Start your project

A folder, an agent, and a first prompt that works.

Three moves start every project: make a folder, put an agent in it, say what you want. Total elapsed time is about ninety seconds.

1 · The folder

Your whole project, every page, image, and file the agent creates, will live in one folder. Make it from the terminal (this also drops you inside it):

mkdir my-first-app && cd my-first-app

mkdir my-first-app; cd my-first-app

Name it lowercase-with-hyphens (recipe-box, gig-tracker) and don't deliberate, since renaming later is trivial. App users can point Codex or Claude Code's desktop app at a new folder instead; Cursor users, File → Open Folder. Same result.

2 · The agent

claude   # or: codex

3 · The first prompt

For a first project, stay on the frontend, the part people see and click. No logins, no databases yet (they get their own sections). A strong first prompt names four things: the outcome, the audience, the feel, and proof it runs.

Build me a one-page site for my pottery studio. Audience: people googling classes in Echo Park. Feel: warm, minimal, lots of whitespace. When you're done, run it and give me the address to see it.

What it deliberately leaves out is the technology. Frameworks, languages, file layout: the agent picks better defaults than a beginner can, and you can always change course later. Describe the destination, not the route.

AI Clubhouse · Vibe Coding Guide