Build your own tools

One of the most repeated promises is that you no longer need to know how to code to have your own website or app. There's some truth in it: with tools like Claude Code you can have a website up and running in an afternoon. What the videos don't tell you is everything that comes afterwards: the domain, deployment, forms, cookies, GDPR, backups and maintenance. In this section I cover both halves.

This is where things that end up being used or published belong: websites, prototypes and small made-to-measure utilities, the kind no app on the market quite solves. I explain how I plan them, how many rounds it takes before they work, where I have them installed and how I use them every day. If what I'm setting up is a workflow that moves data between programs, or an agent that works on its own, that goes in Automation and agents.

And what happens when you publish something on the internet: bots, spam in your contact form and break-in attempts from day one. Not to scare you, but so you know which minimum protections to put in place. The conclusion I draw is that AI takes a huge amount of work off your plate, but it doesn't take away your judgement: knowing what to ask for, what to check and when you need someone who actually knows.