Advanced · Building with AI · module 145 of 155
Project lesson: building and delivering your own mini tool
Build a small tool for a real task with AI help, and deliver it with tests, explanations and a maintenance plan.
After this lesson
You build a small tool with the techniques from this area and deliver it with tests, documentation, secure secrets and an owner.
In view · How it connects
From working code to a delivered tool
One task done well, with tests from the start and secure secrets.
A colleague and a user who had never seen the tool.
Explanation, switching off, version control and a moment to review.
Part 1 of 3 · Small and tested
Your preference for less movement is on. Choose each part yourself.
Choose a small, useful tool
Choose a task that you do often and that you can simplify with a small tool: a script that organises files, an assistant with its own knowledge base or a form that collects requests (lessons 141 to 143). Describe who uses the tool, what goes in and what comes out. Keep it small: a tool that does one thing well is easier to test, explain and maintain than a tool that tries to do everything.
Build with tests and secure choices
Work in small steps, with tests from the start (lesson 142). Keep secrets on the server and set limits on usage and costs if you use an API (lesson 144). Ask only for the data that is needed. Have the code and the security reviewed by someone with experience, especially if the tool works with real personal data. Test with odd input, and with a user who has never seen the tool before.
Delivering and maintaining
A tool is only delivered once it has a short manual: what the tool does, how to use it, what it does not do and whom to contact if there is a problem. Record how to switch the tool off, where the code is and who the owner is. Plan a moment to review it, for example after an update to a service it uses. Keep the tool and the documentation together in version control, so that a colleague can take over the work.
New practice example
From explanation to a usable result.
A tool is only ready for handover with tests, secure secrets, a manual, an owner and a maintenance plan.
Fictional practice situationFictional: a teacher used AI to build a small web page where pupils choose their book for the reading assignment. Each pupil chooses one book, and there are five copies of each.
View a possible solution
This is how it can be done
Tests: a valid choice, a fully booked book and two choices by the same pupil. Privacy: only first name and class, visible only to the teacher. Manual: a short explanation for colleagues. Owner: the teacher, with a colleague as backup. Switching off: after the choice period, the page closes. The data is deleted at the end of the school year.
Why this works
The handover list thinks beyond the code: about the pupils, the colleagues and the end of the assignment.
Make it slightly more difficult
Write the manual for this tool in no more than ten lines.
Extra practice, at your own pace. You do not need to submit anything. This does not count towards an automatic assessment.
Your workplace · learning by doing
Make something. See what changes.
Checking the AI connection… You can already view the written example.
Present your assignment to Ende.
Read the answer, change one thing, and compare.
Previously held
New version
You remain in control
What do you want to improve in your next attempt?
On this device only. AI answers remain only in this page memory. This is self-review, not a grade.
Why this approach works
The handover list thinks beyond the code: about the pupils, the colleagues and the end of the assignment.
A step further
Write the manual for this tool in no more than ten lines.
Try & discover · no obligation
Become the source checker yourself
Only mark statements that the source does not support. Then check your selection.
Fictional release checklist for a submission form for a photo club, just before its first use with real members.
Select which sentences you would correct above. The answer remains hidden until you check your selection.
This trial works locally with fictitious data and does not count towards your lesson completion. It starts anew with a new lesson or reload.
A prompt to get you started
Help me make a delivery checklist for a fictional mini tool: a form that members of a photo club use to submit photos for the annual exhibition. Make a list with points for tests, security, privacy, accessibility, manual, owner and maintenance. Mark the points that must be in order before the tool is used with real members.
Apply it
A volunteer used AI to build a handy tool for the club. He is moving next month, and nobody else knows how the tool works or where the code is.
Which approach best fits this situation?
- Let the tool run until it stops working.
- Put the code and a short manual in version control, appoint a new owner and have them try out the tool once themselves.
- Switch the tool off straight away, because nobody can maintain it.
With JavaScript, you can check your approach and receive immediate feedback.
Test your insight
Your tool works and all the tests pass. What is still missing before you can deliver it?
- Nothing; working code is a delivered tool.
- A short manual, an owner, a way to switch the tool off and a moment to review it.
- A second tool as a backup.
Extra practice
Build a small tool with fictional data and go through a delivery checklist. Have a colleague use the tool with only your manual, and note where they got stuck.
Tool: a submission form for the photo club. Tests: a valid submission, a file that is too large, a wrong file type and a duplicate submission. Security: keys on the server, a check on every field and submissions that only the jury sees. Manual: one page. Owner: the secretary. Switching off: the submission period closes automatically, and the secretary can also close the form manually. My colleague got stuck on the allowed file size; it is now shown above the form.
