Guided build · ~15 min
Explain it like I'm five
Any hard topic, re-told in plain language until it clicks.
No commands. No code. You're about to build this by SAYING what you want — in your own language. The only skill is describing the result well. Here's the whole thing, start to finish.
Any hard topic, re-told in plain language until it clicks.
First, how to actually talk to the agent
- 1Describe the RESULT, not the tech: what's on screen, what each button does, what gets saved. The agent handles the 'how'.
- 2Be concrete about screens and fields — 'a form with amount, category and date' beats 'let me add expenses'.
- 3Ask for the smallest working version first. You grow it by talking afterwards — that's Step 2, not the first message.
- 4Decide what's YOURS, not the agent's: name the categories, colours, rules. Don't make it guess what only you know.
Step 1 — Build it live
Prompting for this kind of tool
- 1For this notebook, nail THREE things: what ONE entry holds (topic name, the plain explanation that made it click, a few quiz-me questions), what the HOME screen shows (your topics list, a green/yellow/red confidence tag, a search box), and that tapping a topic opens its explanation plus a 'quiz me' button.
- 2Decide the confidence system yourself: three states — green (solid), yellow (shaky), red (lost) — that YOU set and change by tapping. Don't let Claude invent a five-star rating you'll never use.
- 3Say the quiz runs your saved questions ONE AT A TIME, not all at once — it's a self-check, you read your own answer in your head and move on.
- 4Always end with the magic line: 'build the whole thing and tell me exactly how to open it; don't stop to ask questions.'
claude --dangerously-skip-permissions
Open the terminal and run this (if Claude is already running, type /exit first). Then ask it to make a folder for this project and work inside it.
✕ what most people type
you ▸ explain everything to me
✓ what actually works — copy it, or better, say it in YOUR words
you ▸ Build me an 'explain it simply' notebook. An add screen where I
type a topic name, the simplest explanation that finally made it
click, and a few quiz-me questions for that topic. The home
screen lists my saved topics with a green/yellow/red 'how solid
am I' tag I can change, and a search box. Tapping a topic opens
its plain-language explanation and a 'quiz me' button that runs
through its questions one at a time. Everything saves on my
device, clean readable theme. Build the whole thing and tell me
exactly how to open it; don't stop to ask questions.Say it in YOUR language — Russian, Spanish, anything. Claude understands.
Build it now — tick as you go
0/6Step 2 — It's built. Now make it yours
Don't panic at the techy link. Claude tells you one of two things. Either a file like index.html — find it in your project folder and double-click it; it opens in your browser. Or a web address starting with http://localhost — copy it into your browser's address bar and press Enter. 'localhost' just means 'this is running on your own computer right now'. That's your tool. It's real.
Now tweak it until YOU like it — just talk
This is the part that makes it YOURS. Don't accept the first version — change it by saying what you want, right there in the same chat. Claude rebuilds and you refresh. Keep going until it fits how you actually work. For this tool, try things like:
you ▸ add a button that rewrites my explanation even simpler, like for a 10-year-old you ▸ let me rate each topic green / yellow / red so I see which ones still feel shaky you ▸ group my saved topics into subjects like 'physics' and 'history'
I don't type long messages. I open voice-to-text (the mic in ChatGPT, or your phone keyboard), and just TALK through everything I think about what it built — what's wrong, what I want next — then select-all, copy, and paste the whole brain-dump into Claude Code. Messy spoken thoughts work fine; the agent sorts them out. It's several times faster than writing.
Step 2.5 — Test it like a real thing (it won't be perfect first try)
The truth no one tells beginners: the first build is a DRAFT. The agent makes something, you run it, you find what's off, you tell it — and THAT loop is the actual work. Don't read the code. Use the tool like a stranger would and watch where it lets you down. For this tool, check exactly this:
- 1Open it (Claude gives a localhost link or an index file — see Step 2) and add two topics, each with an explanation and a couple of quiz questions.
- 2On the home screen, change one topic's tag from red to green by tapping it. Does the colour actually change and stick?
- 3Type part of a topic name in the search box — does the list filter down to it? An empty or unchanged list means search isn't wired up.
- 4Open a topic and hit 'quiz me': do the questions come one at a time, and can you move to the next? If they all dump at once or it stops after one, that's your fix.
- 5Refresh the page (F5 / Cmd-R). Are both topics, their explanations and their colour tags still there? If they vanish, 'saves on my device' isn't wired up — fix that next.
Found something wrong? Say it like this
You fix nothing yourself — you DESCRIBE what's wrong in plain words and the agent fixes it. Be specific: what you saw vs. what you expected. Real examples for this tool:
you ▸ 'changing a topic's colour tag doesn't stick after I refresh — save the tag with the topic on my device' you ▸ 'the quiz me button shows all questions at once — show them one at a time with a next button' you ▸ 'the search box doesn't filter my topics — make it match as I type and hide the ones that don't fit'
Don't stop at v1 — grow it
A tool you built in ten minutes is a starting point, not the finish line. The people who get hooked keep saying 'now also…'. Each line below is one sentence you paste into the same chat to level this tool up:
you ▸ 'add a button that rewrites my explanation even simpler, like for a 10-year-old' — when your own wording still feels clunky, this unsticks it. you ▸ 'group my topics into subjects like physics and history' — once you pass a dozen topics, a flat list gets messy fast. you ▸ 'show me only my red and yellow topics in one tap' — straight to the stuff you haven't nailed, no scrolling. you ▸ 'after a quiz, let me bump the topic's colour based on how it went' — closes the loop so the tags stay honest.
Step 3 — Connect it to the world (optional)
Free data & APIs for this one
An API is just how your tool pulls in outside data or sends things out — many are free. You rarely need to research them yourself; the move that works for ANY idea is to ask the agent to find them:
- 1To start you need NO external API — your topics, explanations, tags and quizzes all run locally on your device.
- 2Want a first-draft explanation to edit instead of starting from blank? That needs an AI service (Claude or OpenAI): type a topic, get a plain-language draft, then rewrite it in your own words — pay-as-you-go and separate from the chat you build in.
- 3Reusable move for ANY idea: ask Claude — 'look up free or open APIs that fit an explain-it-simply study notebook and tell me which actually need a key.' It will list them; you pick.
About paying for the AI parts
- 1You don't pay for Claude twice. With a Claude subscription you create an API key right in the terminal and use it inside your projects — within your plan.
- 2From June 15 the rule splits: automation through that key gets its own monthly credit — about $20 on Pro, $100 or $200 on Max. Stay under it and it works as before.
- 3Run out and you pay per use (pay-as-you-go); unused credit doesn't roll over. So check your account and see whether the included credit already covers what you're building.
A tool gets superpowers when it can talk to other services — send you a message, read a sheet, pull live data. Each service hands out an 'API key' (a long password that says 'this is me'). For THIS tool, the useful ones are:
Which keys this tool can use
- 1An AI service (Claude or OpenAI) — type a topic and get a plain-language first draft to start from, then edit it in your own words (pay-as-you-go, separate from the chat you build in)
Getting any key is the same recipe: log into the service → find Settings → 'API' or 'Developers' → 'Create key' → copy it → paste it to Claude once ('here's my key: …'). Claude stores it and you never touch it again.
Step 4 — Put it online (only if someone else needs it)
Just for you, on your computer? You're already done — skip this step with a clear conscience. Put it online only if someone ELSE should open it, or you want to reach it from your phone away from home.
Step 6 — Stay safe (two easy habits)
- 1Back up anything you'd hate to lose. If the tool holds real data (your budget, health log, client list), ask Claude early: 'add an export/backup button' — one click saves your data to a file. Do it before you ever rebuild from scratch or move the folder.
- 2Don't hand Claude the keys to dangerous rooms. Keep it pointed at this project's own folder. Never connect a learning project to your bank, your crypto, or anything irreversible. Receipts and calendars — yes. Savings — no.
- 3Think before you ask. Claude does what you say in the folder you're in. 'Optimize my photos' optimizes them; it won't delete them — unless you ask for something reckless. Sane requests, clean workspace, and there's simply nothing scary left.
The mistakes that stop most people
- 1Asking for something vague ('make me an app') and getting something vague back. Name the screens, the buttons, what gets saved.
- 2Cramming in ten features at once. Ask for the tiniest working version first — then grow it with follow-up requests.
- 3Stopping at the first error. An error isn't failure — paste it to Claude or describe what you see, and it fixes it. That loop IS the work.
- 4Deciding you need to 'learn programming first'. You don't need to understand the code Claude writes. You need to describe the result.
- 5Forgetting the magic line — 'build the whole thing, don't stop to ask questions' — then wondering why it keeps pausing.
- 6Building for an imaginary audience. Build the version YOU will open tomorrow. Polish never; use immediately.
Normal. Tell Claude what's wrong in plain words ('the button does nothing', 'the page is blank') or paste the red error text. It finds and fixes it. You check. Repeat until it works.
That's it. You built a real tool.
Notice what just happened: no commands, no code — words. This is the entire skill. The people who 'can build things' are just people who describe what they want and let Claude do the typing.
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