Never coded? Build your first app with Claude Code this afternoon (no terminal, no jargon)

If you've never written code, and the idea of starting makes you a little nervous, this guide is for you. You don't need to know anything about programming, and you don't need to be "a computer person". If you can write a text message, you can do this.

Vibe coding means you describe what you want in plain words, and an AI writes the code, runs it and fixes it. You never have to read a line of code. It's like texting a very patient friend who happens to know everything about computers.

By the end of this guide you'll have:

• an AI helper that answers questions about your computer and makes files for you;
• your first small app, which you made just by describing it.

What you need: a computer (Mac, Windows or Linux), an internet connection, about an hour, and $20 for the first month.

Disclosure: I build Moontors, the free app this guide uses. It gives Claude Code, Anthropic's AI coding helper, a friendly window, so there's no black screen and no commands to type.

First: you can't break anything

This is the part people worry about most, so let's get it out of the way.

• Nothing happens without your click. Before Claude runs anything on your computer or changes a file, it tells you what it wants to do and waits for you to click Allow. If you're not sure, click Deny, and nothing happens.
• You choose where it works. Claude works inside a folder you pick. Everything you practise with in this guide goes into folders you make yourself, and you can delete them whenever you like.
• Your apps stay on your computer. The apps you build here are files on your own computer. Nobody sees them unless you share them.
• No question is too basic. Didn't understand an answer? Type "Explain that like I'm 10." Claude doesn't judge, and it doesn't get tired of questions.

Words you'll see

• Prompt: the message you type to Claude.
• Session: one conversation with Claude, working in one folder.
• Project: a shortcut to a folder you use often.
• Command: an instruction Claude gives your computer, like "show me the free space". You see each one before it runs.
• Web page: a file your browser opens. The apps you'll build here are web pages that live on your computer, not on the internet.

That's all the jargon in this guide.

Step 1: Get a Claude account

Go to claude.ai and sign up with your Google account or your email. That's your Claude account, and you'll use it to sign in later.

Step 2: Pick a plan

The free plan doesn't include Claude Code, so you need a paid one. It's a monthly subscription, like a streaming service: you can cancel any time. Here are the plans on Anthropic's pricing page today:

Plan	Price	Pick it if you want to…
Pro	$20 a month ($17 a month if you pay yearly)	try it out, play, and build small things for yourself
Max	$100 a month, 5× Pro's usage	build something bigger most days of the week
Ultra	$200 a month, 10× Pro's usage	build all day, every day, with no 5-hour limit

Start with Pro. It's plenty for learning.

No surprise bills. Pro and Max have a usage limit that refills every 5 hours, and a weekly one. If you reach it, Claude simply pauses until it refills; nothing is broken, it's a good moment for a break. You'd only pay more if you turn on Extra usage yourself, in claude.ai's Settings, under Usage, so leave it off.

Choose your plan on the pricing page, or with Upgrade inside claude.ai.

Step 3: Install Moontors

Download Moontors from moontors.com. It's free, and it doesn't ask you to make another account.

• Mac: open the file you downloaded (it ends in .dmg) and drag Moontors into Applications. Then open it from Applications.
• Windows: open the installer you downloaded.
  • Windows may show a blue box saying "Windows protected your PC". Don't panic: Windows shows it for apps it hasn't seen many times yet. Click More info, then Run anyway.
  • If it says Smart App Control blocked the app instead, there's no Run anyway button. Moontors' first launch guide explains that Windows setting.
• Linux: the first launch guide has the two commands.

Step 4: Make a folder, sign in and start your first session

Claude works inside a folder, so your first session gets a folder of its own for everyday questions about your computer.

1. In Moontors, click Create session at the top left.
2. Under Project, click Choose folder…. In the window that opens, go to your Desktop, click New Folder, name it My PC helper, and select it.
3. Under Agent, pick Claude Code. The first time, Moontors downloads Claude Code for you and shows how far along it is. There's nothing for you to install.
4. Leave everything else as it is, and click Create.
5. Moontors asks you to sign in. Choose Sign in with Claude subscription. Your browser opens on Claude's page: sign in with the account from Step 1, and approve. Back in Moontors, your session opens.

If your browser doesn't open, the sign-in window shows a web address and a box for a code. Open the address in your browser, sign in, copy the code it shows you, paste it into Moontors, and click Continue.

Allow and Deny

When Claude wants to run something on your computer or change a file, a box asks for your OK and tells you what it wants to do. You click Allow or Deny.

• Not sure what it means? Click Deny, and ask Claude: "What did you want to do, and why?" It explains in plain words, and you can ask it again.
• When it asks about the same thing again and again, Allow for this session lets that one thing through for the rest of this conversation.

Step 5: Five first prompts

Type each one into the box at the bottom of the session and press Enter. There's no wrong way to ask: write the way you'd text a friend, typos and all. Each one takes less than a minute.

1. How full is your computer?

   How much free space is left on this computer?

1. What computer is this, in plain words?

   What computer is this? Tell me its model, processor, memory and operating system version, and explain what each one means in simple words.

1. What's filling your Downloads?

   Which 10 files in my Downloads folder take up the most space? Show their sizes. Don't delete anything.

1. Write something and save it:

   Write a 200-word bedtime story about a robot who's afraid of the dark, and save it as robot-story.txt on my Desktop.

1. Your first web page:

   Turn robot-story.txt into a pretty web page with a big title and a nice font, and open it in my browser.

That last one was coding. Claude wrote a web page, and all you did was describe it.

Tip: if you're unsure how to say something, type it rough, then click the sparkle button at the left of the message box. Claude rewrites your words as a clear prompt before you send them.

Step 6: Make a home for your projects

Keep your projects together in one folder, away from your Desktop, which fills up fast.

• Mac: open Finder, press Shift+Cmd+H to go to your home folder (the one with your name), and make a new folder named Projects.
• Windows: open File Explorer, click This PC, then Local Disk (C:), and make a new folder named Projects, so it's at C:\Projects.
• Linux: make a Projects folder in your home folder.

Inside Projects, make one more folder for your first app: my-first-app.

Step 7: Add it as a project in Moontors

A project is a shortcut to a folder, so you can start a session there with one click.

1. Click Add project, the folder with a plus beside Create session.
2. Click Choose folder… and select the my-first-app folder inside Projects.
3. Click Add. A button for my-first-app appears at the top of the window.

Step 8: Start a session in your project

Click the + beside my-first-app's name. A new session starts in that folder, ready for your first prompt. (If you've signed in to more than one AI helper, you'll see an arrow instead: click it, then choose Claude Code and Here.)

Step 9: Build something tiny

Pick one of these for your first prompt:

Make a to-do list web page. I can add tasks, tick them off, and they're still there after I close the browser. Open it when it's done.

Make a tip calculator web page with big buttons that also works on a phone screen. Open it when it's done.

Make a snake game I can play in my browser with the arrow keys. Open it when it's done.

Make a focus timer page: 25 minutes of work, then a 5-minute break, with a sound when time's up. Open it when it's done.

Then comes the actual vibe coding: look at what you got and say what you'd like changed, one thing at a time.

• "Make the colours darker and the text bigger."
• "Add a button that clears the finished tasks."
• "When I click Add with an empty box, nothing should happen."
• "Something's wrong: the timer stops when I switch tabs. Fix it."
• "Explain what you just did, in simple words."

When something goes wrong

It will, and that's normal. It happens to professional programmers every day.

• Tell Claude what you see, in your own words: "The button doesn't do anything." If there's an error message, copy it and paste it in. Claude reads it and fixes the code.
• Not happy with where it's going? Make a new folder, such as my-second-try, add it as a project, and start fresh. Your first try stays where it was.

Where to go next

• Let it work while you're away. Moontors' sessions keep working when you close its window. Give Claude a bigger job, go make dinner, and come back to it done.
• Answer from your phone. Moontors' phone app follows your sessions and lets you answer them from the couch. It's on Google Play now, and the iPhone app is coming soon.
• Try other AI helpers. The same steps work with Codex, Gemini CLI and Grok Build, each with its own account, all in one window.

Everyone who builds software today started by not knowing how. You just went from no account to an app you built by describing it. That's vibe coding, and you're doing it.

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AI did the writing, I did the reading, and we both took credit.