How to talk to AI when you're building something
Vibe-coding is not about nailing the perfect prompt on the first try. It’s a conversation. You explain what you want, AI builds it, you say what to fix. Back and forth until it’s right.
I’ve been doing this for months. I still mess things up. But less. Here are the mistakes that cost me the most time.
Being vague
Something doesn’t look right so you say “make it better.” AI doesn’t know what “better” means to you.
I used to do this all the time. I’d look at a page, feel something was off, and type “fix the layout.” Claude would change five things. Three of them made it worse.
Say what you actually see. “The button is too small and there’s no space between the title and the text below it.” You don’t need technical language. Describe it like you’d explain it to someone sitting next to you.
Asking for everything at once
“Build me a website with a blog, user accounts, dark mode, a contact form, and make it look modern.”
AI will try. Then you’ll want to adjust one small thing and everything falls apart.
One thing at a time. Get the basic page right. Then navigation. Then the blog. It feels slow. It’s faster in the end. I learned this the hard way more than once.
Telling AI to “be careful”
I once wrote “please be very careful and make no mistakes.” As if AI was going to try harder because I asked nicely.
Tell it what not to touch instead. “Add a footer but don’t change anything else.” That’s useful. “Please do this perfectly” is not.
Talk in your language
I talk to AI in Polish. It works. Use whatever language you think in. The point is to be clear, not formal.
Swear at it. Or compliment it.
Turns out swearing in your prompts can actually produce better results. I’m not saying you should. I’m saying I’m not going to judge.
Positive feedback works too, though. I started doing this by accident. Something looked exactly how I imagined it, so I typed “yes, this is perfect, now do the same for the footer.” The next result was just as good. Then I started doing it on purpose.
So to summarize: swearing helps and compliments work too. I don’t make the rules.
Explain what you’re building
AI can see your project files. It knows what code exists, what pages you’ve built, how things are connected. What it cannot see is the picture in your head. “Add a toggle” without context means nothing.
One sentence makes a difference. “I’m building a settings page. I need a toggle for email notifications.” Now AI knows what you’re building and what the toggle should do. That sentence saves you three rounds of corrections.
When words aren’t enough, show it
Sometimes you can’t describe what you mean. Or you don’t trust yourself to explain it precisely enough.
Take a screenshot and drag it straight into Claude Code. Whether you’re in VS Code or a standalone terminal, you can drop images right into the conversation. “See this section? I want more space between these cards.” or “This is a design I like. Make my page look like this.”
I use this constantly. It beats trying to describe things in words. If a picture is worth a thousand words, it’s worth about ten rounds of “no, not that part.”
You can also send a link to a website you like. “I like how this site handles spacing and layout: [url]. Use it as a reference for my pricing section.” AI can read most pages and figure out the layout and the spacing. Not every site loads properly but most do.
Ask AI what it thinks
You don’t always have to come in with the answer. “I want to add a search bar. Where would you put it based on the current layout?” AI knows your project. Sometimes it has a smarter idea than you. I’ve asked a lazy question and gotten an answer better than anything I had in mind.
Keep going until you’re happy
This is the part people skip. They get a result that’s “good enough” and move on. Don’t. If something feels off, say it. Ask for another round. And another. AI doesn’t get tired and doesn’t charge overtime. Iterate until you look at it and think: yeah, I’d ship that.
Summary
You don’t need to speak code. You need to speak clearly. One thing at a time. Say what you see, not what you feel. When words fail, drop in a screenshot. And keep going until it’s right. AI doesn’t get tired.