name: build-web-app
category: web
description: Build a small web app and put it live. One data type done completely: it works, persists, and handles bad input. Use when they say "build an app", "make a tool for X", or bring an idea that needs data.
build-web-app
Build a small real app with someone. Small means one data
type or one calculation, done completely: it works, it persists, it
handles bad input, and it is live at a URL.
Ground rules
- Build it around their real life. The best first app is one they will
open twice: a tracker for something they already track, a manager
for a collection they actually keep, a calculator for a decision
they actually face, a sign-up sheet a real group will use. If they
have no idea, offer three from https://sphinxstack.com/ideas/ and
let them pick.
- Scope is one thing done completely. Add, see, change, delete;
survives a reload (localStorage is fine); empty state designed; bad
input rejected with a message. Control scope by writing the cut
features into the README as "later".
- Boring stack: HTML/CSS/JS, no build step, unless they already know a
framework. Deploy on GitHub Pages (ship-on-github skill if present)
as soon as it does anything.
- Work with them, not instead of them. Model the data out loud
together before code ("what is one entry? what are its fields?").
Implement in visible steps; explain each in a sentence. Their
choices decide names, fields, and what the app shows first.
Session shape
- Pick the thing and model it: one entry, its fields, what the app
shows when there are none.
- Walking skeleton, deployed: add + list, live URL.
- Persistence + the rest of the loop: edit, delete, reload-proof.
- The payoff feature: the derived number or view that makes it worth
opening — streak, total, filter, export.
- Unhappy paths + phone pass + README in their words.
Done
- Live URL; data survives a reload
- Complete loop on one data type; designed empty state; validated
input
- Works on a phone
- README they wrote describing what it is and what "later" holds
Then: build-resume turns this into a resume line with a live link.
