build recipe

Build a basic dashboard

Take a spreadsheet of numbers and turn it into a simple web page with charts you can open in your browser — no coding.

easy ~15 min

you'll end up with A single web page that shows your key numbers as charts, runnable on your own computer.

The steps

01
Put your data in a folder

Make a new folder and drop your CSV or spreadsheet export inside it. Open Claude there so it can see the file.
paste this to Claude
```
I just opened you in a folder with a file called sales.csv. Take a look and tell me what columns and data it has.
```

Describe the dashboard you want

Tell Claude what numbers matter to you and what kind of charts you'd like. Plain language is enough.

paste this to Claude

Build a simple HTML dashboard from sales.csv with three things: total revenue this month, a line chart of revenue over time, and a bar chart of revenue by region. Keep it a single self-contained file I can open in my browser.

03
Open it and react

Claude will create the file and tell you how to open it. Look at it, then ask for changes the same way you'd tell a designer.
paste this to Claude
```
The bar chart colors are hard to read and I want the totals bigger at the top. Adjust it.
```
04
Refresh it later

Next month, replace the CSV and ask Claude to regenerate — or save the steps as a recipe so it's one command.
paste this to Claude
```
I've replaced sales.csv with the new month's data. Rebuild the dashboard the same way.
```

tips & best practices

Ask for a single self-contained HTML file — it opens in any browser with nothing to install.
Describe the numbers that matter to *you*; don't accept whatever charts Claude picks by default.
Sanity-check one total against your spreadsheet before you trust the whole dashboard.
Once it looks right, save the steps as a command so next month is a one-word refresh.

Put your data in a folder

Describe the dashboard you want

Open it and react

Refresh it later