Where Did the Variability Go? From Vibe Coding to Product Lines by Regeneration

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2606.19042v1
• Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2026 13:10:24 GMT
• Title: Where Did the Variability Go? From Vibe Coding to Product Lines by Regeneration
• Abstract summary: We show that there is near-zero in-artifact variability at compile and runtime in vibe coded C/C++ projects.<n>We propose Variability by Regeneration (VbR), to our knowledge the first product-line approach in which the LLM acts as the derivation engine.<n>For SPL engineering, variability in AI-generated software belongs in the specification, not in the code.
• Score: 0.4264192013842096
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: In vibe coding, an emerging AI-driven paradigm, an LLM generates an entire program from a natural language prompt, but what happens to the variability that traditional software engineering carefully builds into code? To answer this question, we conducted an exploratory analysis on 10 vibe coded C/C++ projects, which suggests that there is near-zero in-artifact variability, i.e., at compile and runtime. All variability decisions are resolved at a single new binding time, generation time, the moment the LLM produces the source code. Rather than treating this as a defect to fix, we propose Variability by Regeneration (VbR), to our knowledge the first product-line approach in which the LLM acts as the derivation engine, generating a purpose-built, free of dead code binary for each variant from a declarative specification, while a variant dispatcher transparently routes user requests to the matching binary. We formalise VbR, contrast it with classical SPL derivation, and demonstrate its full pipeline on a wc product family. For SPL engineering, variability in AI-generated software belongs in the specification, not in the code.

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