Reading the Diff
The single skill that separates pretend vibe-coders from real ones. Read diffs faster than you can type code.
Vibe coding looks like magic from the outside: type a sentence, get a feature. Inside, the skill that actually carries the day is diff-reading. You don't write the lines; you read them. If you can't read a diff faster than you can type it, the agent makes you slower, not faster.
Three signals to look for in every diff: scope (does it edit only the files you intended?), intent (does the change match what you asked for?), and side effects (did the agent add imports, change types, or rename things you didn't authorize?). Train your eye to scan in that order — scope, intent, side effects — every single time.
Practice technique: every time you accept a diff, say aloud what changed. Not 'it added a function' but 'it added handleSubmit in form.tsx that calls onSave with the form values.' If you can't narrate the change, you didn't read it.