Coding a Mac app without any coding knowledge

I have very little code knowledge, some experience in javascript but if you tried to ask me to code something from scratch, it’d be like getting a baby to build a rocket.

But now that coding agents like Claude Code have come on to the scene, I’ve been experimenting with random things here and there. My confidence has grown as I’ve been using them more and more.

I have a light on my desk, the Logitech Litra Beam LX, I’ve had it for years. It has two sides, an RGB strip on the top and a light on the bottom which can be used as a desk light or a key light for video.

To adjust the light, there are buttons on the light, or it can be controlled with Logitech’s own software. However there is no automation function in the software.

So I let Claude Code loose, and asked it to build me a Mac app to automate the light.

The first prompt was I want to build a mac automation app for my logitech litra beam lx light.

From there it planned the rest, with very little input from me. It guided me and asked me any relevant questions.

First it suggested it to be a menubar app which I didn’t even think of, but agreed to.

Then it automatically suggested to adjust the brightness and temperature to the circadian rhythm, which again, I hand’t even thought of. When I put in the initial prompt, I was simply going to set three different presets it would cycle through day. Seeing it suggest all of this without me even asking was wild.

It then went searching for the web to find the CLI inputs to control the light via USB, which is how I have it connected to my Mac.

After a few more questions asking about what I would like, it came back with an app.

The great thing about having an agent in the terminal, is that if I don’t understand some language or how something works, I can ask directly in the terminal.

For example it was asking me to “build” the app once it finished making it. I don’t know what that even means or what it does. I thought it was already built? But clearly it was technical terminology to sort of package everything together. See this is how limited my coding knowledge is.

And this is what it looks like. I didn’t even give it any design input. Yet somehow it managed to make a clean control app.

There was one issue though with the manual controls, which appear when turning off the automation. The sliders didn’t work. I just said “hey the manual controls aren’t working, can you fix it” and it fixed it 😂 LIKE WHAT IS GOING ON how can I say stuff like this and it figures it out.

You can just do things.