How to build a portfolio website with Claude Code or Codex (2026)
Every guide to building a portfolio with Claude Code opens the same way: an empty folder and a first prompt. Here is the other way in, from the portfolio you already published, so the tool has your projects, your words and your images to work with from the first message.
By Merav Shaked, designer and art director · Updated October 18, 2026
The short answer
Yes, and it does its best work when it starts from your own projects, not an empty folder: paste your current portfolio's link at promtfolio.com, own the rebuilt site, and open the folder in Claude Code or Codex to change anything in plain words. The folder comes with the notes both tools read first, and seven Promtfolio skills.
Why start from your portfolio, and not from an empty folder?
Anthropic describes Claude Code as a tool that reads your codebase, edits files and runs commands. An empty folder gives it nothing of yours to read, so the first site it builds is made of the tool's own defaults, like every other site built that way. The portfolio you already published has what the tool needs: your projects, your words, your images, and the order you chose for them.
That is the move this guide describes. Promtfolio rebuilds your site from its link, and when you own it, you download it as a folder that is ready for either tool. Three things in that folder matter here:
Your site, as plain files. A home page, a page per project, one stylesheet, your images and fonts. No framework and nothing to build: what is in the folder is what the host serves.
Seven Promtfolio skills. In a hidden folder named .claude/skills, one for each step from this folder to a finished portfolio: the brief, the next step, a case study from your Claude conversations or from files, a new page in the style of your site, a review of the site you have, and publishing. Claude Code loads the skills in that folder on its own; AGENTS.md tells Codex where they are.
How to do it, step by step
1. Paste the link of your current portfolio
Paste your link and see your site rebuilt, free and with no signup: the whole home page with every project, and the inside page of three projects. The inside pages of the other projects open when the site is yours, for $39 once, plus tax where it applies, with no subscription. Once it's yours, change anything with AI. Your site starts in one of six Looks, or in your old site's look if you choose to keep it. The Look is only where it starts.
2. Own the site, and download the folder
Choose Take it with you. The download is the whole site, with the notes and the skills above, a Start Here file with the first three steps, and a guide for your own domain. Keep the ZIP you downloaded: it is your untouched copy.
3. Open the folder in Claude Code or Codex
With Claude: the Claude desktop app has a Code tab. Select the folder of your site there, and talk to it. The app includes Claude Code, so there is nothing else to install. With Codex: in the ChatGPT desktop app, choose Codex and open the folder. If you have not used Claude Code or Codex before, expect some setup before your first change: installing the app and signing in. That is setup, not code. The Start Here file in your download and the Learning Center take you through it step by step. If you already work with one of them, open the folder and start.
4. Ask for the change in plain words
Change my tagline on the home page to: I design calm, clear interfaces for health products.
Move my second project to the top.
Make the accent colour a deep green and check that the text stays readable.
Add a new project called Brand refresh, with these three images and this text.
What's next? (it reads your folder and offers one next step, from the skills)
The tool changes the files and shows you what changed. In the Claude desktop app you choose how much it does on its own: propose each change and wait for your yes, or apply it and show you every changed line.
5. Look at it, then put it online
Say "start the local preview" and look at every page the way visitors will. When it is right, say "publish": the folder goes online by dragging it onto a page in your browser, at Netlify Drop or Cloudflare Pages, and a free account on either is enough for a portfolio. Hosting costs $0, and the only yearly cost there can be is a domain of your own, which is optional.
Claude Code is part of Claude's paid plans, Pro and above, and not of the free plan. OpenAI lists Codex as included in ChatGPT plans, the free one too. The current prices are on each company's page. The folder from Promtfolio does not depend on either plan: it is plain files, and the site stays online whether or not you keep paying for an AI tool.
What Claude Code and Codex are, in one paragraph each
Claude Code is Anthropic's tool for working on the files in a folder: you describe what you want in plain language, it plans the change, makes it across the files, and shows you the result. It runs in the Claude desktop app, in the browser, and in the tools developers use.
Codex is OpenAI's tool for the same work: in the ChatGPT desktop app you choose Codex and open a folder, and it can read and change the files in it. It also runs in the browser and in the tools developers use.
Adobe, Adobe Portfolio, Creative Cloud and the other product names mentioned are trademarks of their respective owners. Promtfolio is not affiliated with or endorsed by them. Facts were checked on the date above, unless a different date stands next to them, and can change; confirm with each vendor.
Questions people ask
Do I need to know how to code?
No, at no stage. You see your site by pasting a link, and you own it with one payment. To change it, you say what you want in plain words. To put it online, you publish through Promtfolio in one click, or drag the folder onto a hosting page. If you have not used Claude Code or Codex before, expect some setup before your first change: installing the app and signing in. That is setup, not code. The Start Here file in your download and the Learning Center take you through it step by step. If you already work with one of them, open the folder and start.
Can I build a portfolio website with Claude Code?
Yes. Claude Code works in a folder on your computer: it reads the files, changes them when you ask in plain words, and shows you the result. In the Claude desktop app that happens in the Code tab, with the folder of your site selected. It does its best work with something of yours to read, which is why starting from your published portfolio beats an empty folder: Promtfolio rebuilds your site from its link, and the folder you download is set up for Claude Code, with notes on how the site is built and seven skills it picks up on its own.
Can I build a portfolio website with Codex instead of Claude Code?
Yes. Codex is OpenAI's tool for working on the files in a folder: in the ChatGPT desktop app you choose Codex and open the folder, and it can read and change the files in it. OpenAI lists Codex as included in ChatGPT plans, the free one too. Codex reads a file named AGENTS.md before doing any work, and the folder you download from Promtfolio carries one, with how the site is built and where the skills are. The same folder works with Claude Code, which reads the same notes through CLAUDE.md.
Which Claude plan includes Claude Code?
Anthropic's pricing page lists Claude Code in its paid plans, Pro and above, and not in the free plan; the current prices are on that page. The Claude desktop app includes Claude Code, so there is nothing else to install: you sign in, open the Code tab and select the folder of your site. If you would rather not pay for Claude, OpenAI lists Codex as included in ChatGPT plans, the free one too, and a site downloaded from Promtfolio is set up for either.
What happens when I ask Claude Code to change something on my site?
It reads the files of your site, makes the change in them, and shows you what changed. In the desktop app you choose how much it does on its own: in Manual mode it proposes each change and waits for your approval, so your files are not touched until you accept; in Accept edits mode it applies the change and shows a count of what changed, which opens a view of every changed line. A site from Promtfolio is plain pages, so the change is in the page itself and nowhere else.
Will a portfolio built with Claude Code look like every other AI made site?
It depends on what it starts from. A site built in an empty folder starts from the tool's own defaults, and so does every other site built that way. A site that starts from your portfolio starts from your projects, your words and your images, in one of six Looks or in your old site's look, and from there every change is yours to ask for. That is the reason to begin from the site you already published rather than from nothing.
Can Claude Code put my portfolio online?
It walks you through it. The site goes online by dragging its folder onto a page in your browser, at Netlify Drop or Cloudflare Pages, and a free account on either is enough for a portfolio. When you say publish in a folder from Promtfolio, Claude Code follows the publish-site skill and DEPLOY.md, which hold the steps for each host, and shows you the site before anything goes up. Hosting costs $0, and the only yearly cost there can be is a domain of your own, which is optional.
Where these facts come from
Read on and , each on the company’s own page. These pages change; if one says something else today, it is the one to trust.