Build It Yourself with Claude Code

Someone tells you their AI-built thing is nearly done, and you have no way to know. The fastest way to find out is to build one small thing yourself. You don’t need to become an engineer. You need to do it once.

20 min to read, about 2 hours if you build along For smart people who aren't engineers, including executives and funders Guide is free, no email

Expect the first hour to feel slow. It gets faster after the first build.

Start Building

Before you start

It costs money to follow along. Claude Code needs a paid plan. The cheapest is Pro, $20 a month, or $17 a month billed yearly. The Free plan doesn’t include it.
You’ll use fake data. I give you a sample spreadsheet, and the page you publish only ever holds that. A dashboard with your real numbers stays on your laptop, or it needs a login and an engineer. Chapter 5 explains why.
You need a Mac or a Windows PC. You can read this on a phone, but you can’t build on one.
This may be the wrong tool. If your job ends in a document, a deck or a spreadsheet, try Cowork instead. This guide is for when you want something that runs.

Before