Hands-On with VibeSDK: Building Apps with 'Vibes' and Cloudflare

If you've played with Bolt.new, you know the feeling. You type a prompt, and suddenly—magic. An app appears. But then the trial ends, the rate limits hit, and you realize you don't actually own the machine that's doing the magic.

Enter VibeSDK.

Launched by Cloudflare, it's an open-source "vibe coding" (AI app building) framework that runs on your own infrastructure. No subscription fees. No black-box limitations. Just you, your API keys, and Cloudflare's massive network.

We decided to spin it up and see if VibeSDK is actually usable for mere mortals.

What is VibeSDK?

At its core, VibeSDK is a framework for Natural Language App Generation. It connects LLMs (like GPT-4 or Claude 3.5 Sonnet) to a secure execution environment (sandboxed via WebContainers or Cloudflare Workers) to write, run, and fix code in real-time.

Think of it as "Bolt.new for people who like terminals."

The "Vibe Coding" Philosophy

"Vibe coding" isn't just about code generation. It's about the loop.

1. You describe the "vibe" (the app).
2. The AI writes code.
3. The environment runs it immediately.
4. You see errors or strange UI.
5. The AI sees the same errors and fixes them automatically.

VibeSDK brings this loop to the open-source world. It uses Cloudflare's AI Gateway to manage the LLM connections, meaning you can swap models instantly or cache responses to save money.

Key Features

1. Sandboxing that actually works

Security is the biggest risk with AI coding. If an AI writes rm -rf /, you don't want it running on your laptop. VibeSDK runs code in isolated environments (WebContainers in the browser or Cloudflare Workers in the cloud), so the AI can't break your machine.

2. Multi-LLM Routing

This is the killer feature. With Bolt or Replit, you use what they give you. With VibeSDK, you configure the model in your config file. Want to use Google's Gemini 2.0 Flash for speed and Anthropic's Claude 3.5 Sonnet for complex logic? You can route valid requests to the cheaper model and hard ones to the smarter model.

3. One-Click Deploy

Because it's built by Cloudflare, deployment isn't an afterthought. The same code that runs in your local preview deploys to a Cloudflare Worker with a single command. It's essentially "serverless app generation."

Setting Up: The Reality Check

Here's where the "User Experience" gap shows. With Bolt.new, you log in. With VibeSDK, you:

1. Clone the repo.
2. Run npm install.
3. Create a Cloudflare account.
4. Generate API tokens with the right permissions (Workers, D1, AI).
5. Set up your .env file with OpenAI/Anthropic keys.

It took us about 15 minutes to get from "zero" to "hello world." For a developer? Easy. For a no-code founder? A nightmare.

Self-hoster tip: Make sure your Cloudflare token has Workers Scripts: Edit permissions, or the deployment step will fail silently.

VibeSDK vs. The Competition

We wrote a full battle comparison of VibeSDK vs Bolt.new, but here is the summary:

Feature	VibeSDK	Bolt.new	Replit
Price	Free (BYO Keys)	Subscriptions	Subscriptions
Privacy	High (Your Infra)	Medium	Medium
Setup	Hard (Terminal)	Easy (Web)	Easy (Web)
Ownership	100% Yours	Platform Locked	Platform Locked

(See more potential swaps in our Top VibeSDK Alternatives list)

Who Should Use Cloudflare Vibe Coding?

Use VibeSDK if:

• You are a developer who hates "credits" and "rate limits."
• You have a Cloudflare account and love their ecosystem.
• You are building internal tools and need strict data privacy.
• You want to use a specific new model (like Gemini 1.5 Pro) the day it launches.

Skip it if:

• You are afraid of the terminal.
• You want a polished, designer-grade UI out of the box.
• You want to build a mobile app (this is web-only for now).

The Verdict

VibeSDK is a powerful weapon in the war against closed ecosystems. It proves that "vibe coding" doesn't have to be a monthly subscription service—it can be a workflow that you own.

It's rough around the edges, but the core engine is solid. If you're willing to pay the "configuration tax" up front, you get an infinitely scalable, dirt-cheap app builder that no one can take away from you.

Final Score: 4/5 Vibes 🌊