Vibe-coded MVPs aren’t doomed — they just need structured recovery.
Start with understanding your users - Extract real user stories from existing behavior and write tests around them before refactoring or prioritizing anything.
Make acode audit, then set up CI/CD and test coverage before refactoring anything.
Map and test your most critical user flows first to avoid breaking what matters.
Prioritize fixes based on business impact, not code aesthetics.
Get outside help when needed: A second opinion from experienced engineers can save time and money — and prevent another round of vibe coding.
How To Fix an App That Was Built With Vibe Coding?
You built an MVP in weeks, maybe even days. You cut corners, skipped tests, made architecture decisions based on vibes and it worked. You shipped. People used it. You proved there was demand.
But now?
Every new feature feels like defusing a bomb.
Your devs are afraid to touch certain parts of the code.
Bugs sneak into production, and nobody’s quite sure why.
Onboarding someone new takes weeks instead of days.
You’re stuck in vibe coding hell, and it’s slowing everything down.
The good news? You don’t need a total rewrite. You just need a clear plan to refactor, stabilize, and future-proof what you’ve built.
Here’s exactly how to do it, step by step.
Step 1: Accept That It’s Time
Before you touch a single line of code, take a deep breath and acknowledge the truth:
Your MVP is no longer “just a prototype”.
It’s the foundation of your product. And like any foundation, it needs to be stable if you want to build anything on top of it.
A lot of founders delay this moment, thinking they’ll clean up “after the next release” or “when things calm down.” Spoiler: they won’t.
Every new feature built on unstable code only makes the problem worse.And accept that a structured clean-up is not a slowdown, but an investment in speed, reliability, and team sanity.
Step 2: Run a Technical Audit
You can’t fix what you don’t understand.
Before jumping into refactoring, take time to map out the current state of your MVP. The goal here isn’t to obsess over every line of code but to get a high-level picture of what’s solid, what’s fragile, and what’s just plain dangerous.
Here’s what to look at:
Architecture
How is your app structured?
Are responsibilities clearly separated (e.g. frontend/backend, business logic/data access)?
Do any parts feel overly coupled or monolithic?
Code Quality
Are there giant files or functions doing too much?
Are there obvious code smells, hacks, or inconsistent styles?
Is there any documentation at all?
Risk Areas
Which modules break the most?
Which ones are hardest to modify or test?
What parts feel like “black boxes” even to your team?
Testing & CI/CD
Are there any automated tests?
Do you have CI set up?
Can you deploy safely, or do you rely on luck?
Dependencies
Are you using outdated libraries or unsupported tools?
Do any packages raise security or performance concerns?
Pro tip: If your team is too close to the code (or burned out by it), bring in a fresh pair of eyes. An external technical audit for your vibe coded app that can often uncover issues faster and more objectively.
Step 3: Make a Plan (That Actually Works)
Once you've audited your codebase, the next move isn’t to jump straight into fixing things at random. It’s to create a plan based on how your product is actually used, starting with real user stories.
Start with critical user flows
Before prioritizing what to clean up, identify your most important user stories - the ones that generate revenue, support core features, or are business-critical.
Then:
Map out the full technical flow of how those stories are implemented
Write automated tests around them—unit tests, integration tests, or even simple smoke tests
This gives you safety nets and confidence to refactor later
You’ll also often discover hidden issues in the process
This step isn’t just about testing but rather about learning what’s fragile and where failure hurts most.
Then, prioritize with business impact in mind
After you’ve covered core flows with tests, start asking:
What do we want to fix first, and why?
Not all tech debt is equal. Focus on what costs you money, customers, or time.
Use this simple matrix:
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Now that you know what’s broken and what hurts most, it’s time to clean up.
Once you’ve clarified what matters and where you’re bleeding cash, start improving the code in place rather than rebuilding everything from scratch. A rewrite is tempting, but it’s usually a trap — you lose all learnings, and you risk introducing new bugs into areas that worked well enough.
What to do instead:
Add strong test coverage around fragile areas – not just minimal smoke tests. Focus on unit tests, integration tests, and edge cases. If the area is risky, it deserves proper protection. No cleanup is safe without this.
Use feature flags to isolate new logic from live behavior.
Refactor gradually — module by module, component by component. If you touch one part, clean it up before moving on.
Automate what you can – use linters, formatters, and static analysis to reduce noise and surface deeper issues.
The goal here is to stabilize and isolate — building structure around the chaos before replacing or optimizing anything big.
Step 5: Upgrade Your Dev Processes (if you have a dev team)
This step is specifically for startups that already have an internal dev team. If your MVP was vibe-coded by external freelancers or a solo founder, skip ahead to finding a long-term partner instead.
But if you do have an in-house team, now is the time to upgrade your processes. Otherwise, you risk falling back into the same mess.
Set up CI/CD pipelines if they’re not in place yet.
Define a clear branching strategy (e.g., GitFlow, trunk-based development).
Make code reviews mandatory – ideally async and tracked.
Implement consistent testing culture – make sure writing and maintaining tests is a shared responsibility, not an afterthought.
Introduce documentation habits early – decisions, trade-offs, architecture.
Vibe coding thrives in the absence of structure. You don’t need corporate overhead, but you do need processes that protect quality while allowing speed.
Step 6: Fix the Onboarding Bottlenecks
As your team grows, bringing new developers up to speed quickly becomes mission critical. If onboarding is painful, your team will slow down and burnout risk grows.
Here’s how to smooth the process:
Create clear and simple documentation Include README files, setup guides, architecture diagrams, and coding conventions. Make sure a new hire can get a dev environment running in a day or two without constant hand-holding.
Define coding standards and best practices Agree on naming conventions, folder structure, comment style, and commit message format. Consistency reduces cognitive load.
Develop an onboarding checklist Step-by-step tasks for new devs: from accessing repos and credentials, to running tests, to deploying a small change.
Regularly update onboarding materials As code changes, so should docs. Outdated guides cause confusion and frustration.
Step 7: Make Scalability Decisions Wisely
Before you start dreaming of Kubernetes clusters and auto-scaling groups, ask yourself a hard question: Do you really need to scale that far? Not every product is on a trajectory to serve millions of users, and that’s perfectly fine.
If you're building a premium B2B product, a niche platform, or something where high value beats high volume, investing early in complex infrastructure might be overkill. You’ll only waste time and money solving problems that may never exist.
But…
If You Know Growth Is Coming – Be Ready
There are clear signals when it's time to think big:
You’ve secured funding and growth is expected (or demanded).
You’re onboarding enterprise clients or large volumes of users.
Your MVP is already showing signs of traction and technical strain.
In such cases, early scalability decisions matter. A strong starting point is:
Kubernetes + a major cloud provider. It gives you flexibility, speed, and resilience — and when the time comes to grow, your platform can grow with you, not against you.
We’ve seen too many projects get stuck because someone made the wrong bet too early — or too late. At ULAM LABS, we help businesses make practical tech decisions that align with their growth plans, budget, and stage.
Conclusion
Your MVP got you here — that raw energy and speed were essential. But now, to grow and scale, your product and team need stability.
Refactoring vibe coding is a process, not a one-time fix. Take it step by step: audit, prioritize, refactor, upgrade workflows, smooth onboarding, prepare for scale, and foster a culture that prevents new debt.
Remember, you don’t need perfect code. You need code that can keep up with your pace.
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