By Rizwanul Islam (Afraim) Architect of Intelligent Futures | Founder @ Gaari & The Trail
If you spend five minutes on Tech Twitter in 2026, you'll hear the same phrase repeated like a mantra: "Stop Coding. Start Building."
They call it "Vibe Coding"—the idea that you can prompt-engineer your way to a unicorn without understanding how a database schema works. It is a seductive lie. While vibe coding is great for building toys, it is catastrophic for building Systems.
I don’t build toys. I build architectures reliable enough to hold the weight of thousands of users.
When I architected The Trail (a high-performance news aggregator) and Gaari (Bangladesh’s premium vehicle rental platform), I didn't use AI to write the code for me. I used AI to execute the code I designed.
Here is the difference between a "Wrapper" and an "Orchestrated System"—and why the future belongs to the Architect, not the Prompter.
- The "Vibe Coding" Trap "Vibe Coding" relies on probability. You ask an LLM to "build a news app," and it hallucinates a React component that looks pretty but fails under load. It removes the friction of syntax, but it also removes the friction of understanding.
When you build a system like Gaari, which handles:
110+ API Endpoints
Complex multi-service booking flows
Real-time payment gateways (Stripe/Bkash)
You cannot "vibe" your way through race conditions in a database. You need Unshakeable Reliability.
The Shift: Stop treating AI as a "Magic 8-Ball" that writes code. Start treating AI as a "Junior Developer" that requires strict architectural constraints.
- Case Study: Architecting "The Trail" as a Swarm Most "AI News Apps" are just wrappers around the OpenAI API. User asks a question -> Bot answers. This is fragile and prone to hallucination.
For The Trail, I didn't want a chatbot. I wanted a digital newsroom. I adopted the Agentic Swarm architecture. Instead of one prompt, the system is orchestrated into specialized agents:
The Planner: Scans the web for trending topics and defines the scope.
The Researcher: Pulls data from verified sources (no hallucinations allowed).
The Writer: Drafts the content based only on the Researcher's data.
The Critic (Crucial): This agent reviews the draft against a quality rubric (SEO, readability, fact-check). If the score is < 8/10, it rejects the draft and forces a rewrite.
The Code vs. The Orchestration
In the "Vibe Coding" world, you just prompt. In the "Orchestrator" world, you build the logic that manages the agents.
TypeScript
// Pseudo-code for The Trail's Orchestration Logic
async function runNewsSwarm(topic) {
const plan = await plannerAgent.createOutline(topic);
const facts = await researcherAgent.gatherData(plan);
let draft = await writerAgent.write(plan, facts);
let review = await criticAgent.review(draft);
// The Orchestration Loop
while (review.score < 8) {
console.log(Quality fail (${review.score}). Rewriting...);
draft = await writerAgent.rewrite(draft, review.feedback);
review = await criticAgent.review(draft);
}
return await publisherAgent.publish(draft);
}
This isn't just "generating text." This is engineering a workflow. It ensures that the final output is high-signal and reliable, distinct from the generic "slop" flooding the internet.
- The Stack: Next.js + Supabase (The Reliability Layer) To support this agentic workflow, you need infrastructure that moves as fast as the AI but stays as secure as a bank.
For both Gaari and The Trail, I standardized on the Next.js + Supabase stack.
Why Supabase?
It’s not just because it’s open-source. It’s because of Row Level Security (RLS). When you have AI agents reading and writing to your database, you cannot rely on frontend validation. RLS allows me to define security policies at the database level.
Gaari's Architecture: We handle sensitive user data (bookings, payments). Even if an AI agent goes rogue or a frontend bug appears, the database physically refuses unauthorized queries. That is Unshakeable Reliability.
Why Next.js 14?
For The Trail, we needed a 95/100 Lighthouse score despite having heavy rich-text editors (Tiptap) and real-time analytics. Next.js Server Components allow us to render the heavy news content on the edge, keeping the client bundle tiny.
- The "Founder Mode" Mindset There is a viral debate right now about "Founder Mode"—the idea that leaders must know the details.
As the Architect of these systems, I don't delegate the database schema. I don't treat the API as a "black box." I know every one of the 30+ tables in The Trail's schema.
To be a 100x Engineer in 2026, you must pivot:
From: Writing syntax (The AI can do this).
To: Designing Systems (The AI cannot do this).
Conclusion: Build the Engine, Don't Just Paint the Car
The market is crowded with developers who can write a prompt. It is starving for Architects who can build a system.
My work with Gaari and The Trail proves that you don't need a team of 50 to build enterprise-grade software. You need a System Mindset. You need to stop vibing and start orchestrating.
If you are building something that needs to scale, stop looking for "code snippets" and start looking at Architecture Patterns.
I am Rizwanul Islam (Afraim). I architect intelligent futures.
Discussion: Are you using AI to write code, or are you designing systems for AI to execute?
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