I built 50+ projects in 97 days

using Claude Code and a terminal

Most nonprofits run on spreadsheets and duct tape. Not because they want to. Because custom software usually starts around $50,000.

So I ran an experiment: what happens if one person uses AI like a software team?

The setup

I'm Andrew. I run Frontier Commons, a nonprofit building tools for missions and international student ministry. Until January 2026, I had never shipped a website.

Then my friend Henry introduced me to Claude Code — Anthropic's AI that writes and runs code from your terminal. He sat next to me for the first few sessions. Not teaching syntax. Teaching how to think in prompts.

Within a week I'd shipped three tools my team had been requesting for months.

97 days later

50+ projects shipped. Not demos. The therapist directory gets 200+ searches a month.

A therapist directory. A benefits eligibility quiz. A 95K-article search engine. A Mario game that teaches cross-cultural skills.

What Claude Code actually does

You open a terminal. You type what you want. Claude writes the code, creates the files, runs commands, and fixes errors. You steer. It builds.

It's like dictating to a fast junior dev. You still make every decision — it just types faster than you.

My workflow

1. Describe the problem — in plain English. "Build a searchable directory of 553 therapists with filters for language, specialty, and state."
2. Claude builds the first version — usually 5–15 minutes.
3. Improve it — "Make cards expandable." "Add a map." "Fix the mobile layout." Each instruction takes 30–90 seconds.
4. Deploy — one command: npx wrangler pages deploy . and it's live.

Most projects took 1–3 hours.

What I built

Tools nonprofits actually need:

• CAMH Directory — 553 therapists searchable by language, specialty, and state
• Missions Search — 95K articles across 28 sources
• Care Navigator — answer 8 questions, see benefits you qualify for
• IFI Dashboard — weekly nonprofit team dashboard
• Uncover — photo conversation tool for small groups
• CLI Dojo — RPG-style terminal training game

What surprised me

• It gets faster. After ~10 projects, patterns appear. Projects 30–42 shipped 3× faster than projects 1–10.
• Iteration becomes free. Want a new design? 2 minutes. So you test 5 ideas instead of debating one.
• Single-file HTML handles more than you'd think. 15 of my 50 projects are one .html file.
• Deployment is trivial. Cloudflare Pages: npx wrangler pages deploy . — 10 seconds. Figuring out what your team actually needs takes longer.

10 lessons after 50+ projects

1. Solve a real problem. "My team needs a dashboard" beats "I want to learn React."
2. Be specific in prompts. 'Build a searchable table' loses to 'Build a sortable table of 553 rows with filters for state, language, and specialty.'
3. Ship ugly first. My best projects started as things I was embarrassed to share.
4. Describe the problem, not the solution. Say 'users can't find therapists by language' instead of 'add a dropdown filter.'
5. Use single-file HTML. Less complexity. Faster builds.
6. Deploy early. Working links change conversations.
7. Use a CLAUDE.md file. Claude reads it every session. Huge productivity boost.
8. Learn the workflow, not the framework. Describe → build → review → refine → deploy.
9. Pair with someone early. Saved me days of confusion.
10. Build 10 things, not one perfect thing. Patterns appear around project 10.

Want to learn this workflow?

I turned everything above into a free training course. 10 levels. Start by installing your first terminal tools, end by shipping a full-stack app. 10 levels. You install tools, write prompts, and deploy a real site by level 7.

Must-have skills

Claude Code has an official skills library — drop-in modules that give Claude specialized abilities. These are the ones I use constantly:

• Frontend Design — Forces real design decisions — typeface pairing, color system, spacing — instead of the default blue-gradient look. Forces bold aesthetic choices: editorial, brutalist, retro-futuristic. Picks real typefaces, builds cohesive color systems, adds purposeful animation. The single biggest upgrade to how my sites look.
• Skill Creator — You describe what you want. It drafts the skill, tests it, and iterates until the output matches. I used it to build my /roast and /deploy commands.
• Claude API — Detects your project language, recommends the right API surface (single call, workflow, or agent), and writes the integration code. Essential for adding AI features to any app.
• MCP Builder — Guides you through building MCP servers — the protocol that lets Claude talk to external services. Four-phase workflow: research, implement, test, evaluate.

Install any of them by cloning the skills repo and symlinking into ~/.claude/skills/. Five minutes to set up. I use them every session.

My stack

• Frontend — HTML, CSS, vanilla JS. React only when necessary.
• Hosting — Cloudflare Pages. One command to deploy.
• AI — Claude Code for all development.
• Data — Python scripts + Cloudflare D1.
• No Docker. No CI/CD. Add complexity only when needed.

~/Documents/Claude/
├── camh-directory/
├── care-navigator/
├── claude-portfolio/
├── crossings-mario/
├── ifi-dashboard/
├── missions-search/
├── uncover/
└── ... 50+ more

Each project gets its own folder.

The real productivity hack

Every project includes a CLAUDE.md file. Claude reads it at the start of every session. 10 seconds and Claude knows the whole project.

# CAMH Directory

## Stack
- Static HTML + vanilla JS

## Deploy
npx wrangler pages deploy . --project-name=camh-directory

## Current State
- 553 counselors, 40 states, 26 languages

Claude instantly understands the project.

I also built slash commands — custom skills Claude runs on demand:

• /deploy — commit + deploy
• /roast — 10 expert personas critique the project
• /resume — Claude finds the next task
• /wrapup — commit, docs, summary email

After enough projects, starting a new one takes 5 minutes.

The full toolkit

Claude Code ships with 93 built-in commands. Here are the ones that changed how I work:

Plus my custom commands — /deploy, /roast, /wrapup, /next — built with the skills system. 93 commands out of the box. Unlimited custom ones on top.

The bigger idea

A nonprofit with one person and a terminal can now build tools that used to require a contractor and $50K.

The hard part is still the same: knowing what your people actually need. AI just removed the excuse that you can't build it.