Build your own Perplexity with Claude Code
An AI answer engine with sources: ask a question in natural language, web search behind the scenes, answer with numbered citations and more.
The Claude Code prompt
Build my own take on Perplexity: an AI answer engine with sources. Give it an original name, logo, colours and copy, and do not use Perplexity's name, branding or assets. Version one should have: - Ask a question in natural language - Web search behind the scenes - Answer with numbered citations - Follow-up questions - Saved threads The hard part: Good retrieval. Use a search API, fetch the top pages and have Claude answer only from them. 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: ask a question in natural language, 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
- Ask a question in natural language
- Web search behind the scenes
- Answer with numbered citations
- Follow-up questions
- Saved threads
The hard part
Good retrieval. Use a search API, fetch the top pages and have Claude answer only from them.
Make it yours: a niche Perplexity ignores, an original name and brand, and one feature it does badly done well.
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