The Workspace Setup Kit

Leaving the browser is worth 30 minutes of mild discomfort

If you've shipped something in Lovable, Bolt, or Replit, you already know how to build: describe what you want, watch it appear, iterate. This kit doesn't change that. It changes where it happens, and that changes three things that matter.

The only obstacle is the terminal (a text window where you type commands to your computer), and the obstacle is 90% reputation. You will use about 6 commands, all copy-paste, all in this kit. Think of it as a chat box for your computer: you type, it answers in text. You already talk to computers in text all day; this is the same skill with a worse font.

The setup: 5 steps, 30 minutes, Mac or Windows

The full walkthrough with every command, every "what you should see," and every "what if I don't" lives in setup-guide.md below. Here's the shape of it:

1. 1

   Pick your tool (2 min)

   Claude Code is the recommended default: a coding agent in your terminal, included with the $20/month Claude Pro plan ($17/month billed annually). Cursor is the alternative if you want to see your files in a sidebar: $20/month Pro with a free Hobby tier. Prices verified July 2026. Pick one; you can switch later because your files are yours now.

2. 2

   Open a terminal (3 min)

   Mac: Cmd + Space, type Terminal, Enter. Windows: Windows key, type PowerShell, Enter. You should see a blinking cursor waiting for you. Type echo hello, press Enter, and the computer says hello back. That's the whole skill.

3. 3

   Make a projects folder (2 min)

   Run mkdir -p ~/projects then cd ~/projects (Windows: mkdir ~/projects then cd ~/projects). One folder where everything you build lives. The terminal says nothing when it works; silence is success.

4. 4

   Install and verify (5 min)

   Mac: curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash and Windows: irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iex. Then open a fresh terminal and run claude --version. Any version number means you're in. The setup guide covers the two errors that actually happen.

5. 5

   Start it and log in (5 min)

   Run claude inside your projects folder. First run opens your browser to log in with your Claude account. You land back in the terminal with an input box. Talk to it in plain English; that's the interface.

The CLAUDE.md: house rules that make the AI beginner-safe

Claude Code reads a file called CLAUDE.md from your project folder at the start of every session. It's a standing set of house rules, so you never have to repeat yourself. The beginner version in this kit is 5 rules and a diary habit, each one there because of a specific way beginners get burned:

The file is annotated: every rule has a comment explaining why it exists, so you're learning the reasoning, not just copying rules. Rename it to CLAUDE.md, drop a copy in every project folder, done.

Your first 15 minutes with Claude Code: three prompts

Setup done, CLAUDE.md in place. These three prompts, in order, take you from "it's installed" to "something I made is on the internet." Paste them exactly.

Prompt 1: the tour (minutes 0-3)

Give me a tour of the current folder as if I've never seen a code project before.

1. List what's here (if it's empty, say so, that's fine).
2. For each file or folder, one plain-English sentence on what it does and whether I'll ever need to touch it.
3. Tell me which ONE file matters most for someone at my level, and why.
4. End with the single most useful thing I could ask you to do next in this folder.

Keep the whole answer under 20 lines. No jargon without a translation in parentheses.

Prompt 2: build a tiny page (minutes 3-10)

Build me a single-file personal page: one HTML file called index.html, no frameworks, no dependencies (nothing that needs installing).

It should have:
- My name as a big heading: [YOUR NAME]
- One sentence about what I'm building: [ONE SENTENCE, e.g. "Building a booking tool for dog groomers"]
- A short list of 3 links I care about: [LINK 1, LINK 2, LINK 3]
- Colors and fonts with some personality. Surprise me, but keep it readable.

Rules for this session:
1. Build it in one file so I can see everything in one place.
2. When you're done, walk me through the file top to bottom in plain English: what each section does and which line I'd edit to change the text, the colors, and the links.
3. Tell me exactly how to open it in my browser.

Then wait. I'm going to change one small thing myself before we do anything else.

That last line is the point of the exercise. Open the file, ask Claude where the background color lives, change it yourself, refresh the browser. The moment your edit shows up on screen is the moment this stops being magic and starts being yours.

Prompt 3: put it on the internet (minutes 10-15)

I want to put index.html on the real internet, for free, right now, with the least possible setup.

1. Recommend ONE way to do it (I've heard of Netlify Drop and Vercel; pick whichever needs the fewest steps for a single HTML file and no account complexity). Tell me why you picked it in one sentence.
2. Give me the exact steps as a numbered list: every click or command, nothing skipped. If a step happens in the browser, name the button I'm clicking.
3. Tell me what the free tier includes and at what point this would ever cost money, in dollars.
4. After I confirm it's live, add a PROGRESS.md entry recording what we built and the live URL.

What breaks most often (and the exact fix)

When you outgrow this kit

Two signs you're ready for the next rung. First: your CLAUDE.md starts feeling thin because you now have real commands, real rules, and files that must not be touched. Graduate to the CLAUDE.md Starter, the pro version of the file you just installed. Second: you've built something you'd be sad to lose. That's your cue for GitHub for Normal People, which gives every project a memory and an undo button.