Code Coach: AI That Teaches You As You Build

AI Prompts to Build This

Copy these build prompts into Claude, Cursor, or your AI coding tool. Create a free account to unlock the full research behind them.

1. 1. Project Setup

   Build the weekend MVP of "Code Coach": a VS Code extension that explains the code you select in plain English, with the why and not only the what.
   
   Stack: a VS Code extension in TypeScript, the Claude API for explanations, and VS Code's own storage for settings. Python is the only language this weekend. No login and no server.
   Settings: an API key, a model name and the pause length, read from the extension settings.
   
   Data (kept in VS Code globalState, no database):
   - explanations(id, code_hash, language, trigger, response, created_at)
   - triggers(kind, enabled)  where kind is one of error, pause, fragile
   - settings(api_key, model, pause_seconds)
   
   Commands: Explain This.
   Env vars (names only): none. The API key is a VS Code setting.
   
   Do not build: billing, usage caps or upgrade prompts, languages other than Python, accounts, a web app.
   Done when: you can press F5 to open a test window, select a Python function, run Explain This and see the answer in a hover and a side panel.

2. 2. Core Feature

   Build the one feature that proves Code Coach: the teaching loop.
   1. Watch the active editor for three triggers: a diagnostic error on the current line, a pause of 8 or more seconds after typing, and code that runs but looks fragile (a bare except, a mutable default argument, a loop that rebuilds a list on every pass).
   2. For each trigger, send the selection, its enclosing function and the language to Claude. Ask for a plain-English explanation of WHY, tied to the exact line, that ends with one follow-up question.
   3. Show the answer in an inline hover and in a side panel.
   4. Allow one call per 5 seconds. Cache each answer by code hash in explanations so the same code is never sent twice.
   Rules: send only the selection and its enclosing function, never the whole file.
   Empty state: with no API key, show one message that opens the settings.
   Done when: a Python error on a line produces a why-focused explanation within a few seconds, and selecting the same code again answers from the cache.

3. 3. Landing Page

   Build a one-page landing site for Code Coach, an in-editor AI tutor for self-taught developers.
   Hero: "Understand the code you ship." One button: Join the waitlist.
   Sections: the problem (it works and I don't know why), how it works in three steps (select, explain, answer the follow-up question), a 60-second demo GIF placeholder, and a short comparison with Copilot and Codecademy.
   Waitlist: store the email in a waitlist table. Use Supabase for this one table and nothing else.
   Style: clean, light, founder-friendly. Semantic HTML with Tailwind.
   Done when: the page renders on a phone and a submitted email appears in the waitlist table.

4. 4. Branding Package

   Use a design or image tool for the visuals and a chat model for the words. A coding agent cannot draw a logo.
   Brand kit for Code Coach: a name rationale, a one-line positioning statement (teaches the why, not just the what), five tagline options of five words each, and a calm developer-friendly palette with hex codes.
   Deliverables: wordmark, a 128 px extension icon, and five launch posts for r/learnprogramming and coding YouTube audiences.
   Done when: each deliverable is saved in one folder and the icon is readable at 32 px.