Stop Losing Track: The Vibe Coder's Guide to Anti-Drift Workflows (2026)

You've felt it. You're three hours into a coding session with Claude or Cursor, adding features left and right. The AI is cooking. Everything's working. Then you realize: you're not building what you set out to build anymore. Or worse—you are building it, but you've created three different authentication systems and forgotten which one you're actually using.

Welcome to drift.

If you're scrolling Twitter (sorry, X) right now looking for answers, you've probably seen posts about Manas's overhyped workflow, Planning with Files skills, or GitHub's Spec-Kit. Maybe you're confused about which one solves your problem. Maybe you're wondering if they're all the same thing.

They're not. And that's what this guide is for.

The Problem: Why Vibe Coding Drifts

Let me be direct: pure vibe coding breaks at scale. When your entire project fits in 200 lines and takes 20 minutes to build, prompting without structure works fine. You remember the context. The AI remembers the context. You ship.

But when your project grows—when you're on day three of adding features, when you've hit /clear twice because context got too long, when you're debugging something you coded yesterday but can't remember why—that's when you lose track.

Here's what actually happens:

• The AI starts suggesting solutions that contradict earlier decisions
• You accept changes without reviewing because you're in flow
• Three implementations of the same feature exist in different files
• Tests break in mysterious ways because you forgot what you changed
• You spend hours untangling code instead of shipping

The core issue: vibe coding optimizes for speed of typing, not speed of shipping.

The Solution Space: Four Tools, One Problem

There are four main approaches that experienced vibe coders use to prevent drift without abandoning AI-assisted speed:

1. PRD.md — Start with clarity on what you're building
2. GitHub Spec-Kit — Break ideas into specs, plans, and tasks
3. Planning with Files — Persist your thinking across sessions
4. Ralph Wiggum Loop — Automate the whole thing and walk away

Let's break down each one, then talk about how to combine them.

PRD.md: Define the "What" Before You Code

Best for: Clarifying fuzzy ideas before you start typing code.

A PRD (Product Requirements Document) sounds corporate and boring. It's not. For vibe coders, it's just a simple checklist of what "done" looks like.

Here's a minimal example:

# Feature: Dark Mode Toggle

## User Stories
- As a user, I want to toggle dark mode so my eyes don't burn at night
- As a user, I want my preference to persist across sessions

## Success Metrics
- Toggle appears in header
- Preference saves to localStorage
- All existing pages respect the theme

## Out of Scope (Important!)
- Mobile app support
- Per-page theme overrides
- Custom color palettes

Notice what this does: it stops you from building features you didn't plan. That "Out of Scope" section is critical—it's where you prevent scope creep before it happens.

Where PRD.md Fits

PRD.md is your input document. You're not writing specs here, you're writing goals. Think of it as telling your future self (and your AI) what success looks like.

Tools to try:

• ChatPRD.ai — AI-powered PRD generator
• Miro AI PRD — Visual board-based version
• Plain Markdown file in your repo root

When to skip it: If your task is genuinely trivial (fixing a typo, updating a dependency), a PRD is overkill. Don't add process for process's sake.

GitHub Spec-Kit: Turn Ideas into Executable Tasks

Best for: Medium-to-large features in existing codebases.

This is where things get structured. Spec-Kit is GitHub's open-source toolkit for spec-driven development. Instead of going straight from "I want dark mode" to code, you create three artifacts:

1. spec.md — What you're building and why (expanded from PRD)
2. plan.md — How you'll build it (architecture, files to change)
3. tasks.md — Step-by-step implementation checklist

Here's the workflow:

# Install Specify CLI
npm install -g @github/specify

# Initialize in your repo
specify init

# Generate spec from your PRD
specify /specify "Add dark mode toggle"

# Review spec.md, then generate plan
specify /plan

# Review plan.md, then generate tasks
specify /tasks

# Execute tasks (with your AI tool)
specify /implement

Why This Works

The magic isn't the tool—it's the control points. After each stage (spec, plan, tasks), you stop and review. This is where you catch:

• Misunderstood requirements
• Over-engineered solutions
• Missing edge cases
• Breaking changes you didn't anticipate

Users on Reddit report 80-90% fewer bugs with this approach because problems get caught at the spec stage, not in production.

Where Spec-Kit shines:

• Existing codebases with complexity
• Team projects (everyone reviews the plan)
• Features that touch multiple files
• When correctness matters more than demo speed

Internal links:

• Spec-Kit tool page
• Spec-Kit review
• Spec-Kit alternatives

When to skip it: For quick experiments, prototypes, or when you're intentionally exploring. The overhead isn't worth it if you're just trying ideas.

Planning with Files: Prevent Mid-Session Amnesia

Best for: Long-running tasks that span multiple sessions or hit context limits.

Here's a scenario you've lived: You're deep into a feature. Context is getting long. You hit /clear to free up tokens. The AI instantly forgets everything you discussed.

Planning with Files solves this with a simple idea: write your thinking to Markdown files, then re-read them.

The workflow creates three persistent files:

• task_plan.md — What you're doing and why
• findings.md — What you've learned (broken APIs, missing files, etc.)
• progress.md — What's done, what's next

The AI writes to these files as it works. When you start a new session (or after /clear), it reads them first. Your context is preserved.

Real User Feedback

From Twitter/X:

"Ralph plugin + Planning with Files skill are perfect—Ralph supervises completion, Files logs progress reliably." — @LotusDecoder

"Poor-man's Ralph with Files gives control; great for error recovery." — @Timur_Yessenov

Where Planning with Files Fits

Think of it as session memory. It doesn't replace Spec-Kit or PRDs—it complements them. You can have both:

• A Spec-Kit plan.md (the approved architecture)
• A Planning with Files progress.md (tracking your implementation)

Setup: Planning with Files is available as a Claude Code skill and can be adapted for other tools.

When to skip it: If your task finishes in one sitting and you never hit context limits, the overhead isn't worth it.

Ralph Wiggum Loop: Set It and Forget It

Best for: Hands-off building when you have clear success criteria.

Ralph is the most autonomous option. Named after the Simpsons character (because "he's doing his best"), it's a loop pattern that runs until your checklist is done.

The workflow:

1. Write a PRD with a checklist of tasks
2. Start the Ralph loop
3. The AI iterates: code → test → check PRD → repeat
4. Stop when checklist is complete (or you intervene)

Example setup:

# PROMPT.md

Build the dark mode feature.

Stop conditions:
- [ ] Toggle appears in header
- [ ] Theme persists in localStorage
- [ ] All pages respect theme
- [ ] Tests pass

Ralph runs in fresh iterations. Each loop:

• Reads the PRD
• Reads git status and recent commits
• Makes changes
• Commits with descriptive messages
• Checks if "done"
• Repeats or stops

The Trade-offs

Pros:

• You can literally walk away (or sleep)
• Works overnight for tedious implementations
• Reduces manual prompt writing

Cons:

• Can loop forever if stop conditions are vague
• Harder to debug than manual prompting
• Requires comfort with autonomous agents

From Matt Pocock on X:

"Skeptical of Claude's Ralph plugin; bash loop with Planning/Files gives better results without context bloat."

Internal links:

• Ralph Wiggum Loop tool page
• Ralph Wiggum Loop review
• Ralph Wiggum Loop alternatives

When to skip it: If you're new to vibe coding or uncomfortable with autonomous agents, start with manual workflows first.

Smart Combinations: How to Stack These Tools

The real power comes from combining workflows based on project size.

Beginner Stack: PRD + Spec-Kit

When: You want structure but aren't ready for automation.

1. Write PRD.md (clarify goals)
2. Run Spec-Kit /specify (generate spec)
3. Review spec.md, adjust
4. Run /plan, review plan.md
5. Run /tasks, review tasks.md
6. Implement manually with your AI tool

This gives you control points without complexity.

Intermediate Stack: Spec-Kit + Planning with Files

When: Your feature spans multiple days or sessions.

1. Spec-Kit workflow to generate plan.md + tasks.md
2. Planning with Files tracks progress.md as you implement
3. If you hit /clear, re-read findings.md + progress.md
4. Continue from where you left off

This prevents amnesia while maintaining structure.

Advanced Stack: PRD + Ralph + Planning with Files

When: You want autonomous execution with safety rails.

1. Write detailed PRD with clear stop conditions
2. Start Ralph loop with Planning with Files active
3. Ralph iterates, Files logs progress
4. Review diffs periodically
5. Intervene if drift detected

Users report this works well for grunt work (CRUD, boilerplate, migrations) where the "what" is clear but the "how" is tedious.

Full Stack (Overkill for Most): PRD → Spec-Kit → Ralph → Files

1. PRD.md (goals)
2. Spec-Kit (structured plan)
3. Ralph executes tasks.md autonomously
4. Planning with Files logs everything

Honestly, this is probably too much overhead for most projects. Use it only for:

• Multi-week features in production apps
• Team projects with multiple devs
• When failure is expensive (financial apps, healthcare, etc.)

Common Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them)

1. Skipping the review steps

The worst mistake: generating spec/plan/tasks and immediately running /implement without reading. You lose all the benefits.

Solution: Treat each artifact as a gate. Review. Adjust. Then proceed.

2. Vague stop conditions in Ralph

Bad: "Build the feature" Good: "Toggle renders, theme persists, tests pass, no console errors"

Specific conditions prevent infinite loops.

3. File conflicts in Planning with Files

When running parallel tasks, multiple agents might write to the same progress.md file simultaneously.

Solution: Use separate branches or run tasks sequentially.

4. Using structure for trivial tasks

Don't Spec-Kit a typo fix. Overhead should match complexity.

What the Community is Saying

From X (formerly Twitter):

"Built a Ralph CLI combining PRD creation, planning, and building with Spec-Kit elements for easy cooking." — @iannuttall

"Use Ralph in Plan Mode with Files for detailed discovery, then switch models for build." — @hmemcpy

"Ralph's fresh loops with Files prevent drift better than single sessions." — @p_e

The pattern: People are mixing and matching. There's no "one true way"—the tools are composable.

Getting Started: Your First Anti-Drift Project

Here's a practical 30-minute exercise:

Goal: Add a simple feature to an existing project using structure.

Steps:

1. Pick a small feature (example: "Add email validation to signup form")
2. Write a 5-line PRD.md:

   ## Feature: Email Validation
   - Validate on blur
   - Show error message
   - Prevent submit if invalid
   - Success: Form works, tests pass
   

3. Install Spec-Kit: npm install -g @github/specify
4. Run: specify /specify "Add email validation"
5. Review the generated spec.md
6. Run: specify /plan and review plan.md
7. Implement manually (or use /implement if comfortable)

Notice what happens: You catch edge cases before coding (What about emails with +? What about international domains?). That's the value.

Alternatives Worth Knowing

These workflows aren't the only options. Here are cross-category alternatives:

• Claude Plan Mode — Built-in, no install, but volatile across sessions
• Cursor Composer — IDE-integrated, similar to Spec-Kit
• Devin AI — Fully autonomous, less control
• Copilot Workspace — GitHub-specific, explore-plan-code flow

Start with free/open-source options (Spec-Kit, Planning with Files) before paying for platforms.

The Bottom Line

Vibe coding is incredible for speed. But speed without direction is just chaos.

If you're building anything larger than a weekend project, you need one of these workflows. Probably Spec-Kit to start. Add Planning with Files if you're hitting context limits. Experiment with Ralph when you're comfortable with autonomy.

The goal isn't to slow you down—it's to make sure you actually ship the thing you set out to build.

Further Reading

For advanced vibe coders who want deeper patterns, explore:

• Git worktrees for isolated experiments
• Immutable design logs (never edit, only append)
• Plan-Draft-Refine (PDR) loops for documentation

These are extensions of the core workflows—useful, but not beginner-essential.

Try It Yourself

Pick the workflow that matches your comfort level:

• Just starting? Try PRD.md (5 minutes)
• Ready for structure? Try Spec-Kit (30 minutes)
• Want persistence? Add Planning with Files (10 minutes setup)
• Feeling bold? Experiment with Ralph Loop (1 hour)

And remember: The best workflow is the one you'll actually use. Start simple.

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Related Internal Links:

• GitHub Spec-Kit tool page
• Ralph Wiggum Loop tool page
• Spec-Kit review
• Ralph Wiggum Loop review

External Resources:

• GitHub Spec-Kit repo
• Planning with Files repo
• Ralph Wiggum concept
• ChatPRD.ai