The AI Starter Kit

What This Is

This guide gets you from zero to ready in about 20 minutes. Once you’re set up, you can follow along with any of my projects — generating images, building tools, automating workflows — without touching a line of code.

You’ll install three things. That’s it.

Step 1: Subscribe to Claude

What: Claude is the AI that does the work. It reads your briefs, writes the code, talks to other services, and delivers results.

Where: https://claude.ai

Which plan: Start with the Pro plan ($20/month). This gives you access to Claude Code, which is the tool that turns your plain-English briefs into working projects. The free tier won’t cut it.

What to do:

• Go to claude.ai and create an account
• Subscribe to the Pro plan
• That’s it for now — you don’t need to learn the chat interface yet

Step 2: Install Visual Studio Code

What: Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a free program where you’ll do all your work. Think of it as a workspace — one window where you can see your brief, your images, your videos, and the Claude Code panel where you talk to the AI.

Where: https://code.visualstudio.com

What to do:

• Download VS Code for your operating system (Mac, Windows, or Linux)
• Install it like any other application
• Open it once to make sure it runs

Don’t panic. VS Code looks like it’s for programmers because it is. But you’re going to use about 5% of what it can do. You need it for one thing: a place to run Claude Code and see your results.

Step 3: Install the Claude Code Extension

What: This connects Claude to VS Code so you can talk to it right inside your workspace.

What to do:

• Open VS Code
• Open the Extensions panel: click the icon in the left sidebar that looks like four small squares (or press Cmd+Shift+X on Mac, Ctrl+Shift+X on Windows)
• Search for “Claude Code” — make sure the publisher says Anthropic (there are unofficial knockoffs, skip those)
• Click Install
• Once installed, a new Spark icon appears in your sidebar — click it
• It will open your browser and ask you to authorize with your Claude account — click “Claude.ai Subscription” and authorize
• Back in VS Code, the Claude Code panel is now open and ready

Note: You need VS Code version 1.98.0 or newer. If you just downloaded VS Code in Step 2, you’re fine.

That’s your setup. You’re done.

Your First 5 Minutes With Claude Code

Open VS Code. Click the Spark icon in your sidebar to open the Claude Code panel.

Type something like:

“Create a folder called my-first-project. Inside it, create a file called CLAUDE.md with the following instructions: You are helping me generate AI images of a product. The product is [describe anything — a coffee mug, a pair of shoes, whatever you have nearby]. Generate 5 images of this product in a lifestyle setting.”

Claude Code will create the folder, create the file, and ask you if you’d like to proceed with generating images. Say yes. Watch what happens.

You just gave an AI a creative brief and it executed it. That’s the whole idea.

What’s a CLAUDE.md File?

This is the single most important concept in everything I write about.

CLAUDE.md is a plain text file where you write your brief — your standing instructions for a project. Think of it as the document you’d pin to the wall of a production office before a shoot. It tells Claude Code:

• What you’re building
• What the constraints are
• What tools or services to use (or to figure out on its own)
• What good results look like
• What to do with the results

Every project starts with this file. The better your brief, the better your results. You’re not hoping for the best. You’re defining what “best” means before you start.

You don’t have to write the perfect brief on your own. Describe what you want in plain language — even rough notes, bullet points, half-formed ideas. Then ask Claude Code to help you turn it into a proper CLAUDE.md. It’ll ask you the right questions: What’s the output format? What are the constraints? What does success look like? The brief is co-authored. You bring the vision, Claude brings the structure.

What Happens Next

You’re set up. Here’s how to use this with my articles:

Each week I publish a project — real work, real results, real costs. At the end of each article, there’s a “Try This Yourself” section with steps specific to that project. With this starter kit installed, you can follow along with any of them.

Quick Reference

What you need:

Claude Pro — claude.ai — $20/month

Visual Studio Code — code.visualstudio.com — Free

Claude Code Extension — search “Claude Code” by Anthropic in VS Code Extensions — Free (requires Claude Pro)

Need Help?

If you get stuck on any step, book a session and I’ll help you personally.

Don’t prompt and pray. Build deliberately.