Start here

This guide shows you how to build an app with Claude and NodeGX, one step at a time. You don't need to know how to code.

Never used NodeGX or Claude before?

Do the seven steps at nodegx.io/start first. They take you from nothing installed to a first app you can open and change. Then come back here.

Who this guide is for

• You have an idea for an app, and you have never built one.
• You have never written code, and you don't want to start now.
• You feel a bit nervous about starting. That's normal. This guide goes one small step at a time.

If you have built apps before, this guide still shows you how Claude and NodeGX work together. Switch to Advanced (see below) for the extra detail.

The two tools

Claude is an AI assistant made by Anthropic. You tell it what you want in plain English, and it does the building. You need a paid Claude plan; Pro is enough to start.

NodeGX is a free app you install on your computer. It shows your app as boxes joined by lines, so you can see how it works and change it yourself.

Claude works inside NodeGX through a connection you set up once. What NodeGX does for you explains what that gives you.

Easy and Advanced

At the top of the sidebar there is a switch with two settings.

• Easy is the default. It shows what you need to build an app, and nothing more.
• Advanced adds extra detail, like terminal commands and how NodeGX stores your files. It also adds a few extra pages.

Stay on Easy. Every Easy page makes complete sense on its own. You can switch at any time, and this browser remembers your choice.

What's in the guide

Setting up. Install Claude and NodeGX, Plans and limits, and Tell Claude who you are.

Planning your app. Plan before you build and See it before it's built.

Building. Building with Claude, Changing things yourself, Describing how it should look, When something goes wrong and One job per conversation.

Going online. GitHub basics and Putting your app online.

Reference. Prompts to copy, Words, in plain English and Apps built this way.

Advanced

Advanced pages. How NodeGX stores an app, Claude Code in depth and Other AI coding tools.

Where to begin

Read How building with AI works next. It explains the order to do things in, and why that order matters.

After that, read the pages in the order the sidebar lists them. Or jump straight to the page you need.

When Claude uses a word you don't know

Ask it. Claude is happy to explain, as many times as you like.

What does that mean? Please explain it in plain English, as if I've never built an app.

The words that come up most are in Words, in plain English.

Quick reference

• New to all of this? Do the seven steps at nodegx.io/start first.
• The Easy and Advanced switch is at the top of the sidebar. Easy is the default.
• Next page: How building with AI works.
• Stuck on a word? Ask Claude, or look in the glossary.