Plainbuilt

Plainbuilt · you can just do things

Ship software with AI. No engineering background.

Free courses, the actual prompts behind every project I publish, and 1:1 consultations when you get stuck.

Start the free course →See projects
~78min
From zero to your first
working app
100%
Prompts & settings
published. Nothing held back.
1:1
Consultations available
when you want hands-on help
I've spent 15 years managing engineering teams but never written a line of code. After one consultation I had a working prototype.

— James R. ·  Director of Strategy, Management consulting

Courses

Learn to build with AI, start to finish.

Designed for professionals who have never written code. If you can use a spreadsheet, you can do this.

All courses →
~ $ curl -fsSL plainbuilt.co/setup | sh
→ checking xcode-tools…           ok
→ installing homebrew…            ok
→ installing node, git, gh…       ok
→ writing ~/.zshrc…               ok

~ $ claude "build me a weekly digest"
● drafting plan…
Free · 8 lessons · ~78 min

Mac Setup for Vibe Coding

From opening Terminal for the first time to running your first AI-built app. Every command copy-pasteable. Every prompt explained.

  • 01What is vibe coding?
  • 02Before you start
  • 03Open Terminal
  • 04Install Homebrew
  • + 4 more lessons
Start the course →
Free · 5 lessons · ~35 min

Shipping to the Web

Push your app to GitHub, deploy it to Vercel, and point a custom domain at it. Picks up where Mac Setup leaves off.

  • 01What you're shipping today
  • 02Push your project to GitHub
  • 03Deploy to Vercel
  • 04Buy your domain on Namecheap
  • 05Connect your domain
Start the course →
●https://notes.you.com
Weekly review
finalize OKR doc, ship Q2 plan…
Recipe ideas
tomato risotto, miso glaze…
Travel notes
Tokyo Sept, hotels list…
Books to read
Seeing Like a State, Antifragile…
Weekly review
Hermes — classical marble bust merged with circuit board
Free · 6 lessons · ~53 min

Hermes Agent

Install a persistent AI agent, give it a personality, wire it into Discord, and watch it get smarter the longer it runs. From zero to always-on.

  • 01What is Hermes Agent (and why your coding agent isn't enough)
  • 02Install Hermes and have your first conversation
  • 03Give it a soul: SOUL.md, AGENTS.md, and profiles
  • 04Make it always-on: wire Hermes into Discord
  • + 2 more lessons
Start the course →

Projects

Built with AI, start to finish.

Every project ships with the exact prompts, model, and settings used. Read along, fork it, or rebuild it your way.

All projects →
Fancy Message MatrixESPHome
May 202615 prompts total

Fancy Message Matrix

An LED matrix display running custom firmware that shows a rotating birthday message, a breakdancing stick figure, an animated cigar, and occasional fireworks.

vibe-codedhardwarefirmware
Maple CaféVite
May 20267 prompts total

Maple Café

A lofi.cafe-style ambient player that streams MapleStory background music, with selectable maps and full playback controls.

vibe-codedweb app

Notes from the build

What I learned this month.

All posts →

Newsletter

Follow the build.

One short note when a project ships, plus the prompt and the gotchas. About one email a fortnight. Unsubscribe with one click.

Founder

1:1 Consultation · optional

Want a guide in your corner?

Bring the project you’re stuck on. We’ll spend the session shipping it, on your screen, at your pace.

Book a consultation →