Foundations

For founders, marketers, analysts, and anyone else building their first real thing without an engineering background.

Getting Oriented

What Claude Code actually is, what it isn't, and whether building something real without an engineering background is realistic.

1. 1What Claude Code Actually Does for YouClaude Code writes, edits, and runs real code directly on your computer — a different kind of tool than a chatbot that only talks about code.Coming soon
2. 2Vibe Coding Is a Real Way to Build SoftwareDescribing what you want in plain English and having an AI build it produces working software, not a toy version of "real" programming.Coming soon
3. 3Do You Need to Learn to Code Before You Start?Most of what makes someone effective with Claude Code is clear thinking about the outcome, not fluency in a programming language.Coming soon
4. 4The Skill That Matters More Than the Perfect PromptBeing specific about what "finished" looks like matters more than finding magic wording — Claude Code fills in any gap you leave, not always the way you meant.Coming soon

Your Working Setup

The one-time steps that get a non-developer to a first working session, without needing to become a command-line power user.

1. 5Your First Ten Minutes With Claude CodeStarting a new project in its own folder and making one small, safe first request sets up every session after it to go more smoothly.Coming soon
2. 6The Only Part of the Terminal You Actually NeedRunning Claude Code well requires knowing a handful of terminal basics, not becoming a command-line power user.Coming soon
3. 7Where Your Project Actually Lives on Your ComputerClaude Code reads and writes files inside one specific folder — knowing exactly which one prevents most "where did my work go" confusion.Coming soon
4. 8Connecting Claude Code to the Tools You Already UseGiving Claude Code access to things like your docs or your database turns it from a code generator into an assistant that can see your actual business.Coming soon

Planning Before You Build

The non-engineer's version of explore, plan, then implement — the habits that prevent the most expensive mistakes before any code gets written.

1. 9Why Your First Prompt Shouldn’t Be "Build Me an App"A request that’s too broad leaves Claude Code to guess at dozens of decisions, and every wrong guess becomes something you have to catch later.Coming soon
2. 10Three Questions Worth Answering Before You Write a PromptKnowing who the tool is for, the one thing it must do, and what "working" looks like turns a rough idea into something Claude Code can actually build.Coming soon
3. 11How to Brief Claude Code Like a Product Person, Not a ProgrammerBriefing Claude Code well takes the same clarity a good product spec gives an engineering team, not technical vocabulary.Coming soon
4. 12Turning a Rough Idea Into a Plan Claude Code Can FollowAsking Claude Code to propose a plan before writing any code catches misunderstandings while they’re one sentence to fix, not a hundred lines to unwind.Coming soon

Building Your First Real Feature

One genuinely useful feature, start to finish, and the habits that make the process go well.

1. 13Building Your First Real Feature, Start to FinishWalking one small, genuinely useful feature through planning, building, and checking shows what the whole loop feels like in practice.Coming soon
2. 14What to Do When Claude Code Gets It Wrong the First TimeA first attempt that misses the mark is information about what your instructions left ambiguous, not a reason to start over from scratch.Coming soon
3. 15Why Small Steps Beat One Big AskBreaking a feature into pieces you can check individually catches problems while they’re still small and specific.Coming soon
4. 16How to Give Feedback Claude Code Can Actually Act On"This doesn’t feel right" describes a feeling; "this button should do X, not Y" describes a fix, and only one produces a better second draft.Coming soon
5. 17When to Keep Fixing vs. When to Start OverSome problems are one correction away and some are a sign the underlying plan needs to change — telling the two apart early saves the most time.Coming soon

Trust, But Verify

Basic verification habits for someone without a QA background — how to tell a finished task from a working one.

1. 18How to Tell if What It Built Actually WorksClaude Code reporting a task as finished and the task actually working are two different claims, and a non-developer can learn to check the second one.Coming soon
2. 19The Five-Minute Check to Run Before You Trust Any New BuildA short, repeatable routine — click the thing, try to break it, look at what it saved — catches most of what "looks finished" actually misses.Coming soon
3. 20Why Looking Right Isn't the Same as WorkingA polished-looking screen can still be wired to the wrong data or missing the one case that matters, and appearance alone can’t tell you which.Coming soon
4. 21How to Read an Error Message Without PanickingMost error messages are more literal than they look — they usually name the exact thing that went wrong rather than signal the whole project is broken.Coming soon

Budget, Mistakes and Shipping

Cost awareness for a solo builder, the early mistakes that quietly cost the most time, and what "done" actually means.

1. 22What Claude Code Actually Costs a Solo BuilderThe real cost of building something with Claude Code depends more on how sessions are structured than on the price of any single plan.Coming soon
2. 23The Early Mistakes That Quietly Waste the Most TimeThe costliest beginner habits aren’t dramatic failures — they’re small and repeatable, like never saving progress or approving changes without reading them.Coming soon
3. 24The Decisions Claude Code Should Never Make for YouClaude Code can write the code, but only you know what the product is supposed to do — treating every judgment call as delegable is where builds go wrong.Coming soon
4. 25What "Shipping" Means When You’re Not a DeveloperA feature working on your own laptop isn’t the same as something other people can use, and closing that gap is a short, learnable checklist, not a specialized skill.Coming soon

Field Notes covers what breaks next

Once you're building something real and running it unattended, a different set of problems shows up — cost, silent failures, credentials, deploys. Field Notes is real incidents from exactly that, not more tutorials.