The living dashboard
Build a one-file to-do dashboard on your own machine, in a style you pick. Claude writes it, you own it.
Personal software is real
You do not need an app store to get an app.
A living dashboard is one HTML file, saved on your own machine, that Claude builds and rebuilds for you. It opens in your browser like any web page. It holds your to-dos, your notes, and today’s date, in a style you chose. No installs, no accounts, no subscriptions. Software built for an audience of one, and it is real.
In lessons this one is my favourite to watch. The build happens on your computer, not just in a chat window. And your style pick keeps the same activity fresh for me every single time.
Pick your style
Six looks, one pick. The front is the feel, the back is the style guide. Flip the one that pulls you and copy your card.
There is no way to pick badly here. The pick itself is the point: you are deciding what good looks like before the build starts.
One prompt, one file
The master prompt below has a clearly marked slot. Your style card goes in it.
Build me one single, self-contained index.html file: a living dashboard for my week. It holds exactly three things: my to-do list, a small notes area, and today's date. I can add to-dos, tick them off and delete them, and everything I type, ticks and notes alike, is saved between visits (use localStorage). Store all saved data under the single localStorage key "living-dashboard", and never change that key in later versions. Nothing else. No installs, no accounts, no external libraries. Everything lives in the one file. Follow this style guide exactly: [PASTE YOUR STYLE CARD HERE]
Some of that prompt is written for Claude, not for you. You never need to know what localStorage is. That is the point.
- 1
Copy the build prompt above.
- 2
Open a new chat in your own Claude and paste the prompt in. Do not send it yet.
- 3
Come back here and copy your style card from the gallery.
- 4
In the chat box, paste the style card over the bracket line, then send.
- 5
Download the file Claude gives you and save it anywhere you like. Your desktop is fine. Any name ending in .html works.
- 6
Double-click the file to open it in your browser. That is your dashboard, live.
Ask for one change
The first version is the floor, not the finish.
Ask for one change you actually want. A quote of the day. Your week’s meals. A reading list. Tell Claude in the same conversation, or if you have started a fresh chat, attach the file first: drag your dashboard file into the chat window so Claude can see what it is changing. Either way, add one line to the ask: keep my saved data working.
Notice what never drifts: the look. The style guide you picked is stored context in miniature. You decided once, and every rebuild respects it. That idea, deciding once and storing it, grows into the next step of the course.
Mine, in daily use
This is not a demo activity.
I organised my own desktop into exactly this: a single-file living dashboard of my to-dos and notes, built to a style guide I chose once. It is open in my browser every morning and I tick things off all day. When I want a change, I ask for it, and the style never drifts.
- One file: a dashboard that is yours, on your machine, with nothing to install and nobody to sign in to.
- One pick: the style card was your choice, and the build respected it exactly.
- One habit: when you want a change, you ask for it. Software you can talk to.
The style card is the quiet lesson: context you decide once and store shapes everything built after it.
Next step on the path: context is king, so stop retyping yourself and store yours in Give it the library → Want to put more of your real work through Claude first? The SOP Generator → is the quieter sibling on this step.