Controlled Vibe Coding Small Diff — Claude Code Guide

Controlled vibe coding as a governed cycle

Vibe coding becomes an engineering workflow only when AI has bounded input, an allowed change area, a short feedback loop, and a human control point. The goal is not to obtain the largest diff, but to quickly test one hypothesis without losing traceability.

Before each iteration, record the task contract, affected paths, expected signal, and stop condition. If the model proposes a change outside the boundaries, adds unnecessary cleanup, or cannot explain the verification path, stop the cycle instead of expanding the prompt.

Small diff as a quality boundary

Signal	Controlled variant	HOLD / stop
Scope	One behavior or one reviewable slice	Unexpected modules or redesign
Diff	Small related changes with an explanation	Mass cleanup or mixed concerns
Verification	Targeted check defined before editing	No oracle or result is Unknown
Decision	A human reviews the diff and next step	Automatic continuation without a checkpoint

Iteration contract

CONTROLLED_VIBE_CODING.md — documented example

# CONTROLLED_VIBE_CODING.md
Goal: implement one bounded change
Allowed paths: <explicit files or directories>
Expected diff: one behavior, no unrelated cleanup
Check: <targeted command or review step>
Stop when: scope expands, contract is unclear, or check is unavailable
Human gate: inspect diff and decide continue / revise / HOLD
Status: documented example; execution result: Unknown.