Create an app with AI

To create an app with AI you describe to an assistant like Claude or ChatGPT what it has to do, it writes the code, you test it and keep telling it what's failing until it works. There are also platforms that do the whole cycle in the browser: they generate the app, show it to you running and let you publish it without installing anything.

The process that tends to work is: define a small, specific problem, ask for a minimal version first, test it with real cases and add things one at a time. What's confusing is the word "app": it can be a simple web page, a program on your computer or a mobile app. The first two are the easiest; publishing in the mobile app stores is another level. Also decide where the app lives: on your computer or on a VPS, a server rented on the internet. And a warning: AI sometimes fixes one thing and breaks another, so keep copies of what already works.

I work mainly with Claude, and for beginners I think the most useful thing is to see a complete case, stumbles and all, rather than a perfect tutorial. In "I built my own tool without being a programmer" I walk through the process from start to finish: how I described what I needed, what came out, how many rounds it took, where I got stuck and where the tool I use every day lives now.