Week 02 01 / 13
02
🌐
Sunday · Week 02 · On the internet

Your name
/dot com.

Today the project on your computer becomes a website grandma can open on her phone — at gaelsigala.com and ivanmikhailiv.com.

// GitHub
📖 Recipe book
// Vercel
👨‍🍳 The kitchen
// Domain
🪧 Address
↓ Scroll
02
🎒
// Last week, you each shipped

Quick recap

Last Sunday you each built a real project from a single prompt. Today we take those exact same projects and put them on the internet.

🖥️ Gael · iMac
🧑‍🎤

Two projects shipped

~/Sites/

All-About-Me — your name in giant letters, a grid of favorite things, a photo. Minecraft replica — the one you started after that. Both sitting on your iMac, just for you.

💻 Ivan · MacBook
📚

Task tracker

~/Sites/

Add assignments, group by due date, check them off. Real tool you actually built for school. Already on your MacBook — just nobody else can see it yet.

🚀
Today's job: these projects get a real address that anyone in the world can type into their browser.
03
🪜
// The level up

From your computer
to the world

🖥️
// Week 01 · Local

Lives on your computer

Open localhost:3000 and your project shows up. Close the laptop, nobody can see it. That's how every website starts — including the ones you visit every day.

🌍
// Week 02 · Online

Lives on the internet

Type gaelsigala.com on grandma's phone. The page shows up. Anyone, anywhere, any time. That's the move today.

🧠
The code doesn't change. Just where it lives. We're moving it from your laptop to a computer that's always on, reachable from anywhere.
04
🍕
// The whole picture

3 jobs the
internet needs

Think of opening a pizza restaurant. To serve food to strangers, you need three things — the internet works the exact same way.

📖
// GitHub

The recipe book

Where your code lives. Safe, backed up, with a memory of every change you ever made. Like keeping your recipes in a binder instead of on a napkin.

👨‍🍳
// Host (we picked Vercel)

The kitchen

Reads your recipe and serves your site to anyone who visits. Vercel is one of many hosts — Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, AWS, DigitalOcean all do the same job. We picked Vercel because it's free and easy.

🪧
// Domain (you rent it)

The street address

gaelsigala.com instead of 76.76.21.21. You rent domains from a registrar — Dad uses Namecheap. GoDaddy, Cloudflare, Google all rent them too.

🎯
Every website on the planet has these three. Even big ones — YouTube, Roblox, Discord. Different vendors for each piece, but it's the same three jobs.
05
📡
// In about half a second

What happens when
you type a URL

You type gaelsigala.com and hit Enter. Here's the chain of phone calls that happens, in order, very fast.

⌨️
You type
gaelsigala.com
📞
DNS
returns an IP
🖥️
Server
at that IP sends page
01
📞

Browser asks DNS

DNS is the phonebook of the internet. Your browser asks: "Hey, where is gaelsigala.com?"

02
🔢

DNS hands back a number

The number is called an IP address — like 76.76.21.21. Every computer on the internet has one. The name gaelsigala.com is just a friendlier label that points to that number.

03
📨

Browser visits that IP address

It connects to the computer at 76.76.21.21 and asks for the page. That computer happens to live in a Vercel data center — but the browser doesn't know or care that it's Vercel. It just knows the IP.

04
👀

Server sends the page, browser draws it

About half a second total. The whole internet works this way — YouTube, Roblox, every site you visit. Names → IPs → servers.

06
🌍
// Behind the curtain

Who actually
runs all this?

Vercel isn't magic and it's not the only option. Same for Namecheap. Here's the real picture — lots of companies, all doing the same kinds of jobs, all renting you a piece.

🪧
// Registrars

Sell domain names

You rent a domain (~$10/yr). Dad uses Namecheap. Others: GoDaddy, Cloudflare Registrar, Google Domains, Porkbun, Hover. Same product, different vendors.

📞
// DNS

The phonebook

A global system. Maps names like gaelsigala.com to IP numbers. No single company runs it — ICANN sits at the top, but most of the work is shared between registrars, ISPs, and host companies.

🖥️
// Hosts

Run your website

Computers in data centers that serve your page when someone visits. We're using Vercel. Others: Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, AWS, DigitalOcean, Render, Fly.io. Pick the one that fits your project.

🤔
Why this matters: if Vercel ever shuts down or gets weird, you move your code to a different host. The domain stays yours. The code stays yours. You're never locked in — that's the whole point of how the web works.
07
🔑
// The toolkit grows

The accounts
you'll need

Four accounts. You already have one. Two more get made today. The last one is Dad's — you just share the login.

01 ✓ Done

Gmail

You already have it. Every other account uses it to send you a verification email.

02 Today

GitHub

Sign up with your Gmail. Accept Dad's invite to the sigala-fam org — that's where your code lives.

03 Today

Vercel

"Sign in with GitHub." One click, you're in. Free hobby plan. No credit card needed.

04 Dad's

Namecheap

Where Dad already bought your domain. He'll share the login so you can set DNS yourself.

🛡️
Same safety rules as Week 1. Real name and Gmail are fine for these signups — that's what they're for. Anything else (address, phone, credit card) — stop and ask Dad.
08
📦
// New word #1

What's a repo?

Short for repository. It's your project folder, plus a memory of every change you've ever made to it. Like Google Docs version history, but for code.

📁
// On your computer

Your project folder

all-about-me/
  ├─ index.html
  ├─ style.css
  ├─ images/
  └─ .git/  ← the memory
git push
Save your work to the cloud
Sends your latest changes from your computer up to GitHub, where it's safe even if your laptop catches fire.

Your repo on GitHub is the one Vercel watches. Every time you git push, Vercel sees the new code and rebuilds your live site in about 10 seconds.

🛟
The superpower: if you mess something up, you can always go back to an older version. Git remembers everything you ever did.
09
🚀
// New word #2

What's a deploy?

"Deploy" means push your code out into the world. Vercel does it automatically every time you push to GitHub. You don't have to ask.

01
✏️

You change something in your code

Maybe a new favorite Pokémon, a different color, a typo fix.

02
⬆️

You git push

One command. Your computer hands the change up to GitHub.

03
🤖

Vercel notices, instantly

It's always watching your repo. The second your push lands, Vercel starts building the new version.

04

About 10 seconds later — it's live

Refresh your site. The change is on the real internet, for everyone, instantly.

🪄
That's the magic part. You'll do this for the rest of your coding life. Change → push → live.
10
🗺️
// The plan for this hour

The order
today

Six steps. Each takes a few minutes. Claude Code does most of the work — you just say what you want and approve as it goes.

01
📧

Sign up for GitHub

Use your Gmail. Verify the email. Accept Dad's invite to the sigala-fam org.

02
⬆️

Push your project to GitHub

Tell Claude Code in your project folder: "Put this on GitHub inside the sigala-fam org." It does the rest.

03

Sign in to Vercel with GitHub

One click. Import your repo. Vercel deploys it immediately and gives you a temporary URL ending in .vercel.app.

04
🛒

Open Namecheap (Dad's login)

Find your domain. Click "Advanced DNS." You'll paste two records here in a minute.

05
🔗

Connect domain to Vercel

In Vercel: Domains → Add your domain. Vercel gives you 2 DNS records. Copy them into Namecheap. Save.

06
📲

Wait, refresh, text the URL

Within a few minutes, your domain works. Open it on your phone. Send it to grandma.

11
// A normal weird thing

DNS takes
a few minutes

When you first point your domain at Vercel, the internet's phonebook needs time to update. Your site might say "not found" for 5–20 minutes. That's normal. The phonebook is catching up.

😬
// What you'll see

"can't find this site"

Looks broken. Isn't. The DNS update hasn't reached your computer yet. Wait, refresh, repeat.

🎒
// The backup URL

your-project.vercel.app

Vercel gives every site a free URL that works instantly, no DNS needed. Use it to prove your site is alive while you wait for the real domain.

If it still doesn't work in 30 minutes, something's wrong with the DNS records you typed into Namecheap. Most common mistake: typing the wrong thing in the "Host" column (the answer is usually just @).
12
🎯
// One hour. One goal.

Today's mission

By the end of this hour, both of you can text grandma a link and she opens YOUR website with YOUR name on it.

🖥️ Gael · iMac
🧑‍🎤

GaelSigala.com

→ your pick, online

You built two things last week — All-About-Me and the Minecraft replica. Pick one to put on gaelsigala.com today. The other one gets its own URL another Sunday.

The moment: seeing YOUR name in the address bar. Phones out, text it to grandma.
💻 Ivan · MacBook
📚

IvanMikhailiv.com

→ task tracker, online

Push your task tracker to GitHub. Connect it to Vercel. Point ivanmikhailiv.com at it. Use it on your phone Monday morning to track real assignments.

The moment: a real tool you built, on your own domain, that you actually use. Not a toy. That's the level up.
📲
The final test: open your domain on your phone with WiFi turned off. If it loads on cellular, it's really on the internet — not just your house's router.
13
👋
// That's a wrap

You're
/online.

Same time next Sunday. You each have a corner of the internet that's yours now — bring it back any time you want to change something.

📅 Week 03 · What do you want to build next?