Building with AI
How This Entire Website Was Built Using Claude Code
3,000+ pages. 250+ page.tsx files. 130+ commits. Built in weeks, not months. This is the story of AI-augmented development at extreme scale — and the philosophy behind shipping fast and iterating faster.
3,000+
Pages Built
250+
page.tsx Files
130+
Git Commits
Weeks
Build Time
The Secret Sauce
CLAUDE.md — The AI's Instruction Manual
At the root of this project sits a file called CLAUDE.md. It contains every rule the AI must follow: never run vercel deploy, always use git push, stage specific files, use motion/react not framer-motion, and dozens more. This single file is the difference between chaos and a functional 3,000-page website.
Every time Claude Code opens a terminal in this project, it reads CLAUDE.md first. The rules accumulate over time — every mistake becomes a new line in the file. The AI learns from the codebase's own documentation.
Build Timeline
From zero to 3,000+ pages in four weeks
Foundation & Core Pages
- •Next.js 16 app scaffolding with TypeScript + Tailwind 4
- •SiteNavBar, SiteFooter, EmailCapture, MotionWrappers components
- •Homepage, resume, positions, track record, fanniegate
- •Blog migration from SeekingAlpha (2,700+ posts)
Billionaires, Books & Screenplays
- •157 billionaire profile pages with net worth data
- •Original screenplay for every billionaire (AI-generated)
- •47+ book recommendations from the Billionaire Bookshelf
- •Gear reviews, gift guides, home office setup
Rankings, Shrines & Ecosystem
- •Top 25 ranking pages across 20+ categories
- •150 subpages for every ranking entry
- •Celebrity shrine pages (MJ, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Keanu, Arnold, Denzel)
- •Professional network pages, consulting, Salesforce ecosystem
Scale, Polish & Shipping
- •JSON-LD schema on every page (Article + FAQPage)
- •OG image generation with Satori
- •Search palette with Upstash Redis analytics
- •API routes for blog, search, and email capture
- •ISR optimization: only 50 posts pre-rendered, rest on-demand
The Stack
Six tools that made 3,000+ pages possible
Claude Code
Anthropic's CLI-based AI assistant. Writes code, refactors, deploys. Runs multiple agents in parallel for maximum velocity. The engine behind every page on this site.
Next.js 16
App Router, TypeScript, server components, ISR for on-demand page generation. Keeps build times under 10 minutes despite 3,000+ pages by pre-rendering only 50 blog posts.
Vercel
Git-push deploys. Every commit to master triggers a production build. Serverless API routes for search, analytics, and email capture. Edge functions for speed.
Upstash Redis
Page view tracking, search analytics, rate limiting. Zero-config serverless Redis that scales with the site. Every page view, every search query, stored and queryable.
Tailwind CSS 4
CSS variables for theming (text-foreground, bg-card, border-border). Amber accent system. Dark mode by default. Every page styled consistently without a single CSS file.
motion/react
FadeInUp, StaggerContainer, StaggerItem wrappers. Smooth scroll-triggered reveals on every section. Lightweight animation library that replaced framer-motion.
Ship Fast, Iterate Faster
The operating philosophy behind building at this scale
Ship Fast, Iterate Faster
Don't wait for perfect. Deploy, see what breaks, fix it, deploy again. A page that exists beats a page you're still planning. Every commit is a micro-launch.
Parallelism Is the Multiplier
Run multiple Claude Code agents simultaneously. While one builds billionaire profiles, another migrates blog posts, another generates screenplays. Nine agents working in parallel means nine developers for the price of one subscription.
Every Page Is an Asset
Each page.tsx is a long-tail SEO entry point. 3,000+ pages means 3,000+ chances to rank. Internal linking creates a web that search engines love. The site compounds over time.
Schema Everything
JSON-LD on every page. Article schema, FAQPage schema, Person schema. Google's rich results require structured data. If it exists on this site, it has schema markup.
Build in Public
Every page is a demonstration of what AI-augmented development can do. The site itself is the portfolio. The changelog is the proof. Transparency builds trust.
Lessons Learned
What building 3,000+ pages with AI actually teaches you
ISR Is Non-Negotiable at Scale
Pre-rendering 3,000+ pages would take 45+ minutes on Vercel. Solution: generateStaticParams returns only 50 blog posts. Everything else uses ISR with dynamicParams = true. Build time dropped to under 10 minutes.
Never Run vercel deploy
The working directory has 34,000+ files (1.5GB with node_modules). Running vercel deploy uploads everything and kills internet bandwidth. Git push only uploads the diff. This mistake was made once and never repeated.
Satori Has Rules
OG image generation with Satori requires every div with multiple children to have display: flex. No -webkit-box. Template literals for mixed text. These rules were learned the hard way through dozens of failed builds.
AI Makes Mistakes Too
Claude Code occasionally introduces bugs, forgets patterns, or over-engineers solutions. The key is reviewing output, catching patterns early, and building guardrails (like the CLAUDE.md file that documents every rule).
Internal Linking Is a Superpower
Every page links to 5-10 other pages. ExploreMore component at the bottom. Contextual links in body text. This creates a dense internal link graph that search engines reward heavily.
Components Are the Foundation
SiteNavBar, SiteFooter, EmailCapture, ExploreMore, MotionWrappers, ShareOnX, ShrinePromo. Every page assembles from the same building blocks. Consistency at scale requires reusable components.
By the Numbers
3,000+
Total Pages
2,700+
Blog Posts
157
Billionaire Profiles
150
Ranking Subpages
47+
Book Reviews
20+
Top 25 Lists
9
Books Published
<10min
Build Time
See It in Action
Frequently Asked Questions
How was glenbradford.com built?
glenbradford.com was built using Claude Code (Anthropic's AI coding assistant), Next.js 16 with TypeScript, Tailwind CSS 4, and deployed on Vercel. The entire site of 3,000+ pages was built in a matter of weeks by running multiple AI agents in parallel.
What is Claude Code?
Claude Code is Anthropic's CLI-based AI coding assistant. It can write, refactor, and deploy code through natural language instructions. Glen Bradford used it to build every page on glenbradford.com, running up to 9 agents simultaneously.
How many pages does glenbradford.com have?
Over 3,000 pages including 2,700+ blog posts migrated from SeekingAlpha, 157 billionaire profiles with original screenplays, 20+ Top 25 ranking pages with 150 subpages, celebrity shrine pages, and dozens of standalone content pages.
How long did it take to build glenbradford.com?
The core site was built in approximately 4 weeks. The foundation and core pages were built in week 1, billionaire profiles and books in week 2, rankings and shrines in week 3, and optimization and polish in week 4 and beyond.
What is the tech stack for glenbradford.com?
Next.js 16 (App Router), TypeScript, Tailwind CSS 4, motion/react for animations, Vercel for hosting and serverless functions, Upstash Redis for analytics and search, and Satori for OG image generation.
Can AI really build a full website?
Yes. glenbradford.com is proof. Claude Code wrote the TypeScript, built the components, generated the content, implemented the SEO, and handled the deployment pipeline. The human role was direction, review, and quality control.
What is the Ship Fast Iterate Faster philosophy?
It means deploying early and often rather than waiting for perfection. Every git push triggers a Vercel deploy. Pages go live immediately and get refined over time. A page that exists is infinitely better than a page still in planning.
How does glenbradford.com handle 3,000+ pages without slow builds?
Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR). Only 50 blog posts are pre-rendered at build time. Billionaire subpages and OG images use generateStaticParams returning empty arrays, meaning they are generated on-demand. This keeps Vercel build time under 10 minutes.
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Keep Exploring
Changelog
Every update, every feature, every deploy. The living history of this site.
Read moreCobra Kai Philosophy
Strike First, Strike Hard, No Mercy. Applied to building websites.
Read moreSpeedruns
Things built absurdly fast. 3,143 pages, 85 releases, 157 screenplays.
Read moreAIClaude Code Page
Deep dive into the AI tool that powers this entire site.
Read moreSite Stats
Live dashboard showing page views, search queries, and more.
Read moreAbout Glen Bradford
The person behind the 3,000+ pages. Investor, builder, kiteboarder.
Read moreNote: This page was itself built using Claude Code. Some statistics are approximate and reflect the site at time of writing. The site continues to grow. Not financial advice. Some content was generated or edited with AI assistance.