Built in a Morning

At 6:51 I asked Claude for a "calendy type app" for Origin, typo and all. By 8:41 it was live on my website, connected to my Google Calendar, and doing things I didn't even know I wanted when I started. Someone I've been talking with picks a time, a Google Meet invite lands in their inbox, and the call shows up right on my calendar next to school pickup and dance practice. There's a link in the invite to move or cancel, every booking lands in Notion, and within the hour Claude sends me a short brief on who I'm about to meet, with a few great questions to open with.

I didn't need a big plan to get started. I told Claude what I wanted in plain words, and it asked me a few questions back, like what hours I take calls, how much notice I need, and whether my family calendar should block time too. I wanted this to be a link I share with people after we've connected, not something public on my site, so that's how we built it.

There were a few bumps along the way. Google wanted a privacy policy on my site before it would connect to my calendar for good, so we added one. Then I booked a test meeting, moved it, and cancelled it to make sure everything worked before I shared it with anyone.

I've been rebuilding and rethinking every app I have. So many of the apps we pay for every month can now be built in a morning, tailored to exactly how we work, and they're ours. I learned a lot about the latest Claude models along the way.

What I love most is that it's mine. If I want to change my hours or how many calls I take in a day, I just change it, and I'm not paying for a bunch of features I'll never use. It's exactly what I wrote about in The End of One-Size-Fits-All, and now I'm actually living it.

This is why I'm so excited for everyone to build with AI. The tools get better every few months, and the best way to find out what they can do for you is to build something real with them, regularly. Pick one thing you pay for or still do by hand, give yourself a morning, and see how far you get. You'll surprise yourself!!

Things are moving so fast. This summer it took me 36 hours to build MO Bill Watch, and this week it took one morning to build a booking app with my calendar, Notion and an AI brief built in. The only way to really know what's possible right now is to try it yourself, and it's been an incredible way to learn.

I put the steps in the carousel.

Cover: I built my own booking app in one morning. 6:51 am, asked Claude for it. 8:41 am, live with the extras.

The question: could I build the version that fits exactly how I work? The plan I'd need, Calendly Standard at $10 per seat per month, next to what I built, in one morning.

Step 1, pick a time: the booking page on a phone, showing open days and times.

Step 2, book it: the booking form with name, email, company and a note.

Step 3, invite sent: the confirmation screen with a private link to move or cancel.

Step 4: a sample week on my calendar, with the intro call between work, school pickup and dance practice.

Step 5, move or cancel: the manage page showing the booking and a cancel button.

A few extras: two intro calls a day at most, every booking logged in Notion, a pre-call brief from Claude, and a privacy page.

An example pre-call brief for a sample guest, with who they are, their company, why they might be calling, and questions to ask.

How I'd do it again: write the rules in plain words, describe it to Claude Code, connect Google Calendar, book a fake meeting first, add extras one at a time.

Can I help you build something? Message me with what you're working on.

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Do you need help getting started? Message me with what you're working on and let's get you building!