## The Human in the Loop: Why AI Still Needs Us There's a popular narrative that AI coding assistants are about to replace developers. After working extensively with Claude Code, I've come to a different conclusion: **the human partner is more essential than ever** - but in a fundamentally different way. ### The Screenshot That Says It All Look at the screenshot below. Claude Code was trying to deploy some changes to a production server. It tried using Python's paramiko library for SFTP. It failed with authentication errors. It tried reading the deploy config. It tried again with different parameters. More failures. Then I typed one sentence: > "that's stupid we need to make an issue. why don't we use rsync and just replace what's new?" And just like that, the problem was solved. Not because Claude couldn't implement rsync - it absolutely could. But because it was stuck in a loop, trying to fix the tool it had chosen rather than stepping back and choosing a better tool. ### Why Humans Are Integral to Vibe Coding "Vibe coding" - that flow state where you and an AI assistant build together - only works when there's a knowledgeable human in the loop. Here's why: **1. Pattern Recognition Across Domains** As a Linux systems administrator for 25+ years, I've seen dozens of ways to transfer files: FTP, SFTP, SCP, rsync, rclone, tar over SSH, even netcat in a pinch. The AI knows about all of these theoretically, but it doesn't have the *intuition* for when each is appropriate. When I see "uploading 100MB archives for a one-file change," my brain immediately screams "that's wrong." **2. The "That's Stupid" Filter** AI assistants are incredibly polite and persistent. They'll try to make bad approaches work rather than questioning the approach itself. Humans provide the crucial "wait, this is stupid" intervention that redirects the entire effort. We're the circuit breaker that prevents the machine from running amuck. **3. Tool Selection is a Human Skill** Knowing rsync exists is one thing. Knowing that: - rsync only transfers what's changed (delta sync) - It handles permissions and timestamps correctly - It's been battle-tested for 30 years - It's already installed on virtually every Linux server - It's the *obviously correct* choice for incremental deployment ...requires years of experience with different tools in different situations. **4. Context That AI Can't Access** The AI didn't know that my server already had rsync. It didn't know my deployment has always used rsync. It didn't know that paramiko has recurring issues with certain SSH configurations. All of this context lives in my head, accumulated over decades. ### What This Means for Teams If you're building a "vibe coding" team, you need humans who: - **Know multiple solutions** to the same problem - **Can smell when something is off** even before it fails - **Have strong opinions** about tools and approaches - **Aren't afraid to say "that's stupid"** to an AI that's going down the wrong path - **Understand the ecosystem** - what's installed, what's standard, what's reliable The AI brings speed, consistency, and never forgetting syntax. The human brings wisdom, skepticism, and the ability to zoom out and see the bigger picture. ### The Real Skill Now The new developer skill isn't "how to code" - AI can do that. It's **knowing what to build, which tools to use, and when to stop and redirect**. It's being the experienced navigator while AI is the tireless engine. Without the human, the machine doesn't run amuck in a dramatic way - it just spins its wheels on suboptimal solutions, burning time and tokens on approaches that anyone with experience would reject immediately. That's why having someone like me - or anyone with deep Linux/systems experience - on your vibe coding team isn't optional. It's what makes the whole thing work. --- *December 24, 2024 - Written after yet another session where Claude needed a gentle "that's stupid" to get back on track.*