Graphic designer builds NASA-data 3D Solar System in 2 months with Claude Code, no coding
Shevei1342 · reddit · 2026-11-04
A graphic designer with 20 years of experience and almost no coding background built SOLARIA, a browser-based 3D model of the Solar System and Milky Way powered by real NASA JPL data, in two months using Claude Code — 572 deployed versions along the way. His playbook:
- Give Claude a map, not the codebase: a 700KB main file is unreadable at once; CLAUDE.md describes every file, and a script regenerates a line-numbered map after each change.
- Turn repeated mistakes into rules: a bug that recurred 7 times went into CLAUDE.md and never came back; per-topic cheat sheets keep fixed bugs fixed.
- Automate scary steps: after a manual upload broke the site, one deploy script now runs tests, uploads only changed files, and verifies against live.
- Sliders over prose: have Claude build tuning panels, drag sliders, paste the JSON back for exact camera moves.
- Cheap model first: small model handles simple tasks; a bigger one steps in only when checks fail.
- Test on a real phone: Claude drives his phone over adb and screenshots, catching issues desktop never shows.
He notes Claude can't decide what a beginner will understand — every product judgment call remained his.
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