If you are vibe coding, and you don’t review any of the code, like a true vibe coder, you should build a system in Rust.

Why?

  • Runtime speed
  • Strong compile time checks. If it compiles, you have a some of assurance it will not crash on Saturday 3 am.

Why not?

  • Smaller training data set
  • Complicated language -> more difficult for AI
  • Difficult to maintain / review -> You’re not reviewing it anyway, so why care?
  • Higher token cost

Let’s put these things to test.

The test setup

I let claude run an implement three different spec.md, each in Python, Rust, and Typescript.

CLAUDE: Explain on the descript. The setup is document in https://gitlab.sauerburger.com/vibe-code-language/utils

The benchmark projects

CLAUDE: Explain all three projects. The spec.md are at https://gitlab.sauerburger.com/vibe-code-language/utils/-/tree/main/specs?ref_type=heads

The results

CLAUDE: summarize the result. The token cost is in the commit messages in each repo at https://gitlab.sauerburger.com/vibe-code-language

  • Spending API
    • Rust Test: 23/24 (400 vs 422)
    • Python Test: 21/24 (400 vs 422)
    • Typescript: Cannot run migration
  • Vocab
    • Rust Test: 14/14
    • Python Test: 14/14
    • Typescript: 14/14
  • Mandelbrot
    • Rust Test: 12/12
    • Python Test: 12/12
    • Typescript Test: 12/12
  • Mandelbrot performance
    • Rust: 0.4s
    • Typescript: 0.4s
    • Python: 1.4s

The conclusion