BUILDWITHZACHINDEPENDENT BY DESIGN.WINNIPEG / WORKING EVERYWHERE
← All learning

BUILD 01 / SIX LESSONS · FULL SOURCE

From enquiry
to reviewed.

Build a small app that does one useful job: keep requests together and help a person decide the next step.

Start lesson 01 ↗Download source kit ↓
Bring

A code editor, a terminal, and Node.js 22.22 or newer.

Included

A complete MIT-licensed app, six tests, and six guided changes. No packages to install.

AI is optional

The app runs with rules for free. Live AI uses your own OpenAI key and has provider costs.

THE BUILD PATH

Make it work. Know why.

  1. 01

    Give your AI app one job

    Start a working enquiry app and define the one workflow you will learn to build.

  2. 02

    Save the enquiry before calling AI

    Learn server validation, persistent storage, concurrent writes, and safe retries in a small Node app.

  3. 03

    Add an AI draft you can verify

    Connect a server-side AI key, request structured output, and verify the draft against the original enquiry.

  4. 04

    Make review an explicit human action

    Protect the operator inbox and record a human review without pretending that a message was sent.

  5. 05

    Break the workflow before users do

    Test invalid input, provider errors, authentication, and persistence without paying for test AI requests.

  6. 06

    Deploy without losing the inbox

    Match a Node app to durable storage, configure secrets, and verify the deployed workflow after a restart.

TRY THE WORKFLOW / BROWSER PRACTICE

What would you
do with this?

This exercise uses visible keyword rules to suggest a category and a fixed review checklist. It does not call AI, save an inbox, or send a message. Use fictional text.

See the routing rules

First match wins: broken/error/bug/fail → Repair; email/spreadsheet/CRM/enquiry → Workflow; app/portal/prototype → App build. Everything else needs review. These simple rules can miss context.

For the actual form, saved records, operator login, and optional AI request, run the source kit on your computer.

Load an example:

A working teaching app with a defined scope.

One operator, one Node process, up to 500 records on a persistent disk. Review status never sends email. Sessions and rate limits reset on restart. Live AI quality has not been tested with a paid key; the supplied tests use provider fixtures. The deployment lesson explains what to verify before a real pilot.