Introduction

Starta is a starter kit for your own work app: a small app for your own job, with your goals, your tasks and the people you work with in one place. You build it by talking to Claude in the Code tab of the Claude desktop app. You say what you want in plain words; Claude changes the app and its data and tells you what it did. You do not write code or type commands. Your app is running in about ten minutes.

Who it is for#

People at a tech company who are not developers: customer success, sales, marketing, operations, people teams. You know your job and what you are measured on. You do not need to know how to code.

You hold every role in your app: you own it, run it, build it and use it. Nobody has to build it for you, and a change you want takes minutes, not a request to another team.

What you need#

• The Claude desktop app with its Code tab, on a plan that includes Claude Code.
• Node.js 20.12 or later and git, two free programs: Node.js runs the app, and git fetches it and keeps saved versions of your work. Claude can check whether you have them.

Start here

How it goes#

1. Pick a look in Create. Create is a web page where you choose the theme, colour, font and logo. It shows your app as you pick.
2. Paste the prompt into Claude. Create writes a short message for Claude. You paste it into the Code tab, and Claude makes the app, starts it and opens it in your browser.
3. Tell Claude who you are. Claude interviews you about your role and what you are measured on, and fills in About and Goals from your answers.

What you start with#

The app’s sidebar has five modules. A module is an entry in the sidebar, with its own screen and its own data:

• Tasks: what you have to do, as a list you tick off. The app opens here.
• People: who you work with, as a table.
• Goals: what you are measured on, as cards with a value, a target and a date.
• Wiki: how the app works, a short course, and what you learn about your work.
• About: your role, written by Claude after it interviews you.

Each one starts with example data for a made-up customer success manager at Brightlane, so you can see how it works before you add your own.

Settings has a page for each module, and Appearance, where the theme, colour, font and logo live.

How it works#

• Your data is files you own. Each module keeps its data in one file in your app’s folder, such as tasks.json or about.md. There is no database and no account to sign in to.
• Claude keeps them current. You can change a row on screen, or ask Claude: “Add Maya Okafor to People.” Claude writes the file, and the open page reloads by itself within a few seconds.
• The screens are yours to change. Ask for a new column, a new view or a whole new module, such as Partners. Claude changes the app and tells you what changed on screen.
• It runs on your computer. The app runs at http://localhost:9950 while you work. localhost means “this computer”; 9950 is the port, the number the app answers on.

The rules it keeps#

These are written into the app’s instructions for Claude (its CLAUDE.md file), so Claude follows them without being asked.

• Content before code. Claude changes module files, data files and wiki pages first. It touches the app’s own code only when that cannot do the job.
• About comes from you. Claude fills in About only by interviewing you, never from guesses.
• Plain words. Claude explains each change in plain words, says what changed on screen, and suggests one next thing to try.
• Every change is checked. After changing code, Claude runs the checks, and fixes what fails before you look.

Your data and Claude#

The app and your data stay on your computer: the app runs there, and there is no Starta server in between. Claude is different: it runs at Anthropic, and it sees what it works with: your data files, your wiki pages, what you tell it, and the files it writes. So keep your app to work notes, nothing sensitive, and follow your company’s rules for AI tools. Anthropic’s own terms are in its Privacy Policy and Commercial Terms.

Next#