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What do you write in your first message?

Installation and your first project · lesson 7 of 12

Start a new chat in the project, with New chat or with ⌘N / Ctrl+N. The message where you tell Codex what you want is called a prompt (a request).

A good prompt says what you want, how it should look and how you’ll check it works.

Build it piece by piece:

vag: make me a subscriptions app
piesa: The goal | I want a web page that shows my subscriptions and how much I pay per month. | It knows what it’s building and why. | It guesses: maybe a shop, maybe a newsletter sign-up form.
piesa: The content | Add 5 examples: Netflix, Spotify, phone, gym and insurance, each with a price in euros. | It starts from examples you recognize. | It makes up other data or leaves the page empty.
piesa: The format | Put everything in a single file, index.html, with no extra programs or libraries. | You get a page you can open straight away. | It may pick tools that need extra installs.
piesa: The language | All the text should be in English. | Titles and buttons make sense to you. | It may mix in another language.
piesa: The check | At the end, tell me the monthly total and how to open the page. | It shows you that it works and what to do next. | It says “done”, and you don’t know what to check.

Libraries are ready-made pieces of code written by others, which Codex would download. You don’t need them to start.

The full message, ready to copy:

I want a simple web page that shows my subscriptions and how much I pay per month.
Add 5 examples: Netflix, Spotify, phone, gym and insurance, each with a price in euros.
Show the monthly total, large, at the top.
Put everything in a single file, index.html, with no extra programs or libraries.
All the text should be in English.
At the end, tell me the total and how to open the page.