the thing: no matter how casual your session feels, you still need pro habits under the hood.

Here’s a reality check from someone who’s been around the block: you can mess around, experiment, and code by vibes — but only if you’ve got recovery tools in place.

🧠 Rule #1: Always Have a Backup

I don’t care if you’re writing the next killer feature or just tinkering with code on a Saturday night: have a backup. That means version control, full stop. Git is your parachute, your memory, your undo button when AI “fixes” turn into subtle bugs or straight-up disasters.

🛠️ Git Isn’t Optional — It’s the Standard

You don’t have to be a Git ninja. Just make sure you’re doing the basics:

  • Use branches, even if you’re solo
  • Make small, clear commits
  • Stash changes before AI-assisted experiments
  • Commit early, commit often

Here’s the golden move before asking the LLM to refactor or fix something:

git add . && git commit -m "Checkpoint before AI changes"

Now you can experiment freely, knowing you’ve locked in a working state.

👾 AI Tools Are Just Tools — Don’t Worship the Output

I’ve used GPT-4 via Claude and played with Jules in Cursor. Sometimes, Jules magically fixed a gnarly problem my main coding agent couldn’t crack. But here’s the truth:

Even the smartest model can break your code or quietly make it worse.

Don’t trust it blindly. Review diffs. Test your code. Use your brain.

🔄 No Git? You’ve Still Got VS Code’s Timeline

Even if you’re in lazy dev mode and haven’t committed anything yet, VS Code has your back.

  • Use the Timeline View to go back to previous file states
  • Hit Undo or Revert File to bail out of a mistake
  • Pair it with autosave and autosync features for extra recovery safety

I’ve used it myself when I forgot to commit and let the LLM go wild. It saved me.

💡 Real Talk: It’s Fine to Code by Vibes — Just Be Smart About It

  • You can be creative and casual
  • You can ask Claude or Jules to do the heavy lifting
  • You can vibe with your codebase

But keep that parachute packed. Professionalism isn’t about rigidity — it’s about knowing how to recover when things go sideways.

🧭 Final Advice to New Devs in the AI Era

  1. Use Git. Even when solo. Especially when using AI.
  2. Create safety checkpoints before major changes.
  3. Don’t blindly trust the output — treat AI like a junior dev, not a senior architect.
  4. Lean on VS Code’s built-in recovery when needed.
  5. You’re still responsible for the code that ships.

And finally: tools come and go — habits stick. Build smart habits now, and vibe coding won’t just be fun — it’ll be safe, fast, and professional.

Want to chat dev tools, cloud, or the reality of being an engineer in the AI age? I’m always open to talking shop at alanops.com.

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