How I built 62 free tools in a month using Claude Code + a loop script
The system in a nutshell
Each tool lives in its own folder with two plan files before any code is written:
BRIEF.md— the spec: keyword, pain point, H1, meta description, CTA, FAQ topics (~30 lines).PLAN_L1.md— step-by-step build instructions for the agent.
Folder structure example:
app-factory/ bpm-finder/ BRIEF.md PLAN_L1.md app/ ← Vite source
lyric-rhyme-finder/ BRIEF.md PLAN_L1.md app/
The 3-layer build
Layer 1 — SEO Shell (under 1 hour): static HTML with real FAQ content, proper meta/OG tags, a placeholder for the tool. Crawlable before JavaScript loads.
Layer 2 — Minimum Viable Tool (1-3 hours): one input → one output. Core functionality only, no polish, no edge cases.
Layer 3 — only after Google Search Console confirms search impressions. No point polishing something nobody searches for.
Ralph — the autonomous agent loop
Ralph is a shell script that runs Claude Code in a loop. It reads the plan file, executes step by step, and stops when it sees RALPH_DONE in the progress file.
# Run one tool autonomously
ralph ./bpm-finder/PLAN_L1.md
Ralph logs everything to PROGRESS.md. You can leave it running and check in later.
Ralph loop scripts are available from GitHub: portableralph and the original concept at how-to-ralph-wiggum.
cook.sh — run multiple tools in parallel
Once you have 3-5 tools briefed and planned, run cook.sh. It launches a separate Ralph instance for each tool in the background.
./cook.sh
🍳 Starting cook — 5 tools in parallel
🔥 Starting bpm-finder... PID 8421 — logs at bpm-finder/cook.log
🔥 Starting lyric-rhyme-finder... PID 8422 — logs at lyric-rhyme-finder/cook.log
Next morning, check progress: grep 'layer1_done: true' app-factory/*/BRIEF.md
Deploy
Each tool is a Vite build. Deploy individually to Vercel, then wire them into a hub via vercel.json rewrites. The hub proxies the tool at /tool-name/ — both domains get SEO credit.
Example live tool: Drum Machine
Results
- Layer 1 shell: ~45 minutes agent-time
- Layer 2 working tool: ~2 hours agent-time
- Personal time per tool: ~15 minutes (reviewing, not writing)
- 30-day stats: 2,140 views, 254 users, 69 CTA clicks (~1 click per 31 visits)
Tools built
Music tools (BPM finder, Suno metatag explorer, lyric rhyme finder), design tools (background remover, color palette generator, QR code generator). All free, all live.
📖 Read the full source: r/ClaudeAI
👀 See Also
Non-Coder Builds AI Prompt Diagnostic Framework with Claude Over Many Sessions
A non-coder built SMARRT, a diagnostic framework that audits AI prompts before generation, entirely through conversational collaboration with Claude over many months.
Benchmark vs. Production: When AI Agent Tests Pass but Real Workflows Fail
A developer switched production AI agents from Claude Sonnet to cheaper Grok and MiniMax models after they passed benchmark tests, but both failed in production due to operational reliability issues not covered by the benchmarks.
Replicating Anthropic's Generator-Evaluator Harness with Kiro CLI: A 12-Iteration Website Build
A developer replicated Anthropic's multi-agent Generator-Evaluator harness using Kiro CLI, running 12 adversarial iterations to build a marketing website without writing any code manually. Key takeaways include zero shared context, Playwright-based visual evaluation, and penalizing generic AI design patterns.
Claude Code Agents Negotiate API Contracts Without Orchestration Framework
Two Claude Code agents negotiated API contracts peer-to-peer using only two messaging tools and system prompts, agreeing on endpoint shapes, response formats, and CORS headers before writing code. The bridge implementation is ~190 lines of TypeScript with WebSocket broker and MCP channels.