The complete website-building guide.

Follow the recording, one step at a time

This is the walkthrough from the 17 September 2026 masterclass, written for people who do not code. ChatGPT helps you plan; Codex builds the site, runs the preview and handles the GitHub work. You choose the direction, connect your accounts and check the result.

The short clips below show key moments from the stream. The prompts are reusable examples adapted from the demonstration. You can follow the written steps without watching the whole recording.

01. Start with a clear brief.

Give your agent enough context to build something useful.

You’ll need: An idea, ChatGPT for planning, and the Codex desktop app for building.

Be specific about what visitors should be able to do. ‘A one-page site for a local architect, with three projects and an email link’ gives the agent more direction than ‘make a modern website’. Review the proposed scope and keep the first version small.

• Start in ChatGPT. Describe who the site is for, what it should say and what visitors should do. Ask for a short plan.
• Ask ChatGPT for design mockups. Share your colours, logo or a site you like, then choose a direction. In the stream, Dave explored several ideas before choosing the book layout.
• Ask ChatGPT to turn the chosen design into a build brief for Codex, using Next.js and Vercel. You can copy these names without learning the technology.
• Create a project folder in Codex. Paste in the brief and attach the design reference. Ask it to build the site and show you a preview.

02. Ask Codex to show you the site.

Turn the first draft into a site you are happy to share.

You’ll need: Your Codex project and the brief from step 1.

Try ‘Make the heading smaller’, ‘Reduce the spacing between these sections’, or ‘Stack this layout on mobile’. Make one clear request at a time and check it. If a command fails, share the full error with your agent instead of guessing at a fix.

• Ask Codex to build the site, start the preview and open it for you. In the stream, Codex ran the local web server and checked the site itself.
• If Codex asks you to sign in, approve access or finish a setup step, follow its instructions. Ask it to explain anything unfamiliar.
• Read the page and try the links. Check it at phone and desktop sizes. Describe changes in ordinary language, or attach a screenshot.
• Ask Codex to check the site and fix errors before publishing. Review the result yourself too.

Start the site and open a preview for me. Check that it works on a phone and a computer, fix any errors, and explain anything I need to do in plain English.

03. Give your code a home.

Save a version of your site outside your computer.

You’ll need: A GitHub account connected to Codex.

The repository holds the project. A commit saves a snapshot of changes. A push sends it to GitHub. Ask Codex to handle both after meaningful updates so you have a history to return to. A private repository can also be connected to Vercel.

• Create an empty repository on GitHub: a folder online for your site and its history. Dave made this demo public so viewers could read the source; choose the visibility that suits your project.
• In Codex, connect the GitHub plugin and complete the sign-in and access prompts, as demonstrated in the stream.
• Copy your repository’s URL into Codex and ask it to save the site there. Codex handled the Git setup, commit and push in the demonstration.
• Open the repository in your browser and confirm the files arrived. You do not need to type Git commands to follow this walkthrough.

Here is my GitHub repository: [paste URL]. Save this site there. Check that passwords and private files are excluded, push the project, and tell me when I can see it on GitHub.

04. Put your site on the internet.

Make the website available to visitors.

You’ll need: Your GitHub repository and a Vercel account.

Once GitHub and Vercel are connected, a push to the production branch can automatically build and publish the next version. Other branches can get preview links so you can review changes before they reach the main site.

• Sign in to Vercel with GitHub, as Dave did. Choose Add New → Project and allow access to your site’s repository.
• Import your repository. Vercel recognised this Next.js site, so Dave kept the suggested settings.
• Select Deploy. If it fails, share the error with Codex and ask it to fix the site and save the update to GitHub.
• Open the supplied .vercel.app address. Test navigation, mobile layout and video playback on the deployed site.

05. Make the address your own.

Let people find your website at an address you own.

You’ll need: A registered domain and access to its DNS settings.

DNS changes need time to reach different networks. Use Vercel’s domain status to check progress. If verification fails, confirm which provider actually manages your nameservers and compare every record with Vercel’s instructions. Use the values shown for your project; do not copy a random IP address from an old guide.

• Buy a domain from a registrar, or use one you already own. In Vercel, open your project’s Settings → Domains and add it.
• Vercel will show the DNS records it needs. At the provider managing your DNS, copy the exact record types, names and values it gives you.
• Keep unrelated records, especially those for email. If you want both the root domain and www, add both in Vercel and choose the primary address.
• Wait for Vercel to confirm the connection, then visit your domain. Tell Codex the final address and ask it to update the site’s links and settings if needed.

Help agents read and use your site.

Your visitors may arrive with an AI assistant. Give it clear text, useful links and buttons it can understand, so it can help people find what they need.

• Ask Codex to make the important information readable without clicking through animations or watching a video.
• Give pages clear headings, links descriptive names, and forms proper labels. Keep the written guide alongside interactive content.
• Ask Codex to check page addresses, the sitemap and crawler settings. Keep private information private.

Check the published site with Is Agentic

An extra check after the masterclass: use Vercel’s Is Agentic tool once your website is public. Ask Codex to help with the scan and explain the report.

The score is a useful check, not a promise that every agent will succeed. Do not add a made-up API or agent service just to chase a score. An llms.txt file can help describe your content, but does not guarantee discovery.

• Open is-agentic.com, enter your live website address and select Score. Use the public address, not localhost or a preview that needs a sign-in.
• Give Codex the report link. Ask it to check the evidence and start with failed Essential checks that apply to your site.
• Have Codex prepare fixes in a preview. Review them, publish the approved changes, then scan the same live address again.

Review my published site at [live website URL] for AI agents. Help me run it through https://is-agentic.com/ and read the report. If you cannot start the scan, tell me how to run it and ask for the report link. Verify the findings, explain the important gaps in plain English, and fix relevant Essential issues on a feature branch. Check that agents can read the main content and use links and forms. Do not expose private content or invent APIs or services. Show me a preview to approve, then help publish the fixes and rescan the live site. Report what improved and what remains.

After launch: preview a change, then make it live

Dave added the logo and information pages after the first launch. Codex made the changes on a feature branch: a separate version for review. Vercel gave that version a preview address. In this project, main was the version connected to the live site.

• Tell Codex what to change and ask it to create a feature branch, check the work and send it to GitHub.
• Open the branch’s preview in Vercel. Check the content, links and phone layout. Ask Codex for any fixes.
• When you are happy, tell Codex: ‘Merge to main and clean up the branch.’ Codex handled the merge and cleanup in the stream.
• Wait for Vercel to finish publishing, then check your real website address too.

Dive deeper: what Codex was doing behind the scenes

You do not need these commands to follow the masterclass. A local server is a temporary preview running on your computer. An address such as localhost:3000 points to that preview; it is not your public website.

In a project like this one, npm install gets the software it needs, npm run dev starts the preview, and npm run build checks that the site can be prepared for hosting. Ask Codex to run them and explain the result. Commands vary by project.

A repository holds your files and history. A commit saves a snapshot; a push sends it to GitHub. Codex performed these operations after Dave connected GitHub and supplied the repository URL.

npm install
npm run dev
# A separate check before publishing:
npm run build

Keep moving at your own pace

The book and webinar cover the same learning path. Keep checking the actual result as you build. If you would like support with the next step, speak with Valid Agenda.