Beyond the Vibe: Why "Secure by Default" is the Only Way to Build in 2026
We’ve all been there. You’re trying to complete a simple task—in my case, registering my son for a Judo seminar—and the page hangs. As a developer, your instinct isn't to refresh; it's to open the Network Tab.
What I found wasn't just a bug. It was a window into a growing problem in the era of "vibe coding" and rapid-fire deployment.
The Discovery: A Judo Chop to Data Privacy
The landing page for this event was built using a popular third-party "vibe coding" platform. These tools are incredible for speed, allowing users to describe a functional app and see it come to life in seconds. However, speed without a safety net is a liability.
By inspecting the network traffic to see why the registration was failing, I realized the API wasn't just sending my son's data—it was capable of sending everyone's. Using Postman, I confirmed the worst: I had full CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) access. I could have wiped the entire event roster or modified participant details with a few clicks.
The Root Cause: The Danger of Permissive Defaults
The platform offered a simple toggle: [Allow All Users] vs. [Admins Only]. By default, it was set to "Allow All Users." This is the "Default-Allow" trap. It assumes the developer will remember to lock the doors later. But if a door starts unlocked, it usually stays unlocked.
How Sticklight Handles This
Short answer: Sticklight defaults to "Deny All" by design.
Seeing this failure in the wild made me reflect on our own architecture. Here is the breakdown of how we prevent this exact scenario:
Row Level Security (RLS) is Mandatory
When Cloud Backend is enabled in Sticklight, every table has RLS enabled by default. With RLS enabled and no policies defined, the default behavior is a total lockdown:
- SELECT/INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE: All Denied.
This is the polar opposite of the "Allow All Users" default. In Sticklight, if a developer forgets to add policies, users get a 403 error—not access to the entire database.
Policies Must Be Explicitly Created
The AI agent is built with a security-first mindset. It is instructed to:
- Never disable RLS.
- Never create USING (true) policies unless data is genuinely public.
- Always scope user data with user_id filters.
- Create the minimum necessary permissions.
Example: The Judo Registration Table
If this seminar page had been built in Sticklight, the generated SQL would look like this:
-- RLS is enabled by default.
-- Policy: Users can only see their OWN registration.
CREATE POLICY "Users can view own registration"
ON registrations FOR SELECT
USING (user_id = auth.uid());
In this scenario, an attacker inspecting the network tab would only see their own data. The "vibe" remains the same for the user, but the data remains private.
The Failure Mode Comparison
| Scenario | Other "Vibe" Platforms | Sticklight |
|---|---|---|
| Default setting | "All Users" (permissive) | No access (deny all) |
| Forgot to configure | Full CRUD for everyone | 403 Forbidden |
| Failure mode | Silent data breach | Broken feature (visible) |
Pro-Tip: How to "Vibe Code" Without Leaking Data
If you’re building your own apps from scratch using AI agents (like Claude Code, Replit Agent, or Cursor), you are the primary architect. Here’s how to ensure your vibe stays secure:
- Use Security-First Prompting: Specifically instruct the AI to use Secure-by-Default patterns and assume the frontend is untrusted.
- Establish a Security Rubric: Maintain a persistent CLAUDE.md or instructions file that mandates RLS and 403-by-default behavior.
- The "Postman Audit": Never trust the UI. Manually test your API endpoints with tools like Postman to ensure they don't leak data when unauthenticated.
- Review Every Diff: Look specifically for cases where the agent might have simplified a policy or left a "TODO" on an authentication check.
Conclusion
As we move toward AI-generated boilerplate and "vibe-driven" development, the responsibility shifts to the platform architect. At Sticklight, we believe a "broken" feature is a ticket, but a "broken" security setting is a catastrophic liability. By choosing a "Deny All" default, we ensure that the path of least resistance for a developer is also the safest one for the end user.