Build your own Help Scout with Claude Code
A shared inbox for customer support: shared inbox from email, assignments and notes, saved replies and more.
The Claude Code prompt
Build my own take on Help Scout: a shared inbox for customer support. Give it an original name, logo, colours and copy, and do not use Help Scout's name, branding or assets. Version one should have: - Shared inbox from email - Assignments and notes - Saved replies - Docs site - Customer profiles The hard part: Email threading and collision detection. How to build it: 1. Read this folder first. If it is empty, set up Next.js (App Router, TypeScript, Tailwind) with Postgres through Prisma or Supabase, and Supabase Auth or Auth.js for sign-in. Write a short PLAN.md with the data model, screens, third-party services and what you are leaving out of version one. 2. Build the core loop end to end before anything else: shared inbox from email, working with real data saved to the database. 3. Add the rest of the features one at a time, and seed realistic demo data so every screen looks alive. 4. Keep API keys in environment variables, and put any paid service behind a small interface with a local stub, so the app runs on a fresh machine without accounts. 5. Run it, click through every screen on desktop and mobile widths, fix what breaks, and finish with a summary of what works, what is stubbed and how to deploy it.
Paste it into Claude Code in an empty folder. It plans first, so read PLAN.md and steer before it starts building.
Version one
- Shared inbox from email
- Assignments and notes
- Saved replies
- Docs site
- Customer profiles
The hard part
Email threading and collision detection.
Make it yours: a niche Help Scout ignores, an original name and brand, and one feature it does badly done well.
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