open your terminal. if you followed the setup steps, you should already be inside your my-first-app folder on your Desktop. if not, run these first:

cd ~/Desktop/my-first-app

then start your AI coding tool:

claude

(or codex if you chose OpenAI Codex in the setup step.)

you should see a prompt waiting for you to type something. that means it's ready.

don't overthink this. just pick something small and fun. you can always build something bigger later. here are some ideas — pick one or come up with your own:

now just type what you want to build. describe it like you're texting a friend who happens to be a really good programmer. be as specific as you can — the more detail you give, the better the result.

press enter and watch it go. the AI will start creating files and writing code. you'll see it happening in real time in your terminal. just let it cook — it usually takes 30 seconds to a couple minutes depending on what you asked for.

the AI just built your app. now you need to actually see it. your app lives on your computer — to view it, you need to run it and open it in your browser (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, whatever you use).

tell the AI to run it

the AI doesn't always start your app automatically after building it. so the first thing to do is just ask:

run the app so I can see it in my browser

the AI will start a local server and give you a link. you'll see something like this show up in your terminal:

Local:   http://localhost:3000

open it in your browser

copy that http://localhost:... URL from your terminal, open your browser, paste it into the address bar, and hit enter. you should see your app. you can also Cmd-click (Mac) or Ctrl-click (Windows/Linux) the link directly in your terminal to open it automatically.

if you don't see a link

sometimes the AI builds the app but doesn't start the server. that's fine — just ask it directly:

start the dev server

how do I preview this in my browser?

it'll figure out the right command, run it, and give you the URL.

for simple html apps

if your app is just an HTML file (no server needed), you don't even need localhost. just go to your my-first-app folder on your Desktop, find the index.html file, and double-click it. it'll open right in your browser.

don't like something? just tell the AI. go back to your terminal and type what you want changed. you're the creative director. some examples:

after each change, refresh your browser (Cmd+R on Mac, Ctrl+R on Windows/Linux) to see the update. keep going until you love it.