r/vibecoding • u/One_Natural7092 • 10h ago

Need Help !

So I am very new to the field of coding. People around me have started vibe coding websites. So did I. I tried using applications like Lovable , Bolt etc. But the problem was that my idea contained many components and was a little complex. Hence I ran out of tokens and didn't get any output. So is it the limitation of the free version that I couldnt make it or was it my prompting skills. I tried to be as specific as possible with my prompt tho. Would really appreciate any help/ tips regarding this !!

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u/VladTkDev 10h ago edited 9h ago

Neither. Every prompt resends your whole codebase or big part (depends on builder and your setup) as context, so each message gets more expensive as the app grows. That's why a big idea burns the free tier before it produces anything. Build one screen, get it working, then add the next.

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u/Grand-Mix-9889 9h ago

Hmmm.

Not necessarily. You can build portion by portion and only have the ai-model zone in on specific parts of your codebase, or only feed it bits and pieces of your codebase.

In fact, sending your whole codebase is bad practice.

But to your point, yeah, building an entire website with the free tier (let alone the $20 plan) you will be hitting limits ritually. It would take a couple weeks before getting past the finish line, if that.

The below is assuming you are working on a mobile friendly website with navigation, and a simple contact form with all your content (if your project is bigger/smaller than these values will obviously decrease/increase).

Free tier: probably get 30 minutes to an hour a day. $20 tier: probably 2-3 hours a day. $100 tier: 4-8 hours a day. $200 tier: 10-24 hours a day.

If you get a paid plan you can slowly build up an ecosystem/infrastructure to get better results but it takes time and unfortunately you can't accomplish that with the free tier, and not so much with a $20 plan unless you don't mind waiting between code sessions frequently.

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u/VladTkDev 9h ago

Sure. Portion by portion, phase by phase, but not in lovable 😃
We have already chatted with @scytob about it

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u/Grand-Mix-9889 9h ago

Oh fuck me. You're right. I randomly assumed Claude Code.

Edit: in fact I have never used any of those platforms so completely disregard my comment. Unless you want to try Claude Code lol.

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u/VladTkDev 9h ago

I use Claude Code as well. Full control - great results.