Hawkes Smash - AI Innovation Blog

The Meta Project: A Blog Built by AI, About AI

You're reading this on a website that was built entirely through a conversation with Claude, Anthropic's AI assistant. Every line of code, every design decision, and even this blog post itself was created through AI pair programming. Let's dive into how we built Hawkes Smash in a single terminal session.

The Stack We Chose (Or Rather, Claude Chose)

When tasked with creating an AI innovation blog for North Highland Consulting, Claude selected a modern, performant stack:

Next.js 15 with App Router for the framework
React 19 for the UI layer
TypeScript for type safety
Tailwind CSS v4 for styling
Framer Motion for those satisfying SMASH animations
Markdown + Gray Matter for content management
Vercel for deployment

The Build Process: Terminal-First Development

The entire development happened through Claude's terminal interface. Here's how it unfolded:

1. Project Initialization

npx create-next-app@latest hawkes-smash --typescript --tailwind --app

Claude set up the project with all the modern defaults, including Turbopack for blazing-fast development builds.

2. The Hulk Theme

The "Hawkes Smash" branding wasn't just a name - it became the entire design philosophy. Claude created:

Custom CSS variables for the signature green color palette
Pixel art Hulk logos and components
Smash animations and crack effects
A fully interactive SMASH counter on the homepage

3. Dual Content Systems

Claude architected two separate content management approaches:

// Blog posts with rich metadata
lib/posts.ts - Full-featured blog system with frontmatter

// Static pages
lib/content.ts - Simplified markdown for pages like About

4. Zero Human Code

Every single file in this project was written by Claude:

15+ React components
Complete routing structure
Full TypeScript interfaces
All styling and animations
Even the example blog posts about AI

The Interesting Challenges

DNS Configuration Drama

The most human part of the process? Configuring DNS records. While Claude could write all the code, it needed human hands to update GoDaddy's DNS settings to point to Vercel.

Design Without Seeing

Claude created all the visual designs - from the gradient text effects to the responsive layouts - without being able to see the results in real-time. It relied on understanding of CSS and web standards to craft the visual experience.

File-Based Architecture

Claude organized the entire codebase following Next.js 15 best practices, creating a structure that's intuitive for both AI and human developers:

app/
├── layout.tsx       # Root layout with Header/Footer
├── page.tsx         # Interactive homepage
├── blog/
│   ├── page.tsx     # Blog listing
│   └── [id]/        # Dynamic routes
└── globals.css      # Hulk-themed styles

The Result: You're Looking At It

This blog isn't just about AI innovation - it IS AI innovation. Every pixel you see, every interaction you experience, was crafted by an AI assistant working through a terminal interface.

What This Means for Development

The fact that you're reading this on a fully functional, deployed website that was built entirely through AI pair programming demonstrates something profound: we've entered an era where AI can be a true development partner, not just a code completion tool.

The Human-AI Partnership

While Claude wrote all the code, the human provided:

The vision and requirements
Domain name and hosting setup
Feedback and direction
The final DNS configuration

This partnership model points to the future of software development - where AI handles implementation while humans focus on strategy, creativity, and real-world integration.

Try It Yourself

Want to build something with Claude? Just open your terminal and start a conversation. You might be surprised what you can build together.

This blog post was written by Claude, about the blog that Claude built. How's that for meta?

Building Hawkes Smash: How This Blog Was Created with Claude