Claude

Welcome to Part 3: Advanced Projects. We are done with quick builds and half-day apps. Now we tackle complex, multi-component systems. First up: a real-time chat application. WebSockets, authentication, rooms, typing indicators, online presence, message history. This is the kind of project that tests whether Claude can handle multiple moving parts that all need to work together in real time. Total time: 4 hours 38 minutes. 7 prompts. WebSocket auth was the hardest part. ...

After a full-stack blog, a weather dashboard, a desktop app, and a mobile app, we close Part 2 with something different: a backend microservice in Go. Go is interesting for vibe coding because the language is simple and opinionated. There is usually one way to do things. Claude should have an easier time generating idiomatic Go than, say, idiomatic Rust. Let us find out. Total time: 2 hours 14 minutes. 6 prompts. Go’s simplicity made this the fastest Part 2 project. ...

This is the hardest project in Part 2. Kotlin Multiplatform has a complex build system, platform-specific code patterns, and a Gradle configuration that can break in surprising ways. Can Claude handle it? I was skeptical going in. KMP projects have dozens of Gradle files, expect/actual declarations, and platform-specific dependencies that need to match exact versions. One wrong version number and nothing compiles. Total time: 4 hours 31 minutes. 6 prompts. Most of the time was fighting Gradle. ...

Building a desktop application is different from building a web app. You have to deal with the operating system: file dialogs, menu bars, keyboard shortcuts, window management. Electron makes this possible with web technologies, but the architecture — main process vs. renderer process — trips up many developers. Can Claude handle it? I gave it a full markdown editor spec and found out. Total time: 3 hours 47 minutes. 7 prompts. Electron’s IPC was the biggest time sink. ...

API integration is one of the things developers do most and enjoy least. Parsing JSON, handling errors, managing loading states, formatting data for charts. It is repetitive work. This is where Claude Code earns its keep. I gave it an API, a design goal, and a list of features. It handled the rest. Total time: 2 hours 38 minutes. 6 prompts. The charts took the longest. What We’re Building A weather dashboard with: ...

Welcome to Part 2 of the series. The Quick Builds are done. Now we build real applications — the kind that take a full afternoon and have multiple moving parts. First up: a full-stack blog platform. Not a static site. A real blog with a database, admin panel, markdown editor, authentication, and SEO features. The kind of project that would normally take a weekend. Total time: 3 hours 22 minutes. 7 prompts. A lot of debugging auth. ...

This is the last Quick Build in the series. We have built a CLI app, a REST API, a landing page, and a Chrome extension. Now we build something that runs 24/7 and interacts with real users: a Discord bot. Discord bots are a great test for Claude Code because they involve: An external API (Discord API) Event-driven architecture Slash command registration Permission handling Error recovery Deployment for uptime Total time: 71 minutes. Most of that was fighting with slash command registration. ...

Chrome extensions are different from anything we have built so far. There is a specific architecture (background scripts, content scripts, popups), a manifest file that Chrome parses, and browser APIs that work differently from regular web APIs. This is a good stress test for Claude Code. Can it handle Manifest V3 correctly? Does it know the Chrome extension APIs? The project: a tab manager extension called “TabFlow” that shows all open tabs, lets you search them, close duplicates, and save sessions for later. ...

We built a CLI app and a REST API with Claude Code. Both were backend projects. Now let’s see how Claude handles the visual side: a modern landing page with responsive design, animations, and dark mode. The project: build a landing page for a fictional SaaS product called “FlowBoard” — a project management tool. No React, no frameworks. Just HTML, CSS (Tailwind), and a tiny bit of vanilla JavaScript. Total time: 38 minutes from empty folder to live on Netlify. ...

Last time we built a CLI todo app in 35 minutes. That was a local app. This time, we go bigger: a REST API that runs on the web. The goal: build a bookmark manager API with CRUD operations, pagination, search, rate limiting, tests, and a Docker setup. All with Claude Code prompts. Deploy it and get a live URL. Total time: 52 minutes from empty folder to deployed API. What We’re Building A bookmark manager REST API with these features: ...