What you need to build your first basic website with AI

Do you ever wondered how to build a website with AI?

Either because you are a coder, but want to speed things up?
Or you never programmed in your life and wonder, how you can still get decent results as a non-coder?
Then here is your short, on point explanation of how to do that!

How to build a basic website with AI?

Setup

1. Download Cursor to your computer. Connect it to a 'project' file -> a file on your computer

2. Then create a folder within that folder and call it 'docs', then within that, create a file named VISION.md

3. Once you have done that, either manually or via Cursor, you can go back to Cursor and write down all that you want to achieve with your website and how it is supposed to look like into the VISION.md file. Don't try to be perfect, just write whatever comes to your mind (visuals, structure, different pages, menus, colors, processes, etc)

4. When done, copy the full text / document into the Cursor agent and say "Please write an implementation plan for that project and the vision I outlined in that VISION.md document." Check if you like the implementation plan. If you never saw it, trust the AI, that it brings you to a good first state - you can iterate later.

5. Adapt the plan, save it, or ask AI to save it. Then, ask the Cursor AI Agent to start building the website based on the implementation plan: "Please start bringing my website vision to life based on the implementation plan and start from top to bottom step by step plus extensive testing between the phases. Let's go."

6. Then, you follow along with the AI through all the Phases. If you get lost or you feel the AI gets lost, just tell it to come back to the task at hand. Once it built the first set of features, you should test it manually too. Ask the AI how to best do that. It will guide you through.

7. Test it and ask the AI to make adaptations if you are not happy. Name it very specifically what is broken and how it needs fixing. The more specific you are the better.

8. And then, voila - step by step your website gets now built with AI, while you are orchestrating and giving your creative input.

9. Have fun and enjoy it and if there are some hurdles on the way - don't get nervous. Simply tell AI: "Please examine our codebase to figure out what is wrong and help me fix it." Normally it does find the error. And if not, you can still ask other AI Agents, solve it from other perspectives or help your AI Coder to figure out the answer by giving it some content, docs or information from the web. It normally finds it way back and is able to help you.

10. Congratulations, you just built your first AI Coded website - as a coder or not, it does not matter - everyone starts somewhere to build their first website - the first one ever or the first with an AI Coder - the most important part is: Just start and figure it out while going along with it! Keep going and enjoy the ride! :)