A First Claude Code Project With Something Concrete To Test
For a first project with Claude Code, I would use a small expense tracker. There is enough to check without adding accounts or payments to the task.
An example brief: "Build a local expense tracker for one person. Let me enter an amount in naira, a date and a note.
Show the total for the selected month. Save entries between browser visits and let me delete a mistaken entry. Use sample data for the demonstration. Choose the layout yourself and explain how to run it."
That gives a beginner something specific to inspect. Add two expenses, refresh the page, then delete one and check the total. A page can look finished even when its saved data is wrong. This example is for learning; it does not cover backups or sharing financial records between people.
The guide by Evgenii Arsentev at https://arsentev.ai/guides/first-prompt-that-builds explains how to put the outcome, context and working boundaries into a build prompt. He builds web products with AI agents and writes practical guides for people without a programming background.
What would you add to this brief before asking an agent to build it?
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