A Beginner’s Guide to Coding with AI—Build Your First Project Hub

By: Claire Vo Source: How I AI (ChatPRD / Lenny’s Podcast Network) Type: podcast

Summary

Solo mini-episode targeting absolute beginners. Four workflows demonstrated live and unscripted, including a real failure. Workflow 1: Generate a PRD with ChatGPT as the project plan. Workflow 2 (failed): Attempted v0 for UI generation but it over-built — added file management, code sandboxes, and features far beyond the minimal hub requested. Key lesson: agentic tools can introduce scope creep. Workflow 3 (main): Built a Next.js personal project hub from an empty folder in Cursor 2.0 using the Agents view — scaffolded app, ran locally with npm run dev, set up GitHub Desktop for version control. Workflow 4: Created reusable AI agent instruction files (markdown files in an agents/ folder) that define document templates — then referenced these instructions in prompts for consistent PRD generation. Workflow 5: Vibe-coded a clickable prototype from the PRD, iterated on UI issues by dragging screenshots into Cursor’s chat.

Key Ideas Extracted

Start with PRD, not code: Write requirements first to clarify thinking and give AI better direction — same principle regardless of skill level
Agentic tools can over-build: v0 tried to create a complete application instead of a minimal hub — “scope creep” is an AI tool failure mode; when it happens, pivot quickly
Cursor Agents view for beginners: Hides file complexity and lets new coders focus on instructing the AI what to build
Agent instruction files as reusable templates: Markdown files in an agents/ folder define document structure/rules; reference them in prompts with @filename for consistent output across sessions
Screenshot-driven UI debugging: Drag a screenshot of a visual bug into Cursor’s chat for instant identification and fix
GitHub Desktop for non-technical users: Visual interface for version control concepts (commits, branches) — much easier than command line for beginners
Cost of failed experiments is low: The v0 detour cost ~10 minutes and taught a valuable lesson — pivoting is part of the process
Personal projects as “safe spaces”: Building something just for yourself removes pressure and makes learning enjoyable

Notes

Published Nov 5, 2025 on ChatPRD blog. 9-min read. Solo episode (no guest).
This is also listed as a Matt Britton double episode in the compilation — Matt Britton’s mega-workflow (25k hours of sales calls → self-learning GTM engine) was Part 2 of same recording
Tools: ChatGPT (PRD), v0 (failed attempt), Cursor 2.0 with Composer One model, GitHub Desktop, Next.js, Tailwind CSS
The episode is positioned as the entry-point episode for the entire How I AI catalog

Raw Content

Re-scraped from ChatPRD 2026-02-15. Full article content captured in Summary and Key Ideas above.