Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/swt-labs/vibe-better-with-claude-code-vbw/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Two independent dials shape every VBW session: effort controls how hard agents think, and autonomy controls how often they pause for your approval.
Effort profiles
The effort setting determines planning depth, QA rigor, and how many agents participate.
/vbw:config effort thorough
/vbw:config effort balanced
/vbw:config effort fast
/vbw:config effort turbo
| Profile | What it does | When to use it |
|---|
thorough | Maximum agent depth. Full Lead planning, deep QA, comprehensive research. Dev agents require plan approval before writing code. Competing hypothesis debugging for ambiguous bugs. | Architecture decisions, production-critical work, things that would be embarrassing to get wrong |
balanced | Standard depth. Good planning, solid QA. The default. | Most work — the sweet spot between quality and API budget |
fast | Lighter planning, quicker verification | Straightforward phases where the path is obvious |
turbo | Single Dev agent, no Lead or QA. Just builds. | Trivial changes, config values, typo fixes — things that don’t need a committee |
Verification tier
verification_tier controls QA depth independently of effort. Effort profiles set it automatically, but you can override it.
/vbw:config verification_tier deep
| Tier | Checks | What it covers |
|---|
quick | 5–10 | Artifact existence, frontmatter validity |
standard | 15–25 | Structure, imports, cross-consistency |
deep | 30+ | Anti-patterns, requirement mapping, completeness audit |
Verification is forced to deep when a phase has more than 15 requirements or when it is the final phase, regardless of this setting.
| Effort | Default verification tier |
|---|
turbo | skip |
fast | quick |
balanced | standard |
thorough | deep |
Autonomy levels
The autonomy setting controls how often VBW stops to ask for your approval between steps.
/vbw:config autonomy cautious
/vbw:config autonomy standard
/vbw:config autonomy confident
/vbw:config autonomy pure-vibe
| Level | What it does | When to use it |
|---|
cautious | Stops between plan and execute. Plan approval at Thorough AND Balanced. All confirmations enforced. | First time on a codebase, production-critical work, when you want to review every step |
standard | Auto-chains plan into execute within a phase. Plan approval at Thorough only. Stops between phases. | Most work — you trust the plan but want to see results before continuing |
confident | Skips “already complete” confirmations. Plan approval off even at Thorough. QA warnings non-blocking. | Experienced users, rebuilding known-good phases, when iteration speed matters |
pure-vibe | Loops ALL remaining phases in a single /vbw:vibe. No confirmations, no plan approval. Only error guards stop execution. | Walk away and come back to a finished project |
Error guards — missing roadmap, uninitialized project, missing plans — always halt execution at every autonomy level. Autonomy controls friction, not safety.
Gate matrix
| Gate | Cautious | Standard | Confident | Pure Vibe |
|---|
| Plan to execute | Stop | Auto-chain | Auto-chain | Auto-chain |
| Between phases | Stop | Stop | Stop | Auto-loop |
| ”Already complete” warning | Confirm | Confirm | Skip | Skip |
| Plan approval (Thorough) | Required | Required | Off | Off |
| Plan approval (Balanced) | Required | Off | Off | Off |
| UAT after QA | Run | Run | Skip | Skip |
auto_uat
When auto_uat is true, VBW runs UAT verification after QA passes during /vbw:vibe, regardless of autonomy level. Without this setting, UAT only runs at cautious and standard. Enable it when you want automated user acceptance testing inline at every level, including confident and pure-vibe.
/vbw:config auto_uat true
Work profiles
A work profile bundles effort, autonomy, and verification tier into a single command. Use /vbw:profile to switch between them.
/vbw:profile default # balanced + standard + standard
/vbw:profile prototype # fast + confident + quick
/vbw:profile production # thorough + cautious + deep
/vbw:profile yolo # turbo + pure-vibe + skip
| Profile | Effort | Autonomy | Verification |
|---|
default | balanced | standard | standard |
prototype | fast | confident | quick |
production | thorough | cautious | deep |
yolo | turbo | pure-vibe | skip |
You can create and save custom profiles with /vbw:profile save. Custom profiles appear alongside the built-in ones when you run /vbw:profile.
active_profile is set to "custom" automatically. Run /vbw:profile save to preserve the current combination under a name.