Before I started building MiniBreaks.io, I had one burning question in mind: Can AI help me build a complete website, from concept to deployment?
The short answer is yes. The longer answer? It's not as magical or automatic as it sounds. As someone with years of experience in software engineering, I already had a good sense of what needed to happen—but even for me, the process wasn't exactly plug-and-play.
Here's the thing: AI is incredibly powerful, but it's not a magic wand. It's more like having a really smart assistant who knows a lot about coding but still needs clear direction from you.
The Reality Check
Let me be completely honest with you. When I first started this project, I thought I could just tell an AI what I wanted and watch it build my website. I imagined typing something like "Build me a travel booking website" and getting back a fully functional application.
That's not how it works. At least, not yet.
What I discovered is that AI excels at specific tasks when given clear, focused instructions. Want it to write a function that calculates pricing? Excellent. Need help debugging an error message? Fantastic. Finishing a journal and needs someone to fix your grammar? It's your best friend.
But ask it to "build a website" without specifics, and you'll get overwhelmed with options, suggestions, and complexity that might make you want to give up before you start.
The Overwhelming Start
Initially, I planned to use just one AI tool, but I quickly realized that the landscape is vast and a bit overwhelming. At the beginning, I tried asking ChatGPT to make me a roadmap, but what I got back was… too much.
The AI Overwhelm Problem
AI is very thorough. The plan was long, detailed, and frankly intimidating. It made the whole project feel like a mountain I didn't want to climb.
Here's what that first roadmap looked like:
- Choose a tech stack (React vs Vue vs Svelte vs Next.js vs...)
- Set up development environment (Node.js, package managers, bundlers...)
- Design database schema (SQL vs NoSQL vs...)
- Implement authentication (OAuth, JWT, sessions...)
- Build API endpoints (REST vs GraphQL...)
- Configure hosting and deployment (AWS vs Vercel vs...)
- Set up monitoring and analytics...
And that was just the beginning! Each bullet point had sub-bullet points with more choices, more configurations, more things to learn. It was paralyzing.
The Breakthrough Moment
Eventually, I learned something important: just start. Forget perfection. Build momentum.
Instead of trying to plan everything upfront, I decided to break the project into tiny, manageable pieces. Rather than "build a website for 'something'," I started with "create a simple landing page that promotes positive living." (Stay tuned for later part where I got this started.)
That one small step led to another, then another. Before I knew it, I was making real progress. The AI tools became incredibly helpful when I gave them specific, focused tasks instead of asking them to solve everything at once.
❌ What Doesn't Work
"Build me a complete travel booking website with all the features"
✅ What Actually Works
"I want the navigation header sticky and a little bit transparent"
What You'll Learn in This Series
In this series, I will walk you through how to use AI to create a complete website, step by step. This series is not only for readers with engineering backgrounds, but hopefully for anyone who is interested in learning to build something with AI.
The Right (Minimum) Tools for the Job
Which AI tools work best for different tasks, from GitHub Copilot for coding to ChatGPT for planning.
Writing Effective Prompts
How to communicate with AI tools to get exactly what you need, not overwhelming lists of possibilities.
When to Manually Intervene
Recognizing when to step in and guide the AI versus when to let it handle things automatically.
Making AI Your Partner
Most importantly, how to work with AI as a collaborative partner rather than expecting it to do everything for you.
This Series Is For Everyone
Whether you're a complete beginner who's never written a line of code, or someone with technical experience who wants to see how AI can accelerate your workflow, this series is designed to be accessible and practical.
I'll explain technical concepts in plain language, show you exactly which buttons to click, and most importantly, share the real challenges I faced and how I overcame them.
My Promise to You
No jargon without explanation. No skipped steps. No "and then magic happens" moments. Just honest, practical guidance from someone who's been through the process.
The Journey Ahead
By the end of this series, you'll have more than just a website. You'll have:
- A new perspective on what's possible with AI-assisted development
- Practical skills you can apply to your own projects
- A toolkit of AI tools and techniques that actually work
- The confidence to tackle bigger, more ambitious projects
But most importantly, you'll understand that building with AI isn't about replacing human creativity and decision-making, it's about amplifying them.
Ready to Start Building?
In the next part, we'll dive into why I chose AI as my development partner and explore the specific advantages it offers for modern web development.
Spoiler alert: It's not just about writing code faster (though that's definitely a perk).