Red Flags That Save My Sanity and Let Me Ship Faster

Hey friend,

Prathamesh here, the underdog who spent 13 years writing messy code the hard way. I fought spaghetti, tutorial hell, and endless refactoring. Now I vibe-code with AI, ship profitable apps quickly, and help others escape the same traps through VibeShip.

Last year, I started something small but powerful. I made a "Red Flags File." It is just a simple list of things I never allow myself to do anymore. These are the biggest mistakes I saw in my own work and in others. I keep this list open in Cursor or Notion. Sometimes I copy parts into my .mdc rule,s so AI follows them too.

Why do this? As an underdog, I have limited time and energy. One bad habit can waste weeks or kill my momentum. This file saves me from self-sabotage.

Here are the rules I live by right now. Feel free to copy them, change them, or build your own version.

Red Flags in Coding and Vibe-Coding

1. Deep nesting (more than 3 levels of if-else), I force early returns only. No more pyramid code.

2. No try/catch on async code. Bugs love to hide in promises. I always handle errors properly.

3. Using auto-increment IDs instead of UUIDs Big pain later when scaling or merging data.

4. Putting business logic inside UI components. Components stay dumb. Logic goes to services or hooks.

5. Skipping tests because "AI wrote it", I still run happy path and edge cases. Now I push the TDD vibe hard.

6. Ignoring mobile-first design Most users are on phone. I design desktops later.

7. Keeping component files bigger than 200 lines Split immediately. Big files bring big pain.

8. Jumping to shiny new frameworks every month, I stick to one stack (like Laravel or Next with AI) and go deep.

This file is not fixed forever. Every 2-3 months, I add a new rule when I catch myself slipping. Result? Refactoring dropped by 70%, I ship faster, my mood stays good, and side projects actually make money.

The best part? When AI starts ignoring rules, I just paste one line from this file into the prompt. Works like magic.

What about you? What is the number 1 red flag you are fighting right now in coding or building? Reply and tell me. I read every message.

Here's the sample red flags file.

Red Flags File – Things I Ban Myself From Doing

This is my personal "never do this again" list.

Keeps me from creating tech debt, wasting time, burning out, or slowing down ships.

Review every 1-2 months and add new ones when I catch bad habits.

## Coding & Vibe-Coding Red Flags

- Deep nesting (more than 2-3 levels of if/else or loops)  
  → Use early returns, guard clauses, or extract functions immediately. Pyramid code is pain forever.

- Skipping error handling on async code (promises, fetch, etc.)  
  → Always wrap in try/catch or .catch(). Hidden bugs love unhandled rejections.

- Using auto-increment IDs in databases  
  → Switch to UUIDs from day one. Merging data or scaling becomes nightmare otherwise.

- Mixing business logic inside UI components  
  → Keep components stupid and dumb. Move logic to hooks, services, or utils.

- Skipping tests "because AI wrote it"  
  → Force happy path + edge cases. TDD vibe: write test first or at least run them before commit.

- Ignoring mobile-first  
  → Design for phone users first. Desktop comes later. Most traffic is mobile anyway.

- Letting any component file grow beyond 150-200 lines  
  → Split ruthlessly. Big files = big refactoring hell.

- Chasing new frameworks/tools every month  
  → Pick one solid stack (e.g. Next.js + Tailwind + your DB) and go deep. Framework hopping kills ships.

- Using npm when your project is on Bun  
  → Stick to the runtime's package manager. Inconsistency breeds weird bugs.

- Adding purple gradients or random flair without reason  
  → Keep UI clean and consistent (shadcn/ui patterns only unless forced).

Keep shipping. Keep vibing. You are not alone on this underdog path.