Prototype a public-repository feature inside Claude chat
At a glance
Simon Willison describes using Claude's web container to read an open-source project, discuss an idea, and iterate on a prototype. This workflow is listed under Prototyping, Coding Agents, Open Source.
- Agents / tools
- Claude web chat, GitHub, Code execution container
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What they did
1) Open Claude chat with code execution available and choose a public GitHub repository it can clone without private credentials. Give it the repository URL and ask it to clone the project into its container. 2) Have Claude read the relevant code, then discuss the proposed feature and possible approaches before requesting an implementation. 3) Ask it to build a prototype in that checkout, install needed dependencies where its environment permits, run the relevant code, and iterate on errors. 4) Inspect the resulting files and execution output to decide whether the prototype demonstrates the idea. Keep the result as a prototype for review before transferring changes into your development workflow.
How it went
Willison says he frequently uses this sequence to prototype features for his open-source projects.
Worth knowing
The thread describes limited container networking, including public repository cloning and package installation; this does not provide arbitrary access to a local computer.
