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CORE & CODE
Free guide · AI and automation · 14 September 2026

I was paying €49 a month for an online studio. I built my own with Claude in 2 days.

By the end you'll have your own online studio: clients sign in from anywhere, answer 4 questions and get a class matched to how they feel. 2 evenings to build, 1 week of testing, then 5 minutes per new class.

← Back to all free guidesA free guide by Victoria BartonInstagram

I run a Pilates studio. Some of my clients travel a lot, some live here half the year, and all of them wanted to keep doing classes with me when they couldn't get to the studio. So I paid for an online platform. €49 a month, €588 a year, for a video library with a login on the front.

Then I built my own, with Claude, in 2 evenings. It does more than the one I was paying for. I'm not a developer. This guide gives you the whole route: which subscription to replace, the brief to paste, every account you'll open and what each costs, and what to do when something breaks. You can start smaller than I did.

Before you start: what you need

What you'll have at the end

Step 1: Pick the right thing to replace (10 minutes)

Not everything is worth building. Go down your subscriptions list and ask one question of each: is this really just a form, a list and a payment button?

Start with the smallest yes. A waitlist form is an afternoon. My online studio was 2 evenings. Your booking system might be a week. Win the small one first, then you'll believe the big one.

You'll know it worked when you can say in one sentence what the thing does, who uses it, and what it costs you today.

Step 2: Set up a Claude project and describe it like you'd tell a friend (20 minutes)

You don't write code. You describe. The trick is to make Claude interview you before it builds anything, so it finds the things you forgot.

  1. Open claude.ai. Click Projects in the left menu, then New project. Call it My online studio. A Project is a folder that remembers instructions for every chat inside it, so you never repeat yourself.
  2. Click Instructions (it may say Set project instructions). Paste this and click Save. These are the rules Claude follows in every chat.
Project instructions (once)I run a Pilates studio and I'm not a developer. You're helping me build something I own, to replace a tool I pay for monthly. Rules for you, in every chat: - Explain every technical word in plain English the first time you use it. - Use the simplest tools that work. Tell me what each piece is for and what it costs per month. - Build one piece at a time. Don't start the next piece until I've told you the last one works on my phone. - Give me each file with its exact name and where it goes. Tell me which button to click, step by step, as if I've never seen the screen. - Never ask me to paste a secret key into this chat. Tell me which box in Vercel to paste it into instead. - When something breaks, I'll paste the error. Tell me what to do, don't assume I know. - At the end of every session, when I say "write the notes", give me a short plain-English summary: what's built, what's next, what accounts exist. I'll save it here.
  1. Now click New chat inside the project and paste this, with your own description in the middle.
Prompt: the build briefI want to replace a tool I pay for monthly with something I own. Before you build anything, interview me: ask me one question at a time until you understand exactly what it needs to do, who uses it, and what happens when they use it. Here's what it's for, in my words: [describe it like you'd tell a friend. Example: my clients should sign in without a password, answer 4 quick questions about how they feel today, and get one class picked for them plus 2 alternatives. They pay me monthly. I add classes by pasting a video link.] Keep asking until you know: the one problem this replaces; the minimum first version; user roles; login method; payments and cancellations; where videos or files live; what data is stored; what happens when something fails; mobile requirements; accessibility needs; expected number of users; current monthly cost; budget; and which services I already use. Do not assume I need a custom app. Compare the simplest credible options, including keeping the current tool, using a no-code service and building a small owned system. When you have enough, before writing any code, give me: 1. A one-paragraph definition of the minimum version and what is deliberately left out. 2. Three possible approaches with setup cost, monthly cost, ownership, maintenance, limits and the main risk of each. 3. Your recommendation in plain English and why it fits my answers. 4. The exact pieces it uses, what each does and current pricing links that I can verify. 5. The build order, with a test after every stage. 6. The accounts I need, their official websites and what information each receives. 7. Security, privacy, backups and cancellation/export considerations. Do not invent pricing or claim a service supports something without checking its current official documentation. Then wait for me to choose an approach and say “go”.
  1. Answer its questions honestly. "I don't know" is a fine answer. It'll suggest something and you say yes or no.
  2. When it shows the list of pieces, say "go". If anything on the list has a monthly cost you didn't expect, ask "is there a free option for this?" first.

You'll know it worked when Claude gives you a plain-English list of pieces, costs and accounts before writing a single line of code.

If it doesn't: it starts building straight away. Say "stop. List the pieces and costs first, then wait for go."

Step 3: Open the accounts and paste in the keys (30 minutes)

Every online platform, including the one I was paying for, is 4 or 5 things bolted together. Claude will tell you exactly which ones and when. Here's what mine are, so nothing sounds scary when it comes up. Each one hands you a key: a long code from its settings page that lets your site talk to that service. Copy it, paste it where Claude says, done. That's the most technical thing you'll do.

  1. Somewhere the videos live: Vimeo. At vimeo.com, click New video, then Upload. When it's up, open the video, click Settings, then Privacy, and choose Unlisted, so only people with the link can watch and it never shows on Vimeo's own site. Copy the video link. That link is all Claude needs.
  2. Somewhere members sign in: Supabase. At supabase.com, click Start your project and sign up. Click New project, give it a name, choose a database password (write it down), pick the region nearest you, click Create new project. Wait 2 minutes. Then click the gear icon (Project Settings), then API. You'll see Project URL and a key labelled anon public. Those 2 are safe to paste into the chat. Members get a "magic link" by email, click it, and they're in. No passwords to forget.
  3. Somewhere the money happens: Stripe. At stripe.com, click Start now and sign up. It asks for your business details and bank account for payouts. That takes a day to verify, so do it first. Then click Product catalogue, then Add product. Name it Online studio, choose Recurring, Monthly, type your price, click Save product. Then click Developers, then API keys. The Publishable key is safe to share. The Secret key (click Reveal) goes into Vercel only, in step 5 below.
  4. Somewhere the files live: GitHub. At github.com, click Sign up. Then click the green New button (or New repository). Name it online-studio, choose Private, click Create repository. A repository is just a folder on the internet that remembers every version of every file.
  5. Somewhere the site lives: Vercel. At vercel.com, click Sign up, then Continue with GitHub. Click Add New, then Project, then Import next to online-studio, then Deploy. To paste in a secret key: open the project, click Settings, then Environment Variables. Claude tells you the exact name to type in the Key box. Paste the key in the Value box, click Save. After adding keys, click Deployments, the 3-dot menu on the top one, then Redeploy.

You'll know it worked when Vercel shows you a link ending in .vercel.app and it opens on your phone, even if it's just a blank page with your studio name on it.

If it doesn't: Vercel shows red text under Build Logs. Copy all of it, paste it to Claude, say "fix this". Never paste a secret key into the chat. If you have by accident, go to Stripe, API keys, click the 3 dots next to the key, Roll key, and use the new one.

Step 4: Build, test on your phone, paste the error (2 evenings)

Claude builds in this order for an online studio, one piece at a time: sign in by email link, then one video page, then the 4 questions and the matching, then the Stripe payment, then your admin page. For each piece:

  1. Claude gives you a file with its exact name. Click Download on it, or click Copy.
  2. In GitHub, open online-studio, click Add file, then Upload files. Drop the file in, click Commit changes. Vercel notices and rebuilds by itself in about a minute.
  3. Open your .vercel.app link on your phone, because that's where your clients will be. Click everything. Try to break it.
  4. Something's wrong? Tell it in plain words: "the sign-in button does nothing". Something broke with a scary message? Copy the whole message, paste it, say "fix this". That's genuinely the whole skill.
  5. When a piece works, say so, and it moves to the next one.
  6. At the end of each evening say "write the notes". Copy what it gives you into the project's Instructions, under the rules. Tomorrow it knows where you are.

Studio owners already do this. You've set up a booking system, a payment link, a website builder, a mailing list, and none of it came with a person. This is the same thing, with a much better assistant.

You'll know it worked when, on your phone, you can sign in with a link from your email, pay with Stripe's test card (4242 4242 4242 4242, any future date, any 3 digits), answer 4 questions, and watch a class.

If it doesn't: the sign-in email never arrives. Check spam first. If it's not there, see the snag about Supabase emails below.

Step 5: Let 3 clients in first (1 week)

  1. Don't announce it. Give 3 friendly regulars free access for a week and ask them to text you anything confusing. Fix those things with Claude. You'll find the 2 things you'd never have thought of, and you'll find them before 40 people do.
  2. Switch the money on. In Stripe, turn off the Test mode switch (top right). Click Developers, then API keys, copy the live Publishable key and live Secret key. In Vercel, Settings, Environment Variables, replace the test ones with the live ones, Save, then Redeploy.
  3. Pay for a month yourself with your own card. Then cancel your old platform.
  4. Now tell everyone. One newsletter, one Google post. If you've done the newsletter guide, that's Monday's 3 questions sorted.

You'll know it worked when your own payment shows in Stripe under Payments, and a client you didn't hand-hold signs in and watches a class.

If something goes wrong

€49 a month gone. And a class that runs when I'm not in the room.

Keep it alive

Why I'm telling you this

When I moved studios, my website and Google listing were in tatters, and I was paying monthly for tools that did less than I thought. I've spent 12 years in tech and 9 years running a studio, and I'd still put "build it myself" in the box marked not for people like me. It was. New clients now say "I found you on Google" or "ChatGPT recommended you", and the ones who travel keep paying me from wherever they are. The €49 was never the point. The point is what you'd do with it: train your team, take a week off, or honestly, go and do Pilates yourself for once.

Go deeper

Don't want to do this yourself?

I set this all up for you, start to finish. Tell me which subscription you want gone. I build the replacement, open the accounts with you, connect the payments, move your clients over, and hand you a page of plain-English notes on how to run it. You get it working, with nothing left for you to figure out.

Email me and I'll set it up

Put "BUILT" in the subject and your studio's website address in the email. I'll reply with what it costs and when I can start. No call to book.

Victoria, Core and Code

Building things is fun. Being found is what fills classes.

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