Build the smallest version that works.
Something you can open and try today. Small on purpose: the first version exists to be wrong in useful ways.
Say what done is, in one sentence.
Not the whole idea. The first thing a stranger could try. “A page where I type a task and it appears in a list” is a good sentence. “A productivity app” is not.
Ask for the plan, not the code.
Claude will happily write two hundred files. Ask for the plan first and keep it small. Waiting for your OK is the habit that keeps you in charge.
Done means: [your sentence] Before writing anything, propose the smallest version of this I could try today. List the files you would create and one line on what each does. Prefer fewer files. Wait for my OK.
Say go.
When the list looks sane, give the word. Approve each file it asks to write. Reading the permission prompts is how you learn what it is doing.
Go. Build exactly that. When you are done, tell me the one command to run it and what I should see.
Run it yourself.
Open a second terminal tab, go to the folder, run the command it gave you. Do not let Claude describe the result to you. See it.
cd ~/first-build
Report exactly what happened.
Paste what you saw, nothing more. “It didn’t work” gives Claude nothing. The error text gives it everything.
I ran it. Here is exactly what happened: [paste the output or describe what you saw] Fix only that. Do not add anything else.