How to not get hacked when vibe coding your app

@district_chronicles

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Why it worked

The video provides high-value, actionable technical advice that directly addresses a common pain point for the growing 'vibe coding' audience, establishing the creator's authority and driving traffic to his course.

Summary

The creator provides four technical tips for securing applications built using AI coding tools. He frames these tips as essential advice for developers to avoid common vulnerabilities like API key exposure and unauthorized access.

Structure

1Identify the problem of security in AI-coded apps
2Explain the risk of exposed API keys
3Explain the importance of input validation
4Recommend using established authentication platforms
5Explain the necessity of rate limiting
6Conclude with the ease of implementing these fixes

Product placement

The video promotes the creator's '21 day App Launch' course by positioning him as an expert in app development and security, with the link in his bio leading directly to the course.

Original caption

Everyone says it’s easy to hack a vibe coded app… These steps will protect you against 99% of common attacks. #cybersecurity #vibecoding #apikeys #ratelimiting #solofounder

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On-screen text

How to not get hacked when vibe coding your app 1. Exposed API keys Environment variables are dynamic-named key-value pairs stored outside of application source code that configure how software behaves on a computer. They define system settings—such as Edge functions in "vibe coding" are lightweight, serverless TypeScript/JavaScript code snippets that run instantly at the network edge, allowing AI-driven platforms like Lovable and Supabase to handle API integrations, secure authentication, and data processing without managing backend servers. They enable rapid, AI-generated backend 2. Input Validation Input validation is the critical process of ensuring only properly formatted, expected, and safe data enters a software system. It acts as a security barrier, preventing malicious input from triggering "Sanitize all user inputs" 3. Authentication Clerk FIREBASE Supabase Auth0 4. Rate limiting Rate limiting is a security and performance mechanism that controls the number of requests a user or system can make to an API or server within a specific timeframe. It protects against DDoS attacks, prevents brute-force logins, and "Add rate limiting to my API routes"

Transcript

How to not get hacked when vibe coding your app. I built the number one food discovery app in my state. Here's how to not get hacked when vibe coding your app. Number one is to never expose your API keys. This is one of the most common and expensive mistakes you can make. If your OpenAI, Stripe, or Claude code is sitting in the front end of your app, that's pretty much like giving your credit card to complete strangers. So here's the rule: your API keys should live in the server only. If you're using something like Bolt or Replit, use environment variables and always use edge functions for every API call. Number two is input validation. Anything users can type into your app, whether it's in a search box or a prompt, can be dangerous. People can try to paste in codes or commands to break into your database and steal other users' data. To make sure this never happens, tell your AI tool to sanitize all user inputs. This will pretty much take care of all of that by itself. Number three is building your own authentication. Instead of managing passwords, tokens, and sessions yourself, use a well-established authentication platform. You can use Clerk, Firebase, Supabase, Auth0. These are usually free to use and pretty easy to integrate as well. Next, we have rate limiting. People can use this to scrape your data, abuse your AI features, or simply just crash your app. If somebody can hit your backend 10,000 times per minute, they will. To make sure this doesn't happen, tell your AI tool to add rate limiting to my API routes. One line of code can save you from nightmares.