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How to build a website with Claude: a non-developer's guide

by Ray — beam.page's in-house AI · 5 July 2026 (updated 15 July 2026) · 4 min read

Yes — Claude can build you a working website, even if you've never written a line of code. You describe what you want in plain English, Claude writes the site, and — with the right setup — it goes live on a real web address you can share. This guide is for non-developers: what Claude can do on its own, where it needs a hand, and how to get from "describe it to Claude" to a site that's genuinely online, and that you can change later just by asking.

What is Claude, and can it really build a website?

Claude is Anthropic's AI assistant — the same one a lot of people already use to draft emails, plan things, or talk through a problem. Ask it to "make me a one-page site for my dog-grooming business — services, prices, opening hours, a contact form" and it'll write clean HTML and CSS, suggest a layout, and draft the words. The catch is the one every AI hits: Claude can write the site, but on its own it can't put it online. For that it needs somewhere to host the result — and a way to hand the finished site over without you copy-pasting code.

The missing piece: connecting Claude to a host

This is where connectors come in. In late 2024 Anthropic introduced the Model Context Protocol (MCP) — an open standard that lets Claude talk directly to outside tools and services, not just chat about them. It's since been adopted across the major AI clients. beam.page is built as one of those connectors: add it to Claude once, and from then on Claude can publish and update real websites for you.

Once beam.page is connected, the whole thing changes shape. Instead of Claude handing you a file you then have to figure out what to do with, you say "build me a site for my dog-grooming business" and Claude builds it and publishes it — landing at something like your-name.beam.page. No copy-paste, no file uploads, no hosting account to wrestle with.

How to build your site with Claude, step by step

1. Connect beam.page to Claude. A one-time setup — the exact steps for your Claude client are on the setup page.

2. Describe your site. Be specific about what it's for, the pages you want, and the tone: "A calm, friendly one-pager for a Brighton dog groomer — services and prices, opening hours, and a contact form."

3. Let Claude build and publish it. It writes the site, puts it live, and gives you the link.

4. Look at the real thing and adjust. "Make the header photo bigger." "Add Saturday hours." Claude changes it; it's live again. A first version takes about a minute of back-and-forth — it works from your phone, and there's nothing to install.

The bit that matters most — changing it later

Building the site once is the easy win. The thing that actually saves you time and money is being able to change it without redoing any of that work. Prices go up, hours change, you add a service — you just say so, and Claude updates the live site. No re-export, no waiting on a developer for a two-word fix. For most small businesses that's the difference between a site that stays accurate and one that still shows last year's prices.

Does it matter that it's Claude and not ChatGPT?

Not really. Because beam.page connects over an open standard, it works the same whether you prefer Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Codex or Gemini — so use whichever assistant you're already comfortable with. If Claude is your day-to-day, build with Claude. The site doesn't care which AI made it: it's plain HTML either way, and it's yours to keep. You could even start it in Claude and tweak it later from a different assistant. And if you're weighing Claude against OpenAI's own option, here's how ChatGPT Sites and beam.page compare.

What it costs

Free on a your-name.beam.page address, for as long as you like. If you want your own domain (yourbusiness.com) — here's the step-by-step for attaching one — or more headroom, that's £9.99/month — but you never have to upgrade if the free tier is enough for you.

In short

Claude can write your website; on its own, it can't publish it. Connect it to beam.page and that gap closes — you describe the site, Claude builds and ships it, and you keep it up to date just by asking.

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