Readme Roast

Build a web app called Readme Roast: paste a README, get honest notes on what a stranger won't understand.

What it does

Readme Roast reads your README as someone who has never seen your project and tells you, line by line, where they'd get lost. Then it suggests a rewrite you can take or leave.

Stack

Use Astro, Anthropic API, Cloudflare. The original was built with Claude and Claude Code in 2 days, for about $6 in AI usage.

How it fits together

• A server-rendered web app with a small API layer
• A database for user data, with row level security on every table
• Sign-in so each person only sees their own data

Build it in this order

1. Set up the project, the database and sign-in, and deploy an empty page
2. Build the main screen with realistic sample data
3. Connect it to real data and add the one action the app exists for
4. Add the empty states and error messages a new user will hit
5. Write tests for anything that touches money, dates or other people's data

A prompt that worked: Read it like a stranger

You've never seen this project. Read the README below once, top to bottom, and stop every time you'd get confused, bored or unsure what to do next. For each stop, quote the line, say what you expected, and suggest a fix in under 20 words. Then tell me the one change that would help most.

Watch out for

• Don't build settings, teams or billing before the main screen works
• Keep the first screen useful with sample data, so the app makes sense before anyone has set it up

Done when

• A new user can sign in and get value in under two minutes
• Everything works on a phone
• Tests pass for the core logic

Before writing code, ask me up to five questions about who this writing web app is for and what the first version must do. Then work in small steps: after each one, tell me how to try it and wait for my feedback.