GeekThangs Start a Project

Ask for a tool, get a working one

Artifacts are the difference between AI describing a thing and AI handing you the thing. Ask for a calculator and a working calculator opens beside the chat. Ask for a checklist, a price sheet, a simple web page: same deal.

Some answers should not be paragraphs

Ask a chat tool how to calculate deposits and you get an explanation. Ask it for a deposit calculator and, in Claude, you get an artifact: a real, working page in a panel next to the conversation. You can use it, ask for changes in plain English, and share it with a link.

Artifacts work on Claude's free plan, so everything on this page is something you can go and do this afternoon.

Five asks that come back as things

  • A deposit calculator you can hand a client: job total in, deposit and balance out, big and readable on a phone.
  • A job-site checklist your crew can tap through, that resets itself for the next job.
  • A clean one-page price sheet from the messy notes you currently quote from.
  • Paste in a spreadsheet and get a chart you can actually show someone.
  • A simple one-page website draft for your business, live enough to click around and react to.

Canvas: the same idea, tuned for writing

Artifacts, in Claude

Strongest for working mini-tools: calculators, checklists, interactive pages, charts. The thing appears beside the chat and you refine it by talking. Available on the free plan.

Canvas, in ChatGPT

Opens a document or code file side by side with the chat, and you both edit it directly. Strongest for writing you want to shape together: a proposal, a tricky email, a services page. Also on the free plan.

Rough rule: want a thing that works, ask Claude for an artifact. Want a document you will edit line by line, open a canvas in ChatGPT.

Your first artifact, in the next five minutes

Copy this, paste it into Claude (free, quick sign-in), and swap the highlighted parts for your business. Then change anything you like by just asking. 

Make me a simple, good-looking interactive page: a [DEPOSIT CALCULATOR] for my [KIND OF BUSINESS].

What it should do:
- Inputs: [JOB TOTAL, AND DEPOSIT PERCENT WITH 30 AS THE DEFAULT].
- Show the deposit amount and the remaining balance, big and readable.
- It will mostly be used on a phone, so keep it to one screen with large touch-friendly controls.

Keep the design clean and plain: no clutter, no fake logos. When you are done, tell me in one sentence how to share it.

The [highlighted] parts are your blanks. Swap them after you paste.

The other big unlocks

One page per idea, each a five-minute read. Together they are the difference between trying AI and actually using it.

AI in Your Files Chat gives you answers. Cowork and Codex hand you finished files: sorted photos, built spreadsheets, drafted letters. Skills Teach AI a whole job once, in plain English. After that the entire thing runs from one short line. AI on a Schedule A morning briefing, a weekly competitor check, post drafts every Friday. Set it once and it shows up on its own. Deep Research Send AI off to read dozens of sources and come back with a cited report. Minutes for it, a Saturday saved for you. Claude Design A flyer, a pitch deck, or a simple website that looks professionally made, from a conversation.

Brand new to AI? Begin with the five-minute primer, or see the whole Start here series in one place.