Rethinking Version control for vibe coders

May 16, 2025

by Roop Krrish

Vibe coding is what happens when you’re building something creatively with an AI assistant. You start with a prompt. The AI responds. You tweak. You riff. Sometimes it’s brilliant, sometimes it’s chaotic — but it’s almost never linear.

This isn’t traditional coding. It’s improvisation. It’s fluid. It's building with feel. And that’s where the friction starts.

Because traditional version control — like Git — isn’t made for this kind of work. Git wants clarity. It wants commits. It wants a straight line. But vibe coding is full of detours, dead-ends, and surprising left turns.


It’s not a clean progression. It’s a series of interesting moments.

Vibe states

Sometimes you don’t save because you’re “done.” You save because something feels right. You want to remember the vibe.

So what if version control embraced that?

Instead of thinking in commits, we think in vibe states. Each state captures a snapshot: your prompt, the AI’s response, the resulting code or sketch, and maybe even your thoughts about it.

These aren’t just checkpoints — they’re creative timestamps.

Run through by example

Imagine you’re trying to build a floating toolbar.


Your first state might be the raw HTML/CSS. Then you add interactivity. Then you fork the idea to try using the Clipboard API. Another fork explores CSS animations. Yet another experiment with a radial layout and icons. Some ideas stick. Others don’t. But each one is saved — not because it’s “final,” but because it sparked something.


In this kind of workflow, you don’t branch for structure — you fork for exploration.

You try something weird. You follow a hunch. You give the AI a ridiculous prompt just to see what happens.


And sometimes, the messiest forks become the most interesting ones.

Collaboration

Collaboration shifts too. It’s no longer just human-to-human. It’s human + AI + maybe other
humans.

You might share an entire vibe flow with someone. Or just one fork. You might ask the AI to summarize two different paths.
Or invite a friend to riff on a weird branch.

The creative process becomes visible — and that visibility becomes shareable.

Collaboration shifts too. It’s no longer just human-to-human. It’s human + AI + maybe other humans.

You might share an entire vibe flow with someone. Or just one fork. You might ask the AI to summarize two different paths. Or invite a friend to riff on a weird branch.

The creative process becomes visible — and that visibility becomes shareable.

Real prototype

This is what we are working at Appsmith. Instead of isolating agents in some new IDE, we embed them inside the existing low-code fabric. So devs can bring agents into real apps — the kind already connected to APIs, databases, UI elements. It’s about fast validation. Tighter feedback loops. Less friction.


And maybe, a glimpse of the future.

A vibe-first version control might include a visual timeline of every saved state. Click any one to revisit the idea — the prompt, the output, your reactions. Fork from anywhere. Annotate freely. Let AI help you navigate, compare, and choose. Share your whole flow, or just your favorite moment.


Because the future of building isn’t neat.

Play with the prototype here

It’s messy. It’s magical. It’s full of vibes. And we deserve tools that celebrate that — not fight it.

Website will be revised in actual code soon

@ Roop Krrish 2025