The unreasonable effectiveness of an LLM agent loop with tool use

Today I tried "vibe-coding" for the first time using GPT-4o and 4.1. I did it manually - just feeding compilation errors, warnings, and suggestions in a loop via the canvas interface. The file was small, around 150 lines.

It didn't go well. I started with 4o:

- It used a deprecated package.

- After I pointed that out, it didn't update all usages - so I had to fix them manually.

- When I suggested a small logic change, it completely broke the syntax (we're talking "foo() } return )))" kind of broken) and never recovered. I gave it the raw compilation errors over and over again, but it didn't even register the syntax was off - just rewrote random parts of the code instead.

- Then I thought, "maybe 4.1 will be better at coding" (as advertized). But 4.1 refused to use the canvas at all. It just explained what I could change - as in, you go make the edits.

- After some pushing, I got it to use the canvas and return the full code. Except it didn't - it gave me a truncated version of the code with comments like "// omitted for brevity".

That's when I gave up.

Do agents somehow fix this? Because as it stands, the experience feels completely broken. I can't imagine giving this access to bash, sounds way too dangerous.

You should try Cursor or Windsurf, with Claude or Gemini model. Create a documentation file first. Generate tests for everything. The more the better. Then let it cycle 100 times until tests pass.

Normal programming is like walking, deliberate and sure. Vibe coding is like surfing, you can't control everything, just hit yes on auto. Trust the process, let it make mistakes and recover on its own.

Given that analogy, surely you could understand why someone would much rather walk than surf to their destination? Especially people who are experienced marathon runners.

If I tried standing up on the waves without a surfboard, and complain about how it's not working, would you blame the water or surfing for the issue, or the person trying to defy physics, complaining that it's not working? It doesn't matter how much I want to run or if I'm Kelvin Kiptum, I'm gonna have a bad time.

That only makes sense when surfing is the only way to get to the destination and that's not the case.

Say there are two ways to get to your destination. You still need to use the appropriate vehicle/surfboard for the route you've chosen to use. Even if there is a bridge you can run/walk across, if you try and surf across the water without a surfboard, and try to walk it, you're gonna have a bad time.

Analogy feels a bit tortured at this point.

What a coincidence that now's the point it's tortured and not any earlier!