Weekly missive about AI for the weirdos and soulstars
Without the CS degree. Without the $50/month SaaS. Without the freelance developer. Without learning to code. Without waiting for someone else to build it for you.
“I felt like AI was for technical people, not for normies and creatives like me.
The terminal scared me. Now I'm building community gardens, client portals, onboarding flows, all during nap time. This course has absolutely changed my life.”
Carly Valancy Reach Out Party
“Your course was so good it ruined my life
(via the vibe-code frenzy that naturally comes when you realize everything is possible).”
Michael Dean Writer, Essay Architecture
Terminal, files, folders, paths — we demystify all of it. You'll be comfortable in places that used to feel intimidating.
Your computer is a database. Everything is a file. Claude reads and writes to your files. Once this clicks, you see possibilities everywhere.
Skills, commands, publishing flows, Creative HQ — real infrastructure you built yourself and own forever.
The hardest part is believing you can. By week 6, you won't need to believe it — you'll have proof.
Because AI tools break in weird, specific ways. And when they do, you need someone who's been there.
You're not just learning concepts. You're troubleshooting YOUR computer, YOUR projects, YOUR specific setup. That's impossible to script ahead of time.
Plus, building alone is lonely. You hit a wall, you think it's just you, you give up. Building with others who are figuring it out at the same time? Different energy. You see someone else stuck on the same thing and suddenly it's not "I'm bad at this," it's "oh, this part is just confusing."
And honestly, accountability. Courses you can pause sit on your desktop forever. Live sessions you actually show up to. That's worth more than any video library.
When Python throws an error you've never seen, or your terminal acts weird, or Claude does something confusing — we fix it together, right then.
Learning with 9 other people who are all figuring it out too. It's less scary when everyone's a beginner.
This isn't "follow along and build what I build." You're building YOUR thing. We help you get unstuck on YOUR ideas.
No "I'll watch this later" pile. Live sessions mean you show up, you build, you finish. That's how stuff gets made.
A command that reads your projects, tasks, and call transcripts — tells you what matters today. Stops the "what should I work on?" spiral before it starts.
One keyboard shortcut. Obsidian to live site in 3 seconds. No CMS, no friction, just words to world.
Personal content command center — raw thoughts to scheduled posts across Twitter, LinkedIn, Threads. Learns your voice so it sounds like you.
Generate PDFs, track payments, send reminders. Built for how my business actually works.
Build sequences, own your list, send on your schedule. No $50/month tool.
Batch rename hundreds of photos by date, project, or content. Saved hours of manual work.
Pull tasks from Zoom calls, add them straight to my task list.
A live web game — guess if images are AI or real. Built in an afternoon.
Emergency checklist that syncs between family members' phones in real time.
AI study app that focuses on your weak areas. Adapts as you learn.
Feed it a long piece, get 20 short versions. Learns your voice over time.
Runs at 6am. Syncs meetings, flags stale drafts, tells me what needs attention.
Post queue, engagement tracking, DM outreach — a full CMS for a client.
/negotiate, /life-cfo, /branding-coach — personal tools that know my context.
A silly SVG toy. Because sometimes you just want to build something fun.
Want more? See how I built any of these.
Real tools, real people, first cohort of the year.
Jordan Baum, a marketing agency owner, built a reporting dashboard and rolled it out to 5 clients in week one. Then she started building software to sell to other agencies.
Richelle D. built a system that triages her inbox, blocks her calendar, and writes weekly client reports. It took her from about 100 emails a day down to 3.
Alicia Kenworthy, a journalist, used Claude Code to pull an archived blog back from the Wayback Machine for a story she'd wanted to write for years, plus a personal life-organization HQ.
"There's so much hype & noise about Claude Code that it felt overwhelming to start, but Alex showed and taught me the magic in 30mins. It was insane. I haven't left the Terminal since we spoke 4 days ago and I've already vibecoded 5 web apps."
Becky Isjawara
"Trust me, Alex is the person you want to learn from, and this course is brilliant. I'm having a blast building all sorts of custom tools, and this has completely changed how I work. I'm already bringing some of these ideas to clients. I'm using it every morning. I feel like I have a sort of bossy-in-a-good-way coach who keeps me on track. It takes none of my shit!"
Rob Tourtelot
"In just a single hour with Alex, he helped me see that the entry point to using AI is about identifying your own curiosities, and going from there. Instead of feeling FOMO, Alex will guide you to use AI in a way that serves your creative interests."
Lawrence Yeo
"As a non-technical former founder it is incredibly gratifying to build things in minutes without hiring or explaining an idea to anyone else. Alex has spent way more time figuring it out and we all got the benefit from the speed of his learnings. Can't recommend this more highly."
Ann Wehren
"Halfway through the cohort, I built this analysis report using Claude Code. Still can't believe I made that."
Alex Chung
"Mind blown after watching Alex conceive and launch multiple apps in a single Zoom call. I ended up building so many apps that it made sense to build my own OS to contain everything. You'll learn all the basics so that you're only limited by what you can conceive."
Michael Dean
"Alex showed me how to completely automate my newsletter - typically takes me 3-4 hours a month, now it's down to 15 minutes. I'd never used Claude before. I'm not a coder. Insanely valuable and worth every penny."
Adam Tank
"Within the very first day of the C4C cohort, my mind was absolutely blown and I felt like I was on a rocket ship of possibilities. Within one week, I was rolling out a fully operational software that up-leveled my client experience by a mile. Alex made the somewhat scary world of Claude Code simple, fun, and creatively rooted."
Jordan Baum
"100% yes, doesn't matter who you are or where you are in your AI journey (including if you hate it and want to burn it to the ground). I've really become someone who can build shit, not just think about it. I'm more willing to fail at stuff than I've ever been."
Kristie Dickinson
"it's essential learning, you can't get this much education and training in this new AI world anywhere else, with this much love and humor. It's the BEST."
Lucy Barzun Donnelly
"Absolutely do the cohort. It will change your life... not only for your personal growth and confidence but also for your capability to deliver in your career."
Aaron Weiss
"It's the most fun course I've ever taken. (I've taken lots!). The empowerment that comes with experimenting with Claude is infectious. Everyone in my cohort can feel it. Alex's course sheds a ton of light on what feels mysterious, and the clarity that follows has really levelled up my confidence. I don't think this course would be half as effective if it wasn't Alex at the helm. He is so sincere and friendly in wanting you to be better at this stuff that there is not even a grain of doubt in anyone's mind how hard he is rooting for you. That's rare."Adil Zeshan
"Hi y'all. I came to class Monday. i have never opened a terminal and in 24 hours I built 6 things. All curiosity. No worrying just making."Alison Taffel-Rabinowitz
"What makes Code for Creatives so special is that it's not about being productive so much as being generative. It's a welcome mindset shift from the way most AI advice is 'this robot can hammer nails into boards really fast,' to more like, 'if you can describe your ideal life, you can build your dream house.' I was already using a lot of AI tools but spending time in C4C really encouraged and inspired me to be bolder."
Charlie Becker
"Would describe it as your brilliant friend takes you on a thrill ride of experimentation and unbridled creativity to get the robots to do your bidding and build all the systems and projects of your dreams."
Sara Campbell
"It actually ended up making me feel totally irreplaceable to go through the Claude design process. I didn't expect to have, like, tangible proof of that. I philosophically believed it, but I've even asked Claude, like, should I train you how to do this thing? And it's like, no, this part you should do yourself."
Jen Waldman
"I turned 70 this week, and it's very late in life to be doing entrepreneurial stuff, but I'm really... I'm just doing it."Eri Zeitz
"A spirited, fun way to dig into making things with Claude. Alex is a great teacher no matter what he's teaching, and comes at it from a 'we'll figure this out together in relative safety and nothing will blow up' kinda way."
Seth Werkheiser
"The easiest way to try Claude Code, understand its logic and potential, and start building awesome projects tailored to your specific wishes and needs. Super fun and eye-opening, no technical knowledge needed."
Nikita
"I would just say this course really helped me view AI not as some evil thing that's come to replace my creativity but as something that can handle the admin work and clear space for me to be creative."
Alicia Kenworthy
"When I started this, I had never coded anything before... I've spent the past 6 years being frustrated with that... I really just wanted to make something that would import my PDF bank statements into the spreadsheet we already use, so we can stop doing manual data entry. And I did it. It works. It was awesome... It costs, like, cents on the dollar every time I import a PDF. And it's not subscription-based."Marjan Verstappen
I'm a comedian, actor, and writer — not a developer. I was head of creative at Sublime and literally played a soviet hacker in a movie with Zoe Kravitz (the film Kimi). I've been building with Claude Code for about a year, hardcore for the last six months. Everything on this page is something I made for myself.
I write Both Are True, a best-selling humor newsletter with 18,000 subscribers. I've done one-on-one calls with creatives helping them get set up with this stuff. Now I'm teaching it as a cohort because the energy is better when people build together.
Starts mid-September 2026. Applications reviewed on a rolling basis.
Stuck on something? Want to go deeper? Book time with me directly. This isn't a course where you submit a ticket — you just message me and we get on a call.
Book a callStandalone tools I'm building — AI Chief of Staff, Creative HQ starter kit, and more. Cohort members get early access.
Claude Code runs in your terminal and can read and write files on your computer. ChatGPT can only chat — it's stuck in a browser window. Claude Code can actually BUILD things: create files, run scripts, deploy websites, manage your entire workflow. It's the difference between having a conversation about building something and actually building it.
No. You need to be comfortable typing in a terminal (we teach this). Claude writes the code. You describe what you want. The skill is knowing what you want and being able to describe it clearly — that's a creative skill, not a technical one.
You might just be a hacker and not know it. AND ALSO no, you can run Claude Code entirely and locally from your Claude desktop app.
Cursor and Windsurf are for developers who write code and want AI to speed them up. Code for Creatives is for people who DON'T code and want to build their own tools anyway. Different audience, different goal.
Cowork is training wheels. Claude Code is the bike. Cowork gives you one folder, guardrails, a friendly GUI. Great for starting. But the gap between the easy version and the powerful version never closes — it just moves. If you want to build real infrastructure that YOU own, you need Claude Code. We teach you how.
No! We primarily use Claude but all of the ideas are platform agnostic. Also I (Alex) have been using Codex a lot more lately and it's pretty sweet!
Nope. Writers, designers, podcasters, freelancers, small business owners — anyone who makes things and is tired of paying for software that doesn't quite work the way they want.
The tools will change. That's guaranteed. But the skills transfer: describing what you want clearly, iterating with AI, building systems that solve YOUR problems. Claude Code today, something else tomorrow — the mindset stays.
Honestly, yes. Two reasons why:
1. I teach meta skills that help you achieve the things you want to achieve with these tools.
2. I build the cohort WITH you, not FOR you, so we co-create it. If everyone wants to learn how to create an iOS app, we'll do that!
Cohort 4 starts mid-September 2026. Apply now. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.
Weekly missive about AI for the weirdos and soulstars.
I hate when these things go on forever. So instead, here are some cool photos of weird stuff I like.
