The Vibe Coding Framework · per Gabe Jakobson, Tableau Field CTO
1The seven-step golden-repo lifecycle
Constructing core, reusable assets to define the developer environment. This is the shape of building the framework itself — the golden repo — not any one dashboard. Once these seven steps are in place, every subsequent dashboard build inherits guidance, tools, references, and known-good patterns for free.
Ideate Guidance
Provide the LLM with the high-level roadmap, metrics objectives, and architecture rules.
Provision Skills
Equip the agent with pre-defined APIs, MCP servers, and tool schemas for system constraints.
Reference Docs
Feed external developer API definitions, design specs, and platform-specific guides to the context.
Execute & Inspect
Allow the LLM to run scripts, interact with Tableau endpoints, and parse outputs safely in sandbox.
Feedback Loops
Inspect intermediate builds. Guide the agent to self-correct and iterate until behavior matches spec.
Consolidate Knowledge
Codify new robust instructions and abstract interfaces natively into static platform files.
Persist & Clean Workspace
Purge temporary runtime scripts and log files, then commit the golden configuration to .git.
The output is a golden repo — vibe-framework.git. Everything downstream assumes it exists. If you fork this workshop's starter-kit repo, you inherit a working golden repo on step zero.
Life after workshop
2Building future projects from your golden repo
Same seven-step shape as Section 1, but this time you are building a specific customer's dashboard — not the framework itself. The golden repo is the input. A shippable, project-specific repo is the output. Creative execution: forking and delivering a bespoke customer solution.
Clone Golden Repository
Initialize a new project workspace by pulling down the verified template and platform schemas.
Define Project Intent
Declare specific dashboard specifications, target datasources, and business-focused UI goals.
Feed Domain Context
Point the local LLM instance to specific datasets, data dictionaries, and local metric rules.
Automated Generation
The LLM designs and deploys local Tableau workbooks, testing custom calcs and API operations.
Iterate to Final Spec
Fine-tune formatting, refine visual layout thresholds, and clean up dashboard logic alongside the AI.
Sanitize Working Directory
Exclude build runtimes, draft XML fragments, and diagnostic files before package generation.
Separate Commit Target
Ship the clean standalone code into its own distinct, project-specific repository (not the golden repo).
Upstreaming — the feedback loop
3Cycling specialized project discoveries back into the master platform
You will discover things on a project that belong in the framework. A new skill you had to invent. A gotcha you had to work around. A reference doc you had to write. Three steps to migrate that back to the golden repo without dragging customer-specific data with it.
Abstract & De-Contextualize
Scrub out all business-specific data models, hardcoded server credentials, or static endpoints. Strip the newly generated tools down to generalized parameters, creating abstract blueprints.
Standardize & Schema-fy
Translate code recipes into formal system contracts. Write corresponding tool parameters into your local Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers or add standard functions into your root tool templates.
Submit Pull Request
File an isolated, dedicated update request targeting your original golden framework. Once validated and merged, this immediately optimizes every subsequent project build from the template.
This is what makes the framework compounding. Every customer project you ship raises the ceiling on the next one — but only if the abstraction step is honest. A PR that still carries hardcoded region codes or a customer's brand colors is not an upstream contribution; it's a leak.
Git repo lifecycle
4Conflict-free agent collaboration on the golden framework
Once more than one engineer (or more than one agent) is contributing to the golden repo, you need branch discipline. Five steps: branch → edit → test → audit → merge. The human-audit step is not optional. Practitioners on this stack cannot ship an unaudited agent change — that's the difference between a demo and a shipped platform.
BRANCH · Branch Isolation
Developers cut a feature branch off vibe-framework.git. Agents must work only within this scope. git checkout -b upgrade
EDIT · Modular Skills
Skills are isolated as separate JSON tools. No modification to other global files allowed. Edit: skill/SKILL.md
TEST · Dry-Run CI
Continuous Integration validates JSON schemas and executes mock dry-runs on the branch. CI Tests Passed
AUDIT · Human Audit
A Senior Platform engineer reviews agent changes, checking for hallucinations and credential leaks. 1 Approved Review
MERGE · Safe Merge
Branch is integrated into main, distributing updated tool abilities to all cloned environments. Merged to main
First time here? Start with /architecture/ for the four systems that make this run — Claude Code, Tableau Next, Data Cloud, and Agentforce — plus the vibecoding shapes (INTO / EMBED / the anti-pattern) that frame why this lifecycle matters.