You can still make your own gadgets even if you don’t know how to program: The seven-day challenge camp invites you to do it once

In work and life, you may have had such thoughts.

Every time I make a quotation for a different customer, I have to pull up the formula again. I think it would be great if there was a small web page that could automatically calculate the quotation by inputting a few conditions. When I was giving classes or leading workshops, I wanted to find a clean lottery grouping tool that didn’t jump to ads, but I searched for a long time and couldn’t find one that was convenient. There are so many habit tracking apps on the market that you can be dazzled by their functions. In fact, you just want the simplest check-in screen to record how many glasses of water you drank today, how many hours you slept, and how much money you spent.

Immediately afterwards, most people’s next thought is often: “But I can’t write programs, so forget it.”

So those little ideas that could have made work smoother and life more organized were put in the corner of the memo again and again, never to be opened again.

What blocks you is never the program code

In the past, the threshold for building a web page or a small program was really high. You have to understand the front-end, back-end, and server first. Just installing the development environment is enough to extinguish 80% of your enthusiasm. Many people’s “I also want to do it” stop at the third step of the installation tutorial.

As generative AI matures, this has been turned on its head. Vibe Coding, which everyone often talks about now, means that you don’t have to memorize grammar, and you don’t have to be an engineer first. What you have to do is to clearly explain the requirements, let AI help you write the first version, and then actually use it yourself. Tell it if it doesn’t work well, and fix the tool step by step until it is smooth.

Looking back over the past year, the common denominator among those who can make their first work is not that they know more about technology, but that they really have a small thing that bothers them every day, and they are willing to spend a few nights to finish it.

Then why can’t I do it after reading so many tutorials?

Now that the technical threshold has been filled, why do many people buy courses and watch videos, but still haven’t made anything?

I have received many replies from readers, and the stories are almost the same: I was very excited on the first day, and then made a picture; I still remembered it the next day, and changed two more things; I put it aside when I was busy with work on the third day, and it was already two months later when I opened it again, and I had long forgotten where I had done it, and what problem I wanted to solve in the first place.

The difficulty is never the tools, but when a person is groping alone, there is no one to ask about the level, the progress is not rhythmic, and finally he gives up halfway through.

To break this cycle, the most effective way is not to read a few more textbooks, but to put yourself into a rhythm with companions and feedback, and only focus on completing one small task “finish it today” every day. After seven days, the small tasks will be stacked piece by piece into a complete work.

This is why I started [Seven-Day Challenge Camp: Make Your First AI Gadget].

How to go in seven days: 30 to 60 minutes a day, from idea to launch

This is not a theoretical class, but a hands-on practice with results as the goal.

Starting from November 30, 2026 (Monday), you will receive a task letter in your mailbox at 8 a.m. every day. As long as you take 30 to 60 minutes to follow along, you can hone the ideas in your head into a real tool step by step.

On the first day, we start from your own life or work, pick an idea that you can really use, let it move and see the first version. The topic doesn’t need to be big, the more relevant it is to daily life, the better, because only something you use every day will give you the motivation to improve it.

On the second day, practice explaining the logic and functions clearly in vernacular. Many people think that AI “can’t understand”. In fact, the sentence leaves too many blanks for it to guess. If you explain clearly who needs to use it, what needs to be done, what the screen looks like, what is not needed, and how to do it well, the things delivered by AI will be much more accurate.

On the third day, take a real day and use it. Only when you really need to use it will you find that the buttons are in the wrong position, the column is missing, and the numbers are calculated incorrectly. This day is spent fixing these stuck places one by one.

On the fourth day, make it easy to use on mobile phones. The place where gadgets are most commonly opened is often not on your computer, but on your mobile phone when you are waiting in line, commuting, or taking a break from meetings. Adjust the layout and operation process so that it can be used easily.

On day five, try it out with a friend or colleague. People who do it can never see their own blind spots. Observe where a person who is not involved in the development will stop and frown. You will get feedback that is more useful than testing it ten times by yourself.

On the sixth day, it was officially launched. Deploy the tool to the Internet and get your own first public URL. You can pass it to friends or add it to the home screen of your mobile phone.

The seventh day is the online acceptance live broadcast. I will choose several classmates’ works to watch on site and discuss together how to make them more useful. I will also talk about how to continue to use this set of abilities in work after making the first work, making it more labor-saving every time.

At the end of the seven days, what will be left in your hands will not be a few pages of notes, but a small tool that you can use every day, and a sense of confidence that “it turns out I can make software too.”

You can keep up with the basics of zero programming: it can be done on the web version, App, and terminal.

In order to allow people from different backgrounds to follow, both approaches are included with each assignment letter.

If this is your first time, you can directly use the Claude web version or mobile app. You don’t need to install anything on your computer, just click on it and you can start.

If you are already familiar with the terminal or want to challenge the terminal, you can use Claude Code to develop locally, and the progress is the same as the web version. For those who are accustomed to using OpenAI’s Codex or Google’s Antigravity, the prompt words and processes in the letter can also be directly applied.

What the challenge camp really takes away is a complete set of methods of dismantling requirements, guiding AI generation, debugging and correction, and releasing and launching. AI tools will change several generations a year, but this method will never become outdated. Once you learn it, you can use it no matter which tool you change.

No more stuck alone: LINE community will accompany you through the process

There will be an exclusive LINE learning community during the challenge camp. After completing the tasks every day, check in in the group. If you encounter any stuck or incomprehensible error messages during operation, you can directly post the screen to ask questions. I will go online to reply every night, and classmates can also help each other. Many times where you are stuck, the person next door just solved it yesterday.

Having someone to go with is the most important design of these seven days.

Preparation before departure

Challenge camp will involve intensive dialogue with AI and repeated modifications, and the free account quota can be easily used up. I recommend preparing a month of Claude Pro for yourself during the challenge, or preparing a payment limit for Codex and Antigravity, so that you will not be interrupted when you are at your best. The subscription fee for tools is paid by students according to their own needs, and the challenge camp itself does not pay for it.

In terms of equipment, an ordinary computer or mobile phone is enough, and no special specifications are required.

Challenge Camp Information

The challenge period is from November 30 (Monday) to December 6 (Sunday), 2026, and the acceptance live broadcast will be held online from 8:00 to 9:30 pm on December 6 (Sunday). At 8pm on November 29th (Sunday), I will send out the opening letter, pre-trip checklist and the link to join the LINE community. Challenge camp fee is NT$999.

If you want to take a look at the requirements statement that will be used the next day, you can read this article “AI can’t do what you want, probably because the requirements are not clearly stated”, which contains a complete five-paragraph example.

If you think about it a thousand times, it’s better to do it once.

Give yourself a week to focus, and turn the idea in your mind “It would be great if there was a gadget” into something that can actually be used in the browser tab.