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Is This the Future of Vibe Coding?
Spec-driven coding could be the missing piece for AI assisted development.
Edgar San Martin
September 11, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
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From Edgar,
Welcome to A Vibe Coder, my newsletter where I upload my thoughts on current tech trends, experiements, and vibe coding best practices.
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Kiro.dev and the Joy of Spec-Driven Development
Every once in a while a tool changes the way you think about building. For me, that’s Kiro.dev, Amazon’s spec-driven IDE (not sponsored but I wouldn’t mind, Amazon 😉). I got in right before they shut downloads and flipped to a waitlist, and it’s the first coding tool in a long time that feels new.
The trick is the specs. Kiro generates a living document of your codebase: what’s built, what’s in progress, what’s missing. In a 100k-line project, that’s the difference between drowning and swimming. You’re not guessing where things live. You’ve got a map.
It works in two gears. When I want to make a small tweak or try an idea, I can vibe code freely. When I need to see the bigger picture, I flip back to the spec. It’s structured without being rigid.
Of course, there are rough edges. It only runs two of Claude’s latest models. The tests it spits out are plentiful but not always right. You have to check them, though that’s true for all AI generated code. And the pricing feels suspiciously generous. We’ve all seen how that story ends (Cursor’s rug pull still stings).
Still, Kiro feels solid. It’s not a bunch of hacks glued together. It’s fast, coherent, and, most importantly, fun to use. If this is the future of IDEs, I’m happy to build there.
I give it 5 well documented tasks out of 5 - 📝📝📝📝📝
Why Specs Matter
Specs don’t sound exciting. But they change how you code with AI.
When you write things down, you know what you’re building. When you hand those notes to the machine, it knows too. That’s the whole trick. Without specs, the model stumbles. With specs, it has direction.
I’ve started trying this outside Kiro. Any AI editor works better when you keep a simple doc: here’s the goal, here’s what’s done, here’s what’s next. It’s not fancy. But it makes everything smoother. The code drops into place instead of fighting you.
That’s why I think spec-driven development is the right path for vibe coding. It’s not about handing over control. It’s about keeping you and the computer in sync. Once you do that, the work feels lighter. You move faster. And you stop wasting energy on the wrong things.
Thank Y’all
I love experimenting with new dev tools so if you have a favourite, please reply.
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Share if this helped you.
Till next time,
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