Guided build · an evening
Simple stock / inventory tracker
Know what you have, what's running low, what to reorder.
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.
Know what you have, what's running low, what to reorder.
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 a stock tracker, nail THREE things: what one row holds (a name, current quantity and a minimum level), how you change a count fast (big minus and plus buttons to record a sale or delivery on the spot), and the rule that a row at or below its minimum turns red.
- 2Spell out the 'low stock' tab as its own screen that gathers exactly the items at or below minimum into a reorder list — don't just say 'show low stock', say where it lives and what it's for.
- 3Decide your starting items and their minimum levels yourself — Claude can't know that you never want fewer than 6 of something. Bring a short real list so you're testing with your actual shelf.
- 4End 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 ▸ run my shop
✓ what actually works — copy it, or better, say it in YOUR words
you ▸ Build me a simple stock tracker. An items list where each row
shows a name, current quantity and a minimum level, with big
minus and plus buttons to record a sale or a delivery on the
spot. Rows at or below their minimum turn red. A 'low stock' tab
gathers exactly those items into a reorder list I can read off
when ordering. Let me add, edit and delete items and search by
name. Everything saves on my device, clean readable theme, large
tap targets. 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 ▸ text me a 'time to reorder' message when an item hits its minimum you ▸ let me scan or type a supplier name per item so the reorder list groups by supplier you ▸ add a quick 'sold one' button on each item for the till
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 three real items with quantities and minimum levels.
- 2Tap minus on one item until it hits its minimum — does the row turn red the moment it reaches or drops below that line?
- 3Open the 'low stock' tab — does it list exactly the items at or below minimum, and nothing else? Tap plus to restock one above its minimum and confirm it leaves the list.
- 4Search by name — type part of an item and check only the matching rows show.
- 5Refresh the page (F5 / Cmd-R). Are all your items and their quantities 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 ▸ 'a row that's below its minimum isn't turning red — colour any row red the moment its quantity is at or under its minimum level' you ▸ 'the low-stock tab shows everything, not just the low ones — only list items at or below their minimum there' you ▸ 'when I refresh the page my stock counts reset — save every item and its quantity on my device so they stay'
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 ▸ 'put this online with a shared count so my staff update the same stock from the shop floor, the back room and their phones' — no more two people both selling the last one (this goes beyond the on-device version you started with). you ▸ 'send me a Telegram message the moment any item drops to its minimum, saying «running low, reorder X»' — you find out when it happens, not when a customer asks for the empty shelf. you ▸ 'let me set a supplier per item and group the reorder list by supplier, then turn it into one order I can send' — the low-stock tab becomes a ready-to-send purchase order. you ▸ 'mirror the whole stock list into a Google Sheet so it's backed up and I can print it as an order' — your count survives a lost laptop and prints on demand.
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 — the whole stock list and the red low-stock logic run on your device.
- 2Telegram Bot API (free) is the natural fit for 'reorder X' alerts the second an item hits its minimum; the Google Sheets API (free) keeps a backed-up, printable copy of the list.
- 3Reusable move for ANY idea: ask Claude — 'look up free or open APIs that fit a small stock tracker 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
- 1Telegram — get a 'running low, reorder X' message the moment an item drops to its minimum
- 2Google Sheets — keep the stock list in a spreadsheet, so it's backed up and printable as an order
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)
Put it online and your staff update the same stock count from the shop floor, the back room, and your phone — no more two people selling the last one.
Buy a server and a domain — like ordering groceries
- 1Server: sign up at a host (Hetzner, DigitalOcean…), click 'Create Server', pick Ubuntu + the cheapest size + PASSWORD login. SAVE the IP address and password it gives you. (Don't be scared — it's a few dollars a month, cancel anytime.)
- 2Domain: buy a name at any registrar (Namecheap, Cloudflare…). Then add ONE 'A record': Type = A, Host = @, Value = your server's IP. That's the whole DNS part — ignore every other field.
- 3Hand it to Claude: back in your terminal, say — 'deploy my project to my server. IP: <the ip>, password: <the password>, domain: <yourname.com>. Set up HTTPS and basic security, do it all yourself.' Claude installs everything, secures it, and makes it live. You configure nothing.
- 4DNS can take minutes to a couple of hours to wake up — if Claude says the domain isn't answering yet, that's the wait, not a mistake. Come back later and say 'try again'.
Step 5 — Keep your keys (so you can come back)
Save the server's IP, the password (or SSH key), and your domain somewhere safe — a notes app, a password manager. Why it matters: any day later you can open the terminal, connect to the server, start Claude right there, and keep improving the live tool by talking — fix a bug, add a feature, change the look. Tip: tell Claude 'save the server details in a file in this project folder' so a future chat already knows them.
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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