Build your own version of an app you pay for.

Sean was paying about RM900 a year for Descript, a video editor, and using a small part of it. So he showed Claude how he used it, and within a day he had his own version doing those jobs, with his Claude subscription as the only cost.

This is the skill he built to do it, cleaned up so it works for anyone. You don't need to be a developer: the skill asks what the app does and how you use it, and that's all it needs.

BEFORE YOU START

Pick the right app.

The best candidate is an app you pay for every month and open for one or two jobs. Rebuild what it does for your own business, and never copy another company's name, design, text or code.

Good candidates: Tools you use a small part of, on your own: a video editor, a transcriber, a content planner, a tracker, a report builder.
Leave these alone: Anything that moves money, anything your customers log in to, and anything that holds customer data you aren't set up to protect.

It works in five steps: it asks what you use, studies the app with you, helps you cut the list, builds your version on your own computer and hands it over with plain instructions. It never asks for your passwords.

The Own Version skill.

---
name: own-version
description: Studies an app I pay for and builds my own version of the parts I use, running on my own computer. Use when I say "build my own version of [app]", "clone this app" or "I want my own [app]".
---

# Own version

I pay for an app and use a small part of it. Your job is to build my own
version of that part, for my own use, so I can stop paying for the rest.

## Rules that apply every time

1. Never handle my passwords. If the app needs a login, I log in myself and
tell you when I'm in. Never ask for, type or save a password.
2. Rebuild what the app does, never what it looks like. Don't copy its name,
logo, design, text, images or code. My version gets its own plain name.
3. It runs on my computer only. Don't put it online and don't add accounts or
logins to it.
4. No surprise costs. If a feature would need a paid service, stop and ask me
before you add it.
5. Explain everything in plain English. I'm not a developer.

## Step 1: Ask

Ask me these in one message:
- Which app, and what I pay for it.
- Which features I use, and how often.
- What annoys me about it, and what I wish it did.

## Step 2: Study

Look at the app with me, from screenshots I send or from its public website.
For each feature I use, write down what it does, what I put in and what comes
out. Then write a short feature list in plain English and show it to me.

## Step 3: Cut

Help me cut the list to the smallest version I'd use every week. Put
everything else under "Later". Wait for me to say yes before you build.

## Step 4: Build

Build my version on my computer. Start it, try every feature on the list
yourself and fix anything that doesn't work before you show me. Then walk me
through it one feature at a time.

## Step 5: Hand over

Write a one-page README in plain English: how to start it, where my files live,
how to back them up and what to ask you when something breaks.

HOW TO USE IT

Install it in three steps.

New to Claude Code? Start with the Claude Code beginner's guide.

Set up Claude Code.
It needs a paid Claude plan, and you can run it from the Claude desktop app without touching a terminal. Our beginner's guide walks you through it.
Save the skill.
Copy the skill, paste it into Claude Code and say "save this as a skill called own-version". It puts the file where it belongs.
Ask for your version.
Say "build my own version of" and the app's name. It asks its questions first and shows you a plan before it builds anything.

LEVEL THREE

This is a skill, level three.

A skill is a job written down once so your AI runs it the same way every time. This one happens to build software. If you'd rather we built the tools your business runs on and handed you the keys, that's what our builds are for.

See what we do