We’ve All Been Vibe-Coding

We’ve all been vibe-coding—riding the wave of AI-assisted development with flashes of brilliance and bursts of productivity. But as the dust settles, it’s clear: this approach doesn’t scale. It doesn’t architect business-grade applications.

AI can’t replace the human, and it shouldn’t. But when paired with a skilled developer, something remarkable happens: the team becomes a hybrid mind, capable of creating at the speed of thought.

After On and the Origins of Centaur Programming

Rob Reid’s After On doesn’t just imagine superintelligent AI—it explores how humans might collaborate with it in deeply symbiotic ways. One standout concept is Centaur programming, where the programmer isn’t replaced by AI, but augmented by it.

“The Centaur isn’t half-human, half-machine. It’s a full human and a full machine, working in tandem—each amplifying the other’s strengths.”
— After On, Rob Reid

In Reid’s vision, the Centaur model emerges when:

• The human sets the direction, defines what “good” looks like, and makes high-level decisions.
• The AI executes rapidly, recalls every syntax nuance, and offers suggestions drawn from billions of code examples.

This mirrors what we’re seeing today with tools like GitHub Copilot—especially in frameworks like Blazor and Next.js, where:

• You sketch out a modular onboarding flow, and the AI fills in the async validation logic.
• You define the UX narrative, and the AI scaffolds the components, hooks, and state management.
• You architect for clarity and conversion, while the AI handles the repetitive glue code.

Reid’s Centaur isn’t just a metaphor—it’s a blueprint. The magic happens when the human remains the strategist, and the AI becomes the tireless executor.

That’s exactly how I feel when I pair with my Copilot assistant. I bring the intent, the architecture, the taste. The AI brings speed, syntax, and encyclopedic recall. Between us, we get velocity without chaos.

A Real Moment

• I sketch the goal: “Modular onboarding flow with async validation.”
• The AI scaffolds the Next.js components, hooks, and form logic.
• I refactor, shape, and validate. The AI adapts.
• I stay in the code. I keep the reins.

It’s not outsourcing. It’s orchestration.

The Centaur model works because I know what good looks like. I know what should be written and how. The AI just types faster than I do—and never forgets a semicolon.