Vibe Coding 101: A Beginner's Guide to Commanding AI
September 19, 2025
You Don't Need to Learn AI. You Need a New Formula.
So, you read my last article.
You're seeing the "Doer" roles (the "Human APIs") get commoditized in real-time. You're seeing the "Commanders" (the 1-Person Enterprises) start to win.
And you're excited. You're inspired.
But you have one big question: "Okay, Rigo... how?"
How do you actually "command" an AI to build a full-stack application? Where do you even start?
This is where most people get it wrong. They think they need to learn Python, LangChain, or complex prompt engineering. They fall back into the "Doer" mindset, thinking they need to learn a new, hard skill.
This is a mistake.
You do not need to learn a new skill. You need a new formula.
"Vibe Coding" is not about being a better "Doer." It's about being a better "Commander." I've spent the last year finetuning this process. This is my 4-step formula.
Step 1: Build Your "AI Dream Team" (The Strategy)
This is the most critical step, and it’s the one everyone misses. They jump right into doing. A Commander thinks first.
Instead of wishing for help, I create my own "dream team" of advisors. I take a powerful LLM and I turn it into a single purpose helper.
I'll start by building my team of archetypes. I tell the AI:
"You are 'Advisor Mark.' You are a ruthless, systems-obsessed product manager like Mark Zuckerberg. Your only goal is user retention."
"You are 'Advisor Steve.' You are a visionary marketer like Steve Jobs. You are obsessed with the user experience and the brand story."
"You are 'Advisor Alex.' You are a monetization expert like Alex Hormozi. You will find the most direct path to revenue for any idea."
Then, I validate my idea by running a "Simulated Dragons Den."
I tell the AI: "You are now a panel of 5 ruthless investors. I am pitching you my new 'Founder Wellness App.' Your job is to tear my idea apart, find every weakness, and ask the hard questions."
This is where the real "vibe" is born. I use my AI team to battle-test the idea, find the flaws, and refine the strategy before I ever command it to write a single line of code.
Step 2: The "User Story" (The Command)
After my AI "Dream Team" has validated the strategy, I'm ready to build. This is where I take the output of that strategy session and turn it into a clear command.
A "Doer" opens AI Studio and types: "Build me a task management app." They will get a generic, useless, ugly piece of demo code.
A "Commander" tells the AI a story.
You must be specific. You must describe the experience, not just the features. I'm telling the AI the user story as I see it in my head:
"You are my senior engineer. We are building a Promise Tracker. Here is the user story:
The user (a sales manager) lands on a simple dashboard.
On this dashboard, they see a single 'Upload Call' button.
When they upload an audio file, you will transcribe it.
You will then scan the text and flag any potential promises, like 'I'll send you that' or 'we owe you.'
Each flagged promise will appear in a simple 'Approval Queue' on the same dashboard.
The manager can then hit 'Approve' or 'Reject'.
Only if they hit 'Approve,' you will create a new task in Asana."
By telling the AI the user story, I'm giving it the "vibe," the context, and the logic. The AI is not guessing. It is executing my clear vision.
Step 3: The "Human-in-the-Loop" (The Control)
This is the step that separates a brittle, "weekend hack" from a robust, "non-brittle" business system.
A "Doer" tries to automate 100% of the flow on day one. They build a "Promise Tracker" that immediately posts to Asana the second the AI thinks it hears a promise. The result? Their Asana is instantly flooded with false positives, and the team abandons the "brittle" tool in a week.
A "Commander" knows that AI is a powerful infant. It needs supervision.
You must build a "Human-in-the-Loop" queue. This was step #5 in my user story. The AI's job is not to make the final decision. Its job is to do 99% of the work and then present its findings to a human for the final 1% "go" command.
This is how you build reliable systems. You are the Commander. You have the final say.
Step 4: The "Production Platform" (The Factory)
This is the new bottleneck that nobody is talking about.
The AI generators (v0, Google AI Studio) are magical. They will give you a perfect folder of code.
And then what?
This is where 99% of people get stuck. They have the F1 engine, but they have no car. They have raw "vibe code," but no way to get it online, connect it to a CMS, or manage it in production.
This is the exact reason I built WebCore.
Those formulaic agencies clinging to the old WordPress model have no answer for this. They cannot take modern, AI-generated code and jam it into a 20-year-old, plugin-based relic. It's impossible.
A true Commander needs an "AI-First" platform.
The AI is the Generator.
WebCore is the Factory.
It is the system I built specifically to take that raw "vibe code," plug it in, and deploy it. It provides the robust CMS, the secure hosting, and the management layer. A developer (like me) still does the final wiring and QA, but the system turns weeks of work into hours.
The 2030 Vision: Why This Formula is Not Optional
That's it. That's the formula.
Strategize with your AI "Dream Team."
Command with a User Story.
Control with a Human-in-the-Loop.
Deploy with a Production Platform.
This isn't just a "productivity hack." This is a fundamental shift in how value is created. I am telling you, this is the only formula that will matter by 2030.
I'm watching so-called "formulaic agencies" right now, clinging to their old model. Their formula is to hire a junior designer for $50k and bill them out at $150/hour to move pixels around in Figma. Their entire business is built on billing for human hours. That model is dead. A single "Commander" designer with this formula can out-produce a 10-person agency. A designer who doesn't have a framework to multiply their output is doomed. They are a "Doer," and their job is being commoditized to zero.
This is what keeps me up at night: what about the universities? They are graduating thousands of students prepared for an internet that doesn't exist anymore. They are teaching them to be "Doers" in a "Commander's" world. They are teaching them how to be the perfect "Human API," a role that will be automated before their student loans are due.
This shift will be total. It will even consume Google.
For 20 years, the internet has run on Google's "10 blue links." That is a "Doer" model. It forces you to do the work. You search, you get a list, and you spend an hour clicking 10 links to find the one piece of information you need.
The new model is a "Commander" model. The "AI Layer" is being built over the entire internet as we speak. You will no longer "search" for information. You will command an outcome.
You won't type "best restaurants near me." You'll say, "Find me a table for two at 8 PM at a romantic Italian restaurant with good reviews, and book it."
The AI agent will do the research, compare options, check availability, and execute the task.
This is the new reality. By 2030, the internet will be a sea of autonomous agents working for Commanders who know how to direct them.
This is the "Great Re-skilling." It's the dawn of the $1M Solopreneur. It's the most empowering, utopian, and disruptive moment in our lifetime.
This is not a "maybe." This is happening right now.
You just have to decide if you want to be a Doer or a Commander.
I'm planning a live, hands-on webinar to show you exactly how I do this. I'll show you how to command AI to build and deploy your first application, all on a modern platform. Follow me here on LinkedIn for the announcement.