‘As proponents of AI claim it will soon replace software engineers, what does this mean for qualitative researchers and research software development? Reflecting on an eight-month experiment building a qualitative research app through “vibe coding”, Dipanjan Saha, Gemma Lough, and Tatsuya Akutsu argue that while AI offers researchers a viable way to build custom software, it does not eliminate the need for technical expertise but rather shifts it towards systems thinking, problem-structuring, and sustained human oversight.’