Why a spectrum?
The modern AI-assisted development landscape spans a wide spectrum — from click-and-ship website builders to powerful IDE copilots.
Each tool trades flexibility for convenience in its own way.
This end of the spectrum is everyone with a browser just vibe-coding. →
1. Vibe-coding web-app builders
Think Bolt, Lovable, Firebase Studio and similar hosted builders.
We have evolved from Dreamweaver to Wix to WordPress to today's vibe-coding.
This end of the spectrum:
- Typically follows cookie-cutter tech stacks e.g., React SPA, Tailwind
- Uses Supabase for authentication and data persistence
- Adds capabilities through libraries e.g., Three.js for 3D web apps and games
- Offers domain name registration within the builder
- Always produces web apps, with the browser as the ceiling
2. Browser IDEs
Platforms like Replit provide complete development environments in the cloud.
You can ship a Python CLI, wire up a Postgres database, or preview a web app—all without leaving your tab.
Here's what you get:
- More flexibility than web builders, supporting a wider range of development activities
- Broader runtime support for CLIs, servers, and scheduled tasks
- The freedom can lead to hallucination: agents may over-promise capabilities
3. Low-code tooling (now with AI)
Low-code natives like n8n or Retool, and AI-natives such as LangFlow, Flowise, or Copilot Studio, combine drag-and-drop orchestration with LLM functionality.
These tools provide:
- Rich libraries of building blocks and integrations
- Great for quick RAG prototypes, OneDrive syncs, and multi-step workflows
- Enable building multi-component apps and workflows that remain challenging in prompt-only tools
4. Terminal-based coding agents
Aider, codex, Claude Code and similar tools live in your shell.
They optimize for autonomy: how long can the agent code without supervision?
The main characteristics include:
- Can bootstrap entire features or small apps in one go
- Debugging can be challenging due to log-based monitoring rather than GUI interfaces
5. Junior developer agents
OpenHands, Devin, and similar tools emulate the junior software engineer experience.
You can observe the codebase as it's being developed and watch how the agent interacts with terminal, browser, and other tools.
These agents offer:
- Interactive development with questions and discussions about implementation details
- A middle ground—less hands-on than IDE agents but more interactive than terminal-based ones
- Support for developing moderately complex applications
- Transparency into the agent's thought process and decision-making
6. IDE agents
Cursor, Windsurf, Zed, GitHub Copilot and Junie bring the agent into a full-blown IDE.
This developer-centric approach delivers:
- Maximum flexibility and customization—from vibe-coding to minimal AI assistance
- Optimal performance with large/legacy codebases and multi-repo systems
- Full control over environment setup and deployments, with LLM support for tasks like
brew install node
← This side of the spectrum is the most developer-centric.