Leveraging AI

Stuck? Start here.

Run one prompt. It tells you exactly where you are and what to do next.

Before you ask for help: run Step 1 below and send me the result. That way I know exactly where you are and can give you the fix straight away.

1 Run this first

Paste this into Claude Code in VS Code, with your project folder open. It only looks, it changes nothing.

Copy → paste into Claude
Context: I'm building a subscription learning platform. My stack is a GitHub repo, VS Code with Claude Code, Vercel for deployment, and Supabase for database and auth connected to Claude via MCP. Check where I am against that setup. Look at this project and tell me exactly where I am. Check each of these and show me the evidence for each, don't guess: (1) is this a real git repo connected to GitHub, (2) can I actually push to it, (3) is there a page built, (4) how many Vercel projects exist, which is this folder linked to, and are any of them duplicates of the same repo, (5) is Supabase set up locally (.env.local, client installed, MCP configured) and what project ref, (6) are those same Supabase keys also set on Vercel, (7) is there a login built, and has it actually been pushed and deployed, (8) is all my local code pushed to GitHub. Don't change or delete anything. End with: what stage am I at, and what's the single next thing I should do.
👉 Claude will ask permission a lot. Just click Approve / Yes to everything. It's only reading, not changing.

2 Send me the result

Copy what Claude says back and post it in the community (or send it to me). That report tells me your exact stage, so I can point you straight at the fix instead of guessing.

3 Run the fix I point you to

I'll tell you which prompt below to run. They're all here, so you don't have to wait on me to type anything.

The fix prompts

GitHub authentication (so Claude can save your work)
Copy → paste into Claude
Set up GitHub authentication so you can save and push my work for me. Install whatever is needed, walk me through logging in, make all reasonable choices yourself, and don't stop to ask me questions. Tell me when I'm authenticated.
My work isn't showing up on my live site

This is the most common one. Your code is on your computer but was never pushed, so your live site has never seen it.

Copy → paste into Claude
Is all my local work actually pushed to GitHub and deployed? Tell me what branch I'm on, whether there are uncommitted changes sitting here, and whether my latest work has been pushed and deployed to my live site. Show me the evidence. If anything is unpushed, commit and push it, then confirm the deploy.
Deploy to Vercel
Copy → paste into Claude
Deploy this to Vercel. If I don't have Node or the Vercel CLI installed, install whatever is needed first. Make all reasonable choices yourself, don't stop to ask me what to do, and when you're finished, give me the live URL.
I have duplicate projects on Vercel / I don't know which one is real

Happens when the same repo gets imported into Vercel more than once. They're the same site with different URLs.

Copy → paste into Claude
I have several projects on Vercel and I don't know which one is real. Don't delete or change anything yet. Use the Vercel CLI, not the MCP integration. Tell me which Vercel account I'm logged into, list all my projects, and for each one tell me which GitHub repo it's connected to, whether it has a working live URL, what framework Vercel detected, and whether it has Supabase environment variables. Then tell me which is my real project and which are duplicates, and explain how you decided.
👉 To delete a duplicate: open it in Vercel → Settings → scroll to the very bottom → Delete Project. Safe. It never touches your code or your GitHub repo.
My site works on my computer but the login/database is broken live

Your Supabase keys live in .env.local, which is (correctly) never uploaded. So Vercel doesn't have them.

Copy → paste into Claude
Do I have Supabase set up? Check whether this project has Supabase keys in a local .env file, whether the Supabase client is installed, and whether any code references Supabase. Then check whether those same keys are set on my Vercel project. Tell me: have I set Supabase up and just never added the keys to Vercel, or have I never set it up at all? Don't change anything.
👉 If the keys are only local, add them in Vercel → your project → Settings → Environment Variables. Open .env.local, and for each line the part before the = is the Key, the part after is the Value. Check Production, Preview, and Development. Then redeploy, env vars only apply to new deployments.
Connect Supabase (the database)
Copy → paste into Claude
Connect this project to Supabase so my app has a real database. Walk me through creating the project and getting my keys, set up the connection, install whatever is needed, and make all reasonable choices yourself. Don't ask me questions you can answer on your own. Tell me when it's connected.
⚠️ In Vercel's Supabase Marketplace, do not click "Create a Supabase project as a Vercel Storage resource" if you already have a Supabase project. That makes a brand-new empty database and your app will connect to nothing. Choose Connect Account and pick your existing project.
Add a login
Copy → paste into Claude
Add a login to my app using Supabase. I want to be able to sign up, log in, and log out, and I want the account to show up in my database. Build the whole thing, make all reasonable choices yourself, and don't ask me questions. When you're done, commit and push so it goes live.
My login redirects to localhost instead of my real site

Two things control this, and Claude can only fix one of them.

Copy → paste into Claude
After someone signs up or confirms their email, they get redirected to localhost instead of my live site. Fix the redirect in my code to point at my live URL, then tell me exactly what I need to change in my Supabase dashboard settings to allow it. Then commit and push so it goes live.
👉 You must also update Supabase: Authentication → URL Configuration. Set Site URL to your live URL, and add your live URL to the Redirect URLs allow-list (keep http://localhost:3000/** so local work still runs). Supabase silently ignores any redirect that isn't on that list.
Claude says a command is "not recognized" or "not found"
This almost always means the tool did install, but it landed in a folder your terminal doesn't check yet (its PATH), so the terminal can't find it. It's a find-it problem, not a broken install. Restarting sometimes helps, but for a fix that sticks, use your platform's section below: 🍎 Mac only or 🪟 Windows only.
Claude keeps asking me to approve things
That's normal and safe. Say Yes / Approve to everything so it can keep working. If it offers "don't ask again for this command," take it.
My deploy failed but nothing looks wrong

Sometimes it's Vercel, not you. Check vercel-status.com for an active incident before troubleshooting your own code.

Copy → paste into Claude
My deploy failed. Show me the build log and tell me the exact error and what caused it. Check whether this is my code, my config, or a Vercel platform incident. Don't fix anything yet, just tell me what's wrong.

🍎 Mac only

After installing, it says "zsh: command not found: claude"

The install worked. The Mac terminal (zsh) only searches certain folders for commands, and the one the installer used (~/.local/bin) isn't on that list yet, so it can't find claude. Reinstalling won't help, it goes back to the same folder. This is the real fix.

👉 Permanent fix, paste this once, then open a fresh terminal (or run source ~/.zshrc). After this, claude works in every terminal for good:
Paste into the terminal (one time)
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
👉 Just need it working in the window you're in right now? This lasts only for that one terminal:
Paste into the terminal (this window only)
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

🪟 Windows only

After installing, it says "claude is not recognized"

The install worked, Windows just can't find the command yet. In the same terminal, paste this and press Enter (nothing visible happens, that's normal), then type claude again:

Paste into the terminal (PowerShell)
$env:Path = "$env:USERPROFILE\.local\bin;" + $env:Path
👉 To fix it permanently so this never happens again, paste this once, then open a fresh terminal:
Paste into the terminal (one time)
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path","User") + ";$env:USERPROFILE\.local\bin", "User")
After installing GitHub CLI, it says "gh is not recognized"

This one is different from the claude fix above, don't use the .local\bin command here. GitHub CLI (gh) installs to its own location, and Windows only picks up that new location in a fresh terminal. The install worked, your current terminal is just too old to see it.

The fix: close your terminal and open a new one (Terminal → New Terminal), or reload VS Code (Ctrl+Shift+P → "Developer: Reload Window"). Then type gh --version to confirm it's found.

👉 If it's still not recognized after a fresh terminal, fully quit VS Code with File → Exit and reopen it, that forces Windows to reload the PATH. Reinstalling won't help; it lands in the same place.
The install command from the video won't work ("bash is not recognized")

That command is the Mac version. On Windows (PowerShell), use this one instead, in the same terminal:

Paste into the terminal (PowerShell)
irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iex
👉 If it's blocked by an "execution policy" error, run this first, then re-run the install:
Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Bypass
The Claude chat panel can't see Supabase, but the terminal says Connected
The chat panel and the terminal are separate. If the terminal's /mcp shows supabase connected but the chat can't see it, close VS Code completely and reopen it (or Ctrl+Shift+P → "Developer: Reload Window"). Then start a fresh chat and try again.
The Supabase login popup won't open, or shows "connection error" (Windows)
When you run /mcp → Authenticate, Ctrl+click the link in the terminal to open it. After you approve in the browser, if it shows a "connection error" page, that's normal, copy the full URL from the browser's address bar and paste it back at the URL > prompt in the terminal, then Enter. If it says "unrecognized client ID," press Esc and run /mcp Authenticate again, logged into the Supabase account that owns your project.
The one rule that prevents most of this: a change on your computer is not a change on your site. If you built it and can't see it live, you almost certainly haven't pushed it.