How to Build an MVP in 2 Weeks with Vibe Coding

Two years ago, building an MVP took two to three months and cost $30,000 to $80,000. Today, a senior engineer with vibe coding tools can ship a working product in 14 days. Not a clickable prototype. Not a landing page with a waitlist. A real product that handles users, processes data, and runs in production.

This guide explains exactly how we do it at Devvela. We have shipped over a dozen MVPs this way for startups and growing businesses. The process is battle-tested.

Why Vibe Coding Changes the MVP Game

Traditional MVP development has a painful bottleneck: writing code takes time. Even a simple SaaS app needs authentication, a database, an API, a frontend, deployment, and error handling. A solo developer spends weeks on infrastructure before touching the actual product logic.

Vibe coding removes that bottleneck. AI coding agents like Claude Code and Cursor handle the repetitive work: scaffolding projects, writing CRUD endpoints, building UI components, setting up auth, configuring deployment pipelines. The human engineer focuses on product decisions and code review.

The math is simple. If AI handles 70% of the typing and the engineer handles 100% of the thinking, you get the same quality in a fraction of the time.

The 14-Day MVP Timeline

Here is the week-by-week breakdown we use for every MVP project. The timeline assumes one senior engineer working full-time with AI tools.

Days 1-2: Scope and Architecture

The biggest mistake in MVP development is building too much. Day one is about cutting scope ruthlessly. We follow a simple rule: if a feature is not required for the first paying user to get value, it does not go in the MVP.

What happens on days 1-2:

• Define the core loop. What is the one thing the user does repeatedly? For a scheduling app, it is creating and sharing a booking link. For a marketplace, it is listing and finding products. Everything else is secondary.
• Pick the stack. We default to proven, fast-to-ship stacks: Next.js or Astro for the frontend, Supabase for database and auth, Vercel or Cloudflare for hosting. No exotic choices. No over-engineering. Read our architecture guide for more on stack decisions.
• Write the CLAUDE.md file. This is the project context file that tells AI agents about the codebase. It describes the architecture, naming conventions, database schema, and key decisions. A good CLAUDE.md file makes every subsequent AI interaction faster and more accurate. We cover this in our conversation guide.
• Set up the project. Repository, CI/CD pipeline, staging environment. With vibe coding, this takes hours instead of days. The AI agent scaffolds the project, configures environment variables, and deploys a hello-world version.

By end of day 2, you have a deployed skeleton app with auth working. No product features yet, but the foundation is solid.

Days 3-7: Core Features

This is where vibe coding really shines. Each day follows the same pattern:

1. Morning: Define the feature in plain English. Write a clear prompt for the AI agent describing what the feature does, which screens it affects, and what the database changes are.
2. Build: Let the AI agent write the code. Review every change. Fix edge cases the AI missed. Run the feature manually to verify it works.
3. Afternoon: Ship the feature to staging. Test it. Move to the next feature.

A typical day produces one to two complete features. Authentication on day 3. The core data model and CRUD on day 4. The main user-facing workflow on days 5-6. Payments or integrations on day 7.

The key discipline: ship each feature to staging before starting the next one. This catches integration issues early and gives the founder something to test every evening.

Days 8-10: Polish and Edge Cases

The product works at this point. Days 8-10 are about making it solid:

• Error handling. What happens when the API is down? When the user submits invalid data? When they lose internet mid-action? AI agents are surprisingly good at adding error handling once the happy path works.
• Mobile responsiveness. Most MVPs need to work on phones. With vibe coding tools like Cursor and v0, making a responsive layout takes hours instead of days.
• Loading states and empty states. The small details that make a product feel professional. What does the dashboard look like with zero data? What does the user see while data loads?
• Email notifications. Transactional emails for key actions: welcome, password reset, important updates. AI agents generate email templates quickly.

Days 11-12: Testing and Bugs

Not automated testing at this stage. Manual testing with real scenarios:

• Walk through the entire user journey from signup to core action
• Test on different browsers and devices
• Test with bad data, slow connections, and unexpected inputs
• Fix every bug found. AI agents are fast at bug fixes because they can read the full codebase and trace the issue

We also run a basic testing pass for critical paths: auth flow, payment flow, and data integrity.

Days 13-14: Launch Prep

• Production deployment. DNS, SSL, environment variables, database backups, monitoring. Most of this is configuration work that AI agents handle well.
• Analytics. Basic event tracking so you know what users do. Nothing complex, just enough to measure if the core loop works.
• SEO basics. Meta tags, Open Graph images, sitemap. Takes an hour with AI assistance.
• Final walkthrough. The founder and engineer go through the product together. Last-minute fixes. Deploy to production.

What Makes This Work (And What Breaks It)

Why it works

• Senior engineers, not juniors. Vibe coding amplifies skill. A senior engineer with AI writes better code faster. A junior engineer with AI writes bad code faster. The human still makes architecture decisions, catches security issues, and knows when the AI is wrong.
• Ruthless scope control. Two weeks is only enough if you build the right things. Every "nice to have" that sneaks in pushes a critical feature out.
• Proven stack. No time for learning new frameworks. We use tools we know inside out. The AI knows them too because they have extensive training data.
• Daily deployments. Shipping to staging every day keeps quality high and surprises low. The founder sees progress daily, not after two weeks of silence.

What breaks it

• Changing requirements mid-sprint. "Can we also add..." is the enemy of a 14-day timeline. Scope changes go into the backlog for iteration two.
• Complex integrations. Third-party APIs with bad documentation, legacy systems with no API, hardware integrations. These eat time unpredictably. If your MVP depends on a complex integration, add a week.
• Design perfectionism. The MVP needs to look professional. It does not need to look perfect. A clean, consistent design system beats a pixel-perfect custom design when speed matters.
• Skipping the planning phase. Days 1-2 feel unproductive because no code ships. But a clear scope and architecture save three to five days of rework later.

The Stack We Recommend

After building dozens of MVPs with vibe coding, this is our default stack. You can deviate based on specific needs, but this combination ships fast and scales well enough for the first 10,000 users.

This stack costs under $50/month to run at MVP scale. Most tools have free tiers that cover the first few months.

Real Numbers: Cost and Time

Here is what a typical 14-day MVP costs with our approach, compared to traditional development:

The cost difference comes from time: one engineer for two weeks versus a team for two to three months. The quality difference is negligible because the same senior-level thinking goes into the architecture. The AI just handles the typing.

What Comes After the MVP

Day 15 is not a vacation. It is the start of iteration. The MVP is live. Users are signing up. Now you need:

• User feedback loops. Talk to every early user. Watch session recordings. Find where they get stuck.
• Automated tests. The MVP shipped without extensive test coverage. Now add tests for critical paths before the codebase grows.
• Performance optimization. The MVP prioritized shipping speed. Now profile slow queries, optimize images, add caching where needed.
• Feature iteration. The backlog from days 1-2 scope cuts is your starting point. Prioritize based on what users actually ask for, not what you assumed they would need.

Vibe coding makes iteration fast too. Weekly feature releases are normal. The same engineer who built the MVP continues developing it, with full context of every decision. Read our iteration guide for more on post-launch development.

Is This Right for Your Project?

The 14-day MVP works best for:

• SaaS products with clear user workflows (dashboards, booking systems, marketplaces, internal tools)
• Startups validating an idea that need to put a working product in front of users before raising money or committing more resources
• Businesses automating a manual process that currently runs on spreadsheets or email

It is less suited for:

• Products that require regulatory compliance (healthcare, fintech with strict regulations)
• Hardware-dependent products
• Products where the core value is a proprietary algorithm that needs months of R&D

For everything in between, a two-week MVP is usually the fastest way to learn whether your idea has legs. Build it, ship it, and let real users tell you what to build next.