Vibe Coder Cheat Sheet

Survival Guide v1.0

.env Format

# API Keys (no quotes!)
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-abc123...
DATABASE_URL=postgres://...
SECRET_KEY=my_secret_value

npm Commands

npm install Get dependencies
npm run dev Start dev server
npm run build Create production
npm uninstall Remove package

Never Do

  • X git add .env - exposes secrets!
  • X Hardcode API keys in code files
  • X Ignore terminal error messages

Git Flow

1 git clone [url]
2 git pull - sync remote
3 (make your changes)
4 git add . - stage all
5 git commit -m "msg"
6 git push - upload

.gitignore

# Always ignore these:
node_modules/
.env
.DS_Store
dist/
build/

Dev Jargon

localhost = your computer
component = reusable UI piece
modal = popup dialog
props = data passed down
state = changeable data
API = data endpoint
deploy = make live

Debug Protocol

1 Read the error message
2 Copy the FULL message
3 Include context for AI:
"I ran [command],
expected [result],
got [error]"
Author: Joe Amditis
jamditis.github.io/tools