The stack
- Cursor edits the files
- GitHub remembers the files
- Vercel turns the files into a URL
Why, not just the buttons
Three jobs on the same files. Cursor edits. GitHub remembers. Vercel turns them into a URL. Claude is not the fourth tool. Claude is the on-ramp.
A vault with history. Not a social network for developers.
A repo is a project folder with a time machine. A commit is a save you can explain later. A push means that save lives on GitHub, not only on your laptop.
Chat scrolls die. Google Docs get overwritten. A repo keeps every version, with a sentence about why it changed.
You need Git on your computer to talk to GitHub. Git is the local tool. GitHub is the cloud vault. Cursor can run Git in the terminal. It cannot replace Git.
.gitignore is the fence. It tells Git what never leaves your laptop. That is how you keep secrets, junk, and private ops notes off the internet.
If you skip GitHub, you will lose work, you cannot collaborate, and Vercel has nothing to publish.
An editor that can read and edit a real folder.
You open a folder. That folder is the project. You give a job, a file, and a definition of done. Cursor proposes a diff, which is a list of what it wants to change. You accept only what you understand.
That last sentence is the whole skill. Blind-accepting a 40-file change is how people break their own business.
Cursor is where the stack gets fast. Same folder, next change, next commit, next live URL. You do not copy-paste a novel out of a chat window and hope it still works. You iterate on the real files.
You will need two things installed so Cursor can finish the loop:
Cursor will not install those by magic. Step 02 on start-here.html is a required prompt. Everyone pastes it. Cursor checks both versions, installs what is missing, then you confirm both print a number.
This is the tool I actually use. Chat cannot replace it once you need a file changed.
The stage. It turns a GitHub repo into a URL.
You sign in with GitHub. You import this repo. You deploy. Production is the URL you send a client. Preview is the URL you check before you send it.
If it is not deployed, it is a story.
Secrets do not live in the code. They live in environment variables.
.env.example is the list of names. Safe to commit. Empty values..env.local is the real keys on your laptop. Never committed. Never pasted into chat.The starter page needs no keys. Learn the pattern now so you do not leak a token later.
If you skip Vercel, nobody can click what you built.
The business lives next to the code, and none of it ships.
This folder comes with five folders: marketing, sales, fulfillment, finance, operations. That is the whole business in five words, and it is how I actually stay organized.
.gitignore has one line, workspace/, so everything you write in there stays on your laptop. Your pricing, your call notes, your runway math. None of it reaches GitHub or the live URL.
The reason to keep it in the same folder as the code is leverage. Cursor can read those notes. You stop re-explaining your business in every new chat. You point at a file instead.
If something in there needs to be public, you move it out of workspace/ first. See workspace/guide.html.
Claude is the common one. People already have a tab open. That is why we compare it here.
Claude is a rented writing brain in a browser. You talk. It answers. You can save a Project and keep context. It is strong on long writing, taste, briefs, and reviews. If you are not ready to open an editor, start there. Then come back.
Cursor is a rented pair of hands on your files. You open the folder. It edits. You review. Then GitHub remembers and Vercel ships. That is how one person grows a page into a system without starting over in a new chat every week.
I am biased toward Cursor. Not because Claude is weak. Because Claude stops at the draft, and this program is about leverage. Cursor is the one that ramps. First a headline. Then a page. Then a repo you own. Then tools you can keep shipping.
| Claude | Cursor | |
|---|---|---|
| Start | Open a tab. No install. | Install Cursor, Git, and Bun. First hour is slower. |
| Strength | Writing, taste, long threads, briefs. | Editing real files. Speed after the first setup. |
| Output | Text you copy. | A diff in your repo. |
| Memory | The chat, or a Project. Scrolls fade. | The repo. Commits stay. |
| Live URL | No. | Yes, once GitHub and Vercel are connected. |
| Risk | You binge drafts and never ship. | You accept a bad diff without reading it. |
| Growth | Stays a thinking partner. | Same tool from a landing page to an operating system. |
Use Claude to think. Use Cursor to ship. If you only pick one for this program, pick Cursor. You can still open Claude when the words have to be good.
If Claude is where you want to start, do not freestyle it. claude-first.html is the actual route: three prompts, then a handoff into Cursor, plus the exact signals that mean you have outgrown the tab.
That is the install. The next drops go deeper on each tool. Do not wait for those to get live.