The question I ask before vibecoding anything

Before I let a model build something now, I ask myself one question. If this tool disappeared tomorrow, could I rebuild this myself?

The answer does not have to be yes. Some things I build are genuinely throwaway, and that is fine. But I need to know which kind I am building before I start, because the two projects need completely different decisions.

A throwaway can be fast, loose, and ugly. A keeper needs to be something I can understand, change, and defend.

Treating a keeper like a throwaway is how you end up rewriting your weekend's work for a month.

The danger with vibecoding is that everything feels like a throwaway while you are moving fast. Then one of them grows up and suddenly you are responsible for something you never actually learned.

Do you make that distinction before you build, or do you figure it out later?