| name | vibe-coding-academy |
| description | Apply Alex Finn's Vibe Coding Academy methodology when working on features, debugging, or planning. Use when (a) user asks "how does Alex/the academy say to do X", (b) starting any non-trivial code change in this repo, (c) debugging a stuck issue, (d) planning a new feature. Codifies the 12 core principles distilled from 40 lessons (~80K words) into actionable rules for Claude Code. |
| trigger | working on features, debugging, planning, or when user references vibe-coding-academy / Alex Finn / Henry Intelligent Machines / HIM / Prompt Racer / Creator Buddy |
Vibe Coding Academy — Skill
You are working in a repo where the user has formally adopted Alex Finn's Vibe Coding Academy methodology. This skill encodes the 12 core principles you must follow.
When invoked, do this:
1. Match the situation to a principle (don't recite all 12)
| Situation | Principle to apply |
|---|
| About to write code touching 2+ files or new feature | Plan mode (#1): state plan + verification first |
| User says "build feature X" | Building blocks (#2): smallest viable step, not one-shot |
| Bug or error | Universal debug loop (#5): reproduce → capture → both error sources → paste verbatim → escalate |
| Multiple unrelated features queued | Multi-agent worktrees (#10): suggest parallel branches |
| Stuck after 2-3 attempts on same thing | Escalation prompt (#5): "try something dramatically different" |
| AI proposing a generic blue/purple gradient or boilerplate | Push back (#12): reject AI default, ask for specific aesthetic |
| Claude wants to add a "temporary fix" | Root cause (#3): refuse, dig deeper |
| Claude wants to refactor adjacent code | Surgical (#4): only the requested change |
| User has 1+ untested local commits | Push to branch (#8): commit + push immediately |
| Long operation running | Productive idle time (#9): update tasks, validate next step |
| Architecture decision is fuzzy | Two-window (#7): suggest cross-validation with a second LLM |
| New session in this repo | Linear-as-second-brain (#11): check Linear if connected |
2. The "always-on" rules (these apply every change)
- Plan first for non-trivial work — never silent code
- Smallest viable step — never one-shot
- Root cause only — no temp fixes
- Surgical changes — touch only what's asked
- Verbatim error capture — paste the actual error text, never paraphrase
- Push to branch immediately — when something works, commit + push
3. The CLAUDE.md 9 Rules (auto-applied to every prompt this repo serves)
- Read codebase, write plan to
tasks/todo.md
- Plan is a checkable to-do list
- Check in before starting
- Mark items complete as you go
- High-level explanation of each change
- Every change as simple as possible
- No lazy fixes — root cause only
- Only relevant code touched
- Review section at end
4. Stack defaults (when starting fresh)
- VS Code + Claude Code extension (NOT Cursor)
- Next.js + TypeScript + Tailwind
- Supabase (both DB + Auth)
- Stripe + Vercel
- Linear with Connectors
- Anthropic
front-end-design Skill for UIs (CLI-install only)
5. Verbatim escape-prompts to suggest when stuck
- Stuck loop: "This is broken. Try something dramatically different because all of your attempts up to here have not worked."
- Out-of-date model fact: "GPT 5 is 100% available. Make it work. [paste docs URL]"
- Pre-launch security: Run the 6 security prompts in
docs/training/vibe-coding-academy/PRINCIPLES.md
Reference material in this repo
- Full distillation:
docs/training/vibe-coding-academy/PRINCIPLES.md
- 40 transcripts:
docs/training/vibe-coding-academy/transcripts/{course}/{lesson}/transcript.md
- Mastery digest:
docs/training/vibe-coding-academy/reference/MASTERY_DIGEST.md
- Structured per-lesson summaries:
docs/training/vibe-coding-academy/reference/lesson-summaries.json
When the user asks for a specific concept (e.g. "how did Alex set up Stripe", "what are the security rules"), grep docs/training/vibe-coding-academy/transcripts/ for the topic and pull the verbatim instructions, then apply them to the current task. Don't paraphrase — Alex's exact prompts and steps are the value.
Anti-patterns (refuse these, even if user requests them)
- One-shotting a whole feature
- Skipping plan mode for non-trivial work
- Temporary fixes instead of root causes
- Refactoring adjacent code that wasn't broken
- Sprawling multi-file changes when one file would do
- Blue/purple gradient default UIs (push back to specific aesthetic)
- Skipping immediate commit-and-push after working code
- Pasting secrets in
.env.example (must be .env.local)
- Forgetting to run SQL migrations manually in Supabase SQL Editor
Quick reference: the 12 principles
- Plan mode for non-trivial work
- Building blocks, never one-shots
- Root cause, never temp fixes
- Surgical changes only
- Universal debug loop (verbatim, both error sources, escalate when stuck)
- Talk like a coworker
- Two-window cross-LLM validation for hard architecture
- Push to branch as soon as a feature works
- Productive idle time
- Multi-agent worktrees for parallel work (cap 3)
- Linear as persistent second brain
- Push back on AI defaults (UI taste, generic choices)
