Advanced Handbook: Making AI Understand Your Project Better
💡 Goal: In about 32 minutes (three lessons of 10–12 minutes each), get three things done—write a project manual that AI can read, let AI coding agents manage your Vercel deployments directly, and replace github.io with your own domain.
By this point, you can already hand requirements to AI reliably following the "five disciplines" (prerequisite: Efficient Workflow: The Five Disciplines of Vibe Coding). Next comes the core problem that advanced vibe coding needs to solve: every time you start a new conversation, AI has to learn your project from scratch—the tech stack, directory structure, and common commands, none of it remembered.
Every session in Claude Code starts with a fresh context window. The official documentation offers two mechanisms for passing knowledge across sessions: CLAUDE.md (project instructions you write; Claude can also read AGENTS.md in the repository instead) and automatic memory (AI records the preferences you've corrected as its own notes). Codex and OpenCode also read the same kind of manual files, so writing one file works across all three tools.
The manual solves "AI understands your project." The other two lessons in this stage build on that: first, use Vercel's Plugin, Skills, and MCP so AI coding agents can search documentation and manage projects and deployments directly; second, bind your own domain to your github.io site.
🎯 Stage Goals
- Be able to write a project manual: tech stack, directory structure, and common commands go into AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md, so new sessions no longer start from zero
- Be able to install the Vercel trio: what each of the Plugin, Skills, and MCP commands manages, connecting AI coding agents to your deployments
- Be able to bind your own domain: set up DNS resolution for your GitHub Pages site and open it with your own domain
⏳ Estimated Time
- About 32 minutes total for three lessons (10–12 minutes each), around 30–42 minutes with buffer time
- Each lesson stands alone: if your project is stuck on one of these tasks, jump straight to that lesson and follow along
🚀 Before You Start
- Completed the previous stop Efficient Workflow: The Five Disciplines of Vibe Coding and have gone through a full round of collaboration with AI on a real project
- Have a small project of your own to use as practice material—a manual is only useful when written for a real project
- If you want to follow along with lessons two and three, prepare a Vercel or GitHub account first (the two lessons' operations take place on these two platforms respectively)
- A cup of water ☕—this stop doesn't involve many commands; the main work is moving "project knowledge" outside the conversation
📚 Lessons in This Stage
| Lesson | Content | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 5.1 AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md: Leave a Project Manual for AI | What to write in the manual and where to put it: tech stack, directory structure, and common commands written out clearly in one pass, works across Claude Code, Codex, and OpenCode | 12 minutes |
| 5.2 Vercel × AI Coding Agents: The Plugin, Skills, and MCP Trio | Three official commands that give AI deployment capabilities: Plugin adds deployment skills and slash commands, Skills supplements deployment guidance, MCP lets agents search documentation and manage projects and deployments | 10 minutes |
| 5.3 Custom Domain: From github.io to Your Own Domain | DNS resolution and binding: CNAME for subdomains, how to handle apex domains, verify first to prevent takeover | 10 minutes |
💡 How to Learn Most Effectively
- The manual is context, not a switch: AI treats AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md as context rather than enforced configuration; the more specific and concise your instructions, the more consistently they're followed; to hard-block a certain operation, use a hook to intercept it
- Verify as you learn: every time you modify the manual, start a new session and see whether AI follows the new rules—effectiveness can only be confirmed through real testing
- Can't memorize all the commands? Look them up anytime in Four-Tool Cheat Sheet: Installation Commands and Key Operations
🎒 What You'll Gain
After finishing this stop, your advanced vibe coding toolkit will gain four new items:
- A project manual that works across three tools (AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md), plus a first look at Claude Code's automatic memory
- Being able to explain what agents.md is and what mcp is—two high-frequency advanced terms, no longer unfamiliar
- A way of working where AI coding agents can search documentation and manage projects and deployments directly
- A live site accessible via your own domain
Ready? Start Lesson One →