Building software · GPT

Build a home dinner-suggestion app without knowing how to code

Idea + starter prompt, not run by us yet

For: Non-coders who want a small app for their own household

A non-coder wrote down what she wanted, had ChatGPT turn it into a build prompt, and let ChatGPT's Codex app make a local web app in short milestones. The app proposes dinners using what is in the pantry and garden, plus diets, appliances and the weather. It took roughly 20 hours and two full rebuilds.

Steps

1. Write your feature list first. Keep it to what the household really needs.
2. Ask ChatGPT to turn the list into a build prompt, then give it to ChatGPT's Codex app or GPT's Codex CLI.
3. Ask for small milestones. Approve file and terminal permissions one at a time and test each milestone with your real data.
4. Make one request per round. Sending several at once led to bugs, and some were ignored.
5. Agree the scope before you start. Adding ad hoc features made the early versions buggy and slow.

Starter prompt

Trial first: make [10] made-up pantry items, [2] made-up diets and [3] made-up appliances in a new folder called [dinner-trial]. Build and test only against those. Do not open my real files.

I want a small web app that runs only on my own computer. It should suggest dinners from [what is in my pantry], [diets in my household] and [appliances I own]. Start with a short milestone plan and tell me what to test after each one. Show me the plan before you write any code.

Build one milestone, then stop and wait for my feedback. Stop and wait for my yes before you install anything, read my real data or open any permission. Showing me the result is not permission to go on. Do not ask for passwords.

Original post: beginningwithi.com · found via agentusecases.ai. Written up in our own words. We haven't run it, so test it on made-up data first.