Hand Claude Code a website and an ad budget to run on its own
A web developer gave Claude Code a baseline site, ad accounts with a budget, and scraping tools, and lets it make marketing decisions every four hours.
Coding · Do this yourself
Design product UI in code with Claude instead of Figma mockups.
✅ He says it changed the part of his job he was best at.
Who it’s for
People who build or maintain software, and non-developers who want a small tool made for them.
Adapt it to your industry
- Shop owner: a small script that exports orders to a spreadsheet every night
- Agency: a reusable starter template for client websites
- Healthcare or legal office: a simple internal form that saves to a shared sheet
Step by step
- Install Cursor (cursor.com) or Claude Code, and open an empty folder for this project.
- Write a one-paragraph description of what you want in a file called README.md: who uses it, what goes in, what comes out.
- Open the AI chat panel and paste the prompt below, then let it propose a plan before it writes any code.
- Ask it to build the smallest working version first and run it. Paste any error message straight back into the chat.
- Test it with one real example from your work and write down what is wrong.
- Ask for one fix at a time. After each working change, save a copy (for example with “git commit”).
- When it works, ask the AI to write short instructions so a teammate can run it.
Ready-to-copy prompt
Prototype this settings screen in our real component library with three layout options I can click through.Start with AI
Opens the AI with this guide and the prompt filled in.
- Cost
- $0–20/month (free tiers or one AI plan)Our estimate
- Time
- 1–2 weekendsOur estimate
How to make money from it
Pricing idea: Sell it as a small tool: a one-time setup fee plus a low monthly price for hosting and fixes, or a self-serve plan from about $10–50 a month.
Finding your first 10 customers
- Fix a real problem for 3 people you already know, for free, in exchange for honest feedback.
- Post a short demo video where your audience hangs out (X, LinkedIn, Reddit, a Slack or Discord group).
- Ask each happy user for one introduction to someone with the same problem.
Ideas, not promises. Results vary.
Details: source, numbers and tags
What they did
Edwin Morris replaced spec docs, mockups and proposals with working prototypes built with Claude Code in the real stack.
How it went
He says it changed the part of his job he was best at.
Worth knowing
His earlier tries with Copilot, Cursor and Gemini on things he was already good at disappointed him.
- Difficulty
- IntermediateOur rating
- Time to build
- Not reportedOur estimate
- Monthly cost
- Not reported
- Revenue
- Not reportedWe only show revenue the source states
- Engagement
- 324 HN points266 comments · fetched Oct 15, 2026
Original builder recipe
- Claude Code
- Open the repo in your coding agent and describe the goal and constraints.
- Ask for a plan first, then let it implement in small, reviewable steps.
- Run the tests or the app after each step and feed errors back.
- Review the diff before merging.
Tags
Read the original
- Hacker News: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48431981 ↗ (opens in new tab) Jun 7, 2026 · 324 points, 266 comments (fetched 2026-10-15)
- Web: blog.janestreet.com/i-design-with-claude-code-more-than-figm ↗ (opens in new tab) Jun 7, 2026
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