AI Coding & App Building for SMBs · Build with AI
AI Coding in VS Code, Cursor, Claude Code, and Codex
Direct IDE-based AI coding tools with a technical partner or as a power user - reviewing generated code by business criteria without reading every line.
10 lessons · 385 minutes
Before starting: Completed App Backlog basics in AI Coding for Non-Technical Business Owners · Hands-on experience building at least one internal tool with an AI app builder
Start courseWhat you walk away with
- Decide when a project outgrows an app builder and moves to an IDE coding tool
- Run guided workflows in VS Code with GitHub Copilot and repo-aware sessions in Cursor plan mode
- Delegate agentic tasks to Claude Code and Codex, then review the output against business criteria without reading every line
- Refactor an existing codebase with AI and integrate the result with your existing systems
- Manage usage credits, token limits, and team billing so AI coding costs stay predictable
- A build-ready app spec you can export to Lovable, Base44, Cursor, or Claude Code. Every artifact saves to your workspace, so you keep it after the course ends.
- A knowledge-check quiz and a visual walkthrough inside every one of the 10 lessons, about 6 hours of guided work.
- Most lessons close with a checklist, template, or do-it-this-week task, so progress shows up in your work, not just in the app.
When to Move from an App Builder to an IDE Coding Tool
Assess whether you are ready for IDE coding tools and understand what a technical partner means in practice for this course.
GitHub Copilot and VS Code: Setup and First Workflows
Set up VS Code and GitHub Copilot, open your exported Lovable project, and make your first AI-assisted code change.
Cursor: Repo-Aware AI and Plan Mode for Non-Developers
Set up Cursor, understand its repo-wide context advantage, and use Plan Mode as a safe review-before-execute workflow.
Claude Code: Agentic Coding and What 'Running on Your Repo' Means
Understand what makes Claude Code different from Copilot and Cursor, what agentic means in practice, and how to direct it safely with a technical partner.
OpenAI Codex: Delegating Tasks and Managing the Output
Understand OpenAI Codex as a task-delegation agent, where it fits in your AI coding toolkit, and how to evaluate its outputs.
Prompting for Code vs. Prompting for Apps: What's Different
Understand the shift from app-builder prompts to code-level prompts, with concrete examples of the same requirement expressed for each tool family.
Reviewing AI-Generated Code Without Reading Every Line
Review AI-generated code changes using business criteria and diff reading - identifying red flags that require your technical partner's attention before deployment.
Refactoring and Iterating an Existing Codebase with AI
Use Cursor's repo-wide context to implement business changes that span multiple files - pricing logic, renamed features, evolving data fields - with a safe plan-review-execute workflow.
Integrating AI-Coded Tools with Your Existing Systems
Connect AI-generated code to REST APIs, webhooks, email services, and databases using IDE tools - extending your app beyond what app builders can configure.
Cost Management: Usage Credits, Token Limits, and Team Billing
Understand token-based pricing, why long agentic sessions cost more, how to set spending limits, and the monthly budget framework that keeps AI coding costs predictable.