A reply for Melissa

from Alex · Code for Creatives

Cohort 0000 of Code for Creatives
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Code for Creatives · Aug 2026
Melissa
re: your application — watch this before you write back
Ready3:56
What you wrote, and what Alex wrote back×
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What you said you'd build
“an infrastructure, toolkit and roadmap for The Human Collective, an online and IRL community consisting of creatives in the healing arts,”
Your application, 23 August
And how you want to feel about AI
“confident, proficient and like a badass ninja”
And you added
“1. "When the internet came through dial up modem" - I remember this thing of which you speak. 2. "Community was always the whole point." Yes - THIS! 3. I'm leaving a 28-year career in academic medicine/organ transplant to build a community of online and IRL creatives. I've spent a career making impossible things happen. I'm just getting started. C4C is the accelerant.”
From Alex

hi melissa,

i read your application before i hit record, and the video above is me answering it rather than a form email.

- alex

Ln 1, Col 1NUM
The closest three, and what nobody has built×

A few people built things that live near your world of healing arts and self-work.

An online and in-person community with infrastructure behind it. Nobody here has built one.

Ground

Dennis Xiao · Cohort 2

A macOS mindfulness app that offers poems, koans, and grounding prompts with ambient sound, meant as an invitation into presence rather than a Pomodoro timer.

Dennis is a somatic practices practitioner too, and he built a grounding app instead of a productivity tool.

Body/Mind/Spirit Wiki

Lucy Barzun Donnelly · Cohort 3

A personal wiki of everything she has learned about herself, built so she can trust her own judgment instead of relying on influencers.

Lucy built a personal wiki so she could trust her own judgment instead of borrowing it from someone else, close to the self-work end of what you're building toward.

Creative Hub

Richelle DeVoe · Cohort 3

A personal hub she has wanted to build for a while to hold her creative work and ideas in one place.

Richelle built herself a hub to hold creative work and ideas in one place, the personal version of the infrastructure you're describing.

3 of 46 projects across three cohorts
People who started where you're starting×
Dennis Xiao · Cohort 2
I was building it as I was using it.
Built Ground.
Richelle DeVoe · Cohort 3
I no longer want to develop as punishment. This is progress in my life.
Built Creative Hub.
Their words, not edited
Questions people ask before they say yes×
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Do I need to know how to code?
No. Claude writes the code. You describe what you want. The hard part is knowing what you want and being able to say it clearly, which is a creative skill, not a technical one.
Do I need to use the terminal? I'm no hacker.
Classic hacker response. Real hackers never think they're hackers. Also, no - you can run Claude Code entirely from the Claude desktop app if the terminal is not your thing.
What actually happens each week?
One live weekly lesson (with multiple sessions that cover the same material so everyone can find a time that works for them). Plus weekly office hours, plus a Slack channel that stays busy between sessions. New this round: a full week on taste, run with Sublime. At the start you'll pick something you want to build by the end (this can and often will change). Then, at the end, we'll do a show+tell where you share what you've made.
What if I fall behind?
There's no such thing. The race is long and only with yourself. You're exactly where you need to be. Also sessions are recorded and the recordings do not expire. Also the learning happens when you're able to receive it. No rush, no foul.
What do I need on my computer?
A Mac or a PC made in roughly the last five years, and a Claude subscription. That is it. You do not need a powerful machine because none of the work happens on it. We walk through the whole setup live in week one, and there is a written guide if you want to do it early.
Can I retake it?
Yes you can and guess what? It's free. A lot of students end up retaking it because this stuff all changes so fast. Spots for retakers are limited.
What is Sublime and why are they involved?
Sublime is a tool for collecting and connecting the things you read and save, built by people who care a lot about taste. They are partnering on Cohort Four, and they are running the week on taste with us. If you came here from Sublime, this is the same cohort, not a different one.
What if the tools change and this becomes outdated?
The tools will change. That is guaranteed. What transfers is describing what you want clearly, iterating with a machine that gets things wrong, and building systems that solve your specific problem instead of a generic one. Claude Code today, something else in two years, same job.

Everything else is at codeforcreatives.com/faq.

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Cohort Four — the details×
Starts
Mon 28 Sept 2026
Last session
Week of 2 Nov
Runs for
Six weeks
  • One live lesson a week, run several times so you can find a slot that works.
  • Weekly office hours, and a Slack that stays busy in between.
  • A full week on taste, run with Sublime, and a year of Sublime Premium Plus.
  • You pick something to build in week one and leave with it built.
  • Every session is recorded, and you can retake a later cohort free.
What it costs
$1,500
Reserve my seat →
Checkout runs on Stripe. Your seat is held 48 hours.
Want to split it into 2, 3 or 4 payments? Email alex@botharetrue.com and say which.

If you want to talk it through before deciding, reply to this and we will.

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