Nalo Seed Vibe-Coding Best Practices: Rapid AI-Powered Prototyping

Rapid, AI-powered prototyping — without the chaos

Version 1.0 – July 2025

Why This Guide Exists

At Nalo Seed we build fast, learn fast, and ship fast. Vibe-coding lets a small team harness multiple AI agents as on-demand developers, designers, and researchers. This playbook shows one streamlined way to do it. Take what works, tweak the rest.

Quick-Start Cheat Sheet

• Blueprint First → In Cursor, open agent chat and ask it to create blueprint.md in the root of the repo. Capture your one-liner vision, vibe descriptor, and a numbered list of granular tasks/phases.
• Agent Orchestration → Stay in Cursor. Turn on Agent Mode (or use Claude Code) so AI can read/edit files and run commands.
• Granular Loops → Pick a single task, run plan → edit → test → fix. Rinse & repeat.
• Local MVP → Ship a tiny, runnable prototype on your own machine first. Decide in < 1 hr if it's worth scaling.
• Frequent Commits → git add -A && git commit -m "feat: " after every green check.
• Refresh Agents → If the chat drifts or hallucinates, start a new chat, point it at blueprint.md + repo, and keep going.
• Prompt With Precision → Reference real code lines, file names, and expected behaviour. Ask the agent why before accepting big changes.
• Multi-Tool Stack → Cursor (coding), Claude Code (planning), ChatGPT/Gemini (UX), Perplexity (research). Treat them like a dev pod. Try them all for different roles.

The Vibe-Coding Process

Phase 0 – Blueprint

"A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan next week." — Patton

• Open a new repository/workspace.
• In Cursor chat, paste a one-sentence product vision and 3–5 vibe adjectives (e.g. sleek, playful, retro-CRT).
• Prompt: "Create blueprint.md with project overview, feature roadmap (phases), and granular tasks under each phase."
• Ask the agent to critique and expand until the blueprint feels complete but concise (≤ 500 words).
• Save blueprint.md in a visible side panel. This is the shared memory for all future agents.

Phase 1 – Vision & Scope Check

Give blueprint.md to a second LLM (Claude, GPT-4) and ask: "Review and highlight blind spots, missing resources, or marketplace gaps." Incorporate feedback back into the blueprint; re-save.

Phase 2 – Agent Kick-Off

• Install and open Claude Code in the integrated terminal: pip install claude-code && claude-code.
• Run plan mode (Shift-Tab) and point it at blueprint.md.
• Prompt: "Read the blueprint, list your first 3 tasks, then ask before executing."
• Approve or edit its plan. Once happy, let it run.

Phase 3 – Micro-Task Loop

For each task the agent proposes:

• Edit (agent writes/updates code)
• Test (run local tests or spin up dev server)
• Fix/refine (address failing tests & UX issues)Commit (feat/ branches encouraged)
• Update blueprint.md if scope changes

Phase 4 – Rapid Local MVP

Goal: within 2–3 hours have something you can click or run. If it feels wrong, archive branch, adjust blueprint, and pivot early.

Phase 5 – Agent Hygiene & Context Resets

• Start a fresh chat whenever hallucinations grow.
• Always re-upload or reference blueprint.md and latest repo snapshot.
• Think of each new chat as a fresh developer coming on shift.

Phase 6 – Prompt Crafting Best Practices

• Reference exact file paths & line numbers: "Update src/components/Header.tsx:42–63".
• Ask for reasoning before big diffs: "Explain why this refactor improves performance."
• Supply inputs/outputs: logs, test cases, Figma links, etc.

Phase 7 – Tool Stack Roles

Tool Stack Overview:

• Cursor: IDE + LLM agents | Code edits, file ops, Git, tests
• Claude Code: Long-context planning | Blueprint analysis, multi-file refactors
• ChatGPT/Gemini: UX writing & visuals | Landing-page copy, color palettes
• Perplexity: Source-linked research | Competitive analysis, API docs

Tip: Treat tools like teammates. Play to their strengths.

Phase 8 – Security & Cost Awareness

• API Keys: store in .env.local (never commit!).
• Rate Limits: add basic rate-limit middleware before public launches.
• Run-away loops: supervise "overnight" agent runs; set OS-level process limits.
• Token Usage: track spend dashboards (OpenAI, Anthropic) daily during sprints.

Appendix A – Common Prompts

• "Scan repo for TODO comments and propose a cleaning sprint."
• "Compare our auth flow to next-auth best practices; list gaps."
• "Generate Jest tests for src/utils/date.ts with 90% coverage."

Appendix B – Commit Message Conventions

• feat: user-login flow
• fix: date util bug on DST edge case
• docs: update blueprint MVP scope
• chore: prettier 3.2 upgrade

Remember

Blueprint → Micro Task → MVP → Iterate.

Stay granular, stay curious, and let the vibes guide the code.