If you vibe-code, read this before you share anything you built. An agent can produce a working app in an afternoon. What it cannot do is check that the app works on a second machine, with a second person, or after a restart. That gap is where most vibe-coded projects break, and it is what these five habits close.
1. Run it from a clean copy
Your machine has things the repository does not: a global tool, an old environment variable, a file you never committed. Clone the project into an empty folder, follow the README, and run it. If it fails, the problem is real, and you found it before a user did.
2. Keep secrets out of the code and the chat
Agents often copy an example key into real code, and a key pasted into a prompt goes to a third party. Put every secret in an environment file that git ignores, read it at runtime, and rotate anything that has been exposed. A deleted commit does not undo a copy.
3. Read what changed before you accept it
You did not write most of the code, so you need a way to check it. Read the list of changed files first, then the summary, then the diff for anything that touches data, money, login, or secrets. Ask the agent what each change does in plain words, and treat a vague answer as a reason to look closer.
4. Test the failure, not only the success
A demo shows the happy path. Try an empty form, text where a number belongs, and a request while a dependency is down. The app should answer with a clear message, not a crash or a blank page. Write one test for each failure you can think of, and make sure the test fails when the behaviour breaks.
5. Keep the local setup in one place
If your app has more than one service, such as a frontend, an API, and a database, the start order and the ports matter. Describe the services in one place, start them with one command, and check their readiness before you test a flow. TDK CLI is one way to do this for local multi-service apps: tdk doctor --json checks whether the machine can run the stack, tdk up main --dry-run shows the plan, and tdk status --json reports readiness. It is for local development, and production stays with your existing deployment tools.
Before you share it
Run through the five habits once. Then ask one person to use the app without your help, and watch where they get stuck. That moment is the most useful test you will get.
Keep this page
Bookmark it, and read it again before each launch. The habits are short, and they are the ones that save the most time later.
