Vibe coding pitfall

Clean code failure pattern

Vibe coding optimises for "it runs" over readability, tests, and design. You get sprawling functions, hidden side effects, and modules that only the generating session can explain.

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How it shows up

  • No tests, or tests that assert the implementation instead of behaviour.
  • Generated layers that violate single responsibility and hide side effects.
  • Refactors become rewrites because structure never matched the business model.

Who this pattern hits

  • Teams drowning in generated modules no one wants to change.
  • Leads who need a changeable codebase before the next feature wave.
  • Organisations where review has become rubber-stamping of AI output.

When it matters: When "it runs" is no longer enough and every change is a risk because structure and tests are missing.

How we recover

Our solution

Make the codebase changeable again

We realign structure to the domain, introduce behaviour-level tests, and peel back generated layers that hide side effects. Recovery means the next feature is a controlled change, not a rewrite.

  • Characterisation tests around critical behaviour before deeper refactor.
  • Domain-shaped modules with clear responsibilities and explicit side effects.
  • Coding standards and review gates so AI output is edited, not accepted raw.

We restore readability, tests, and design boundaries so the team can move again without fear of silent breakage.

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What this failure mode is

Clean-code failure after AI delivery is a codebase that compiles and demos, but resists change: tangled modules, untested seams, and names that describe prompts rather than domain concepts.

Symptoms you can observe

  • Small changes require editing many unrelated files with no clear owner boundary.
  • Tests are sparse, brittle, or only cover generated happy paths.
  • Developers fear refactors because behaviour is implicit in chat history, not in code structure.
  • Duplicated logic appears every time a new session re-solved the same problem.

Why AI-accelerated delivery makes it worse

Vibe coding optimises for the next green run. Without deliberate structure, each AI session paints over the last, and changeability collapses.

How Mayordomo recovers it

  • Identify the highest-churn modules and re-establish boundaries with tests that lock behaviour.
  • Rename and re-slice toward the real domain language operators use.
  • Set guardrails so new AI-assisted work cannot reintroduce competing designs.

Related services: AI Project Recovery & Realignment · Technical leadership & uplift. See also the failure patterns hub.