start

name	start
description	Get a project to build for the Claude Code workshop — you'll be assigned an app idea and get a ready-to-go project folder with a README spec and a CLAUDE.md, so you can start building right away.

/start — Claude Code Course Onboarding

Welcome a new participant to the Claude Code, hands-on workshop, assign them a unique project idea, and scaffold their project folder so they're ready to build from minute one.

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Step 1 — Greet and collect info

Introduce yourself briefly. Then ask the participant one question:

1. What's your name? (first name is fine)

Wait for their answer before continuing.

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Step 2 — Assign a project idea

Use the participant's name to pick their project deterministically: compute (sum of char codes of lowercased name) mod 20, then pick from this list (0-indexed):

#	App	One-liner
0	Plant Watering Tracker	Log when you last watered each plant and get reminders when they're due.
1	Reading Log	Track books you've read, are reading, and want to read — with ratings and notes.
2	Lunch Roulette	Spin to pick where to eat from your saved list of restaurants.
3	Habit Streak Counter	Track daily habits and visualize your streaks over time.
4	Meeting Note Taker	Paste an agenda, get a structured notes template. Save and search past meetings.
5	Recipe Box	Save recipes with ingredients and steps, then generate a shopping list.
6	Travel Packing List	Build smart packing lists based on destination and trip length.
7	Movie Night Picker	Add movies to a watchlist and pick one randomly for movie night.
8	Workout Logger	Log exercises, sets, reps, and weights. Track personal records.
9	Daily Standup Helper	Log yesterday / today / blockers and see a weekly summary.
10	Birthday Reminder	Add friends' birthdays, get reminders, and brainstorm gift ideas.
11	Coffee Journal	Rate coffees and roasters. Spot patterns in what you love.
12	Vocabulary Builder	Save new words with definitions. Quiz yourself.
13	Code Snippet Library	Save and search reusable code snippets by tag and language.
14	Sleep Tracker	Log sleep and wake times. Spot patterns in your sleep quality.
15	Pet Health Log	Track vet visits, medications, and milestones for your pets.
16	Gratitude Journal	Write three things you're grateful for each day. Look back over time.
17	Budget Snapshot	Log daily spending by category. See a monthly summary.
18	Freelance Time Logger	Track time per project and client. Generate invoice summaries.
19	Language Learning Flashcards	Create decks, flip cards, track mastery per word.

Tell the participant which app they got and why it suits them (be brief and warm, not sycophantic).

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Step 3 — Scaffold the project

Create one folder named after the assigned app (kebab-case, e.g. recipe-box) directly in the current repo root, and put two files inside it — and only these two. Don't nest any further subfolders.

README.md — the spec (what to build)

The human-facing description of the app and its features.

Keep every feature simple enough to build in plain HTML · CSS · vanilla JS with localStorage for persistence. No third-party integrations, no backend, no accounts, no real notifications/email/SMS, no external APIs. If the app's one-liner mentions "reminders," interpret that as an in-page list of what's due — not push notifications.

# <App Name>

<Two-sentence description of what the app does and who it's for.>

## What it should do

<3–5 bullet points describing the core features, written as user-facing capabilities.
Example: "- Log when you last watered each plant">

CLAUDE.md — standing instructions for Claude

How Claude should work in this repo (read into context every session). This is not the app spec — keep the feature description in the README. Put the working rules and one parked feature here.

# <App Name>

Project context for Claude Code sessions in this repo.

## Rules
- Keep features small and focused.
- Build only one thing at a time — token cost is real.
- Plain HTML · CSS · vanilla JS. No build step.
- No third-party integrations, backends, accounts, or external APIs — everything runs client-side with `localStorage`. Treat any "reminders" as an in-page "due today" list, not push/email notifications.

<!-- FUTURE FEATURE (not yet) -->
<!-- <One parked feature that extends the app — do NOT build it now.
     We turn this into an artifact and build it with goal mode in Block 2.>
     Keep it buildable in vanilla JS + localStorage, no third-party services.
     Good fits: a simple stats/summary view, a search or filter, sorting,
     a "due today" list, or export to a downloadable file. -->

That's it. The participant will plan and build the rest themselves during the course.

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Step 4 — Show the summary

After creating the files, display this:

Your project is ready.

  App:    <App Name>
  Idea:   <one-liner>
  Folder: <app-name-kebab>/

What's in there:
  README.md    describes your app and its core features
  CLAUDE.md    standing instructions + a parked "future feature"

Next up: drop into plan mode right here and figure out how to
build it. The course will walk you through each step.

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Notes for instructors

• This skill is idempotent: re-running it with the same name produces the same idea and the same folder with the same two files. Safe to run again if something went wrong.
• The deterministic idea assignment means instructors can predict each participant's project in advance.
• If a participant genuinely dislikes their assigned app, allow them to pick any other from the list — consistency matters less than motivation.