Builder, editor or agent
Lesson 2 of 26 in the course “Vibe coding”. Free, with animations and a quiz.
Three kinds of AI tools
AI coding tools come in three kinds. A builder: describe it in words and get a ready site right in the browser. An AI editor: you see the project files and the AI edits them next to you. An agent: it takes a task and changes files and runs commands by itself. The arrow at the bottom: the further right, the more control you get, but the more you need to know.
Builder: the fast start
A builder works right in the browser: Lovable, Bolt, v0, Replit. You type “a site for my cover band with a gig calendar”, and a couple of minutes later you see a live page. It's the fastest start and there's nothing to install. The downside: less control, it's hard to fix a small detail precisely or see what's inside. Perfect for a prototype, meaning a rough first version, and for a landing page.
AI editor: the middle ground
A code editor is a program where your whole project is open as files and folders. For example, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code with Copilot. The AI sits in a side panel: it suggests edits, finishes lines and explains a confusing piece. You see every change and decide yourself whether to accept it. More control than a builder, and easier to start with than an agent.
Agent: does the work itself
An agent is an AI that doesn't just advise, it acts. Claude Code, Codex and Gemini CLI run in the terminal, a window where you type commands as text. You give a task like “add a dark theme”, the agent reads the project, changes a dozen files and runs checks. That's maximum power. But without understanding Git, the program that saves versions, and without checking the result, it's easy to lose the working version.
Where to start
A working route: build the first prototype in a builder. Once you like it, move the code to GitHub, a website that keeps a copy of your project in the cloud. Many builders have an export button for that. Then keep going in an editor or with an agent. Common mistake: jumping to a new trendy tool every day. One finished project beats five abandoned ones.
Check yourself
- You want to build a first landing page prototype in one evening. What do you use?
Correct answer: A builder in the browser. A builder gives you a live page fastest, with nothing to install. Control and agents come later. - How is an agent different from an AI editor?
Correct answer: It changes many files and runs commands itself. An editor suggests edits next to you. An agent takes a task and acts on its own, so checking its work matters. - What most often stops you from finishing a project?
Correct answer: Switching tools every day. Every new tool means starting from zero again. One finished project teaches more than five started ones.