Kakao Moves Beyond Vibe Coding to Agentic Coding Experiments, Achieving 2x Productivity Gains

Starting in March 2025, Kakao conducted phased internal experiments aiming to transition from 'vibe coding' to 'agentic coding'. These experiments were designed to gradually increase the level of collaboration with AI, progressing from prototyping to validating large-scale collaboration models.

In Phase 1, an MVP for a 'fishing log app' was developed in just 7 days using a non-specialized tech stack, confirming AI's rapid prototyping speed. In the subsequent Phase 2, AI collaboration was introduced to live services to develop new features, resulting in an average 2x productivity improvement. The generated code demonstrated quality sufficient for production deployment, passing peer reviews.

Currently, Kakao is in Phase 2.5, expanding the success experience from a single team to dozens of teams to validate the effectiveness of collaboration models in complex real-world environments. The experiment concluded that AI is not a replacement for developers but a partner that amplifies their existing expertise, and that developers' roles are evolving from simple coders to 'orchestrators' directing AI. It emphasized that a 'growth mindset' and 'high initiative' are essential for this transformation.