Case study · 6–8 October 2026
One person and Claude Code built an interactive Bob Dylan site over three days (about 36 hours), starting from an empty folder. Most of its plans were reviewed as narrated videos. Below: the site as it changed, then every step in order.
The finished site as it changed, from the first build to the last. Click a picture to see it larger, then step through the rest with ‹ › or the arrow keys.
The owner asked for an interactive site about Bob Dylan's life and music that works well on a phone. reelplanner (then called reelplanning) turned three of the four plans into narrated videos that paused at each open question for the owner to answer, and after each build a second video showed the finished pages. The fourth plan came from a comment on one of those videos, and was approved in chat.
To try it yourself, install reelplanner, then give the owner's first prompt in an empty folder (it says reelplanning, the tool's name then):
mkdir dylan-site && cd dylan-site && git init claude --model claude-opus-5-5 "Use reelplanning to plan: Build an interactive website about Bob Dylan. I want someone to be able to explore his life and music — the different eras, the albums, the songs and how they connect — in a way that's more engaging than reading a Wikipedia article, and it should work well on a phone. Start from scratch in this empty folder."
The study ran on Claude Opus 5.5 (claude-opus-5-5), Claude Code 2.1.291, reelplanning 0.2.0, HyperFrames 0.8.52.
macOS or Linux, Node 22.20 or later, Python 3.10 or later; about 1.3 GB in all.
The narration voice runs on your machine. On a slow machine, use a hosted voice instead (about $0.03 a minute of narration): write these two lines before setup, which checks the voice it will use.
mkdir -p ~/.reelplanner && printf 'REELPLANNER_TTS=openrouter\nOPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-…\n' >> ~/.reelplanner/.env
npm i -g github:ncrispino/reelplanner reelplanner setup npx skills add "$(npm root -g)/reelplanner" --skill plan-to-video -g
Installed it before as reelplanning, its name until October 2026? Run npm rm -g reelplanning first: npm will not install over its commands.
When each video opens, answer its questions, add any comments, then send the review. Each later plan below starts with the owner's message; give it to Claude Code the same way.
Taken from the session transcript, the review files and the project's commits. The owner's words are quoted exactly, typos included. Minor steps are collapsed. Times are UTC.
The owner asks for a plan
Use reelplanning to plan: Build an interactive website about Bob Dylan. I want someone to be able to explore his life and music — the different eras, the albums, the songs and how they connect — in a way that's more engaging than reading a Wikipedia article, and it should work well on a phone. Start from scratch in this empty folder.
The agent writes the plan
The first plan: an explorer site about Bob Dylan.
The agent makes the plan video · version 1
This first version was not kept. The video you can watch is version 2, rebuilt at 21:42 after the owner's review. Go to version 2 ↓
The plan video fixed after the fresh eyes' notes, and the plan made clearer.
The owner writes
pls put on 8005 instead.
The owner reviews the plan and asks for changes
The plan revised after the owner's first review.
The agent rebuilds the plan video · version 2, the one you can watch
Plan video · The site, from an empty folder28 scenes · 6:17 · 3 questions for the ownerWatch it →
The revised plan fixed after the fresh eyes' notes, with its questions in order: photos second, lyrics third.
The owner reviews the plan and approves it
can we display lyrics in the page though? if you dont want to copy them we can cite, but should be able to put lyrics on if we attribute them to authors i believe? dont see why not? just dont list full lyrics, only part if you want
but note that we can ue other images and shiould still make it completely visually full , even if we cant find licenses... like no photographs and just text will be bad
The plan approved, and the review's comments folded into its steps.
The owner writes
yes, start building it
The site built in Astro: the dataset, a timeline of eras, the pages, threads, a map, search and checks.
26 free-licensed era photos from Wikimedia Commons added, and a caption fixed.
Search copes with swapped letters, and the walkthrough is written.
Fixes from the code check (the base path, dragging the map, lyrics links, the phone check), and the walkthrough's answers.
Map labels stay on screen, and the walkthrough's screenshots are taken.
Era panels fit a phone, the phone check catches panels that are too wide, and search lists the best matches first.
The agent makes the walkthrough video · version 1
This first version was not kept. The video you can watch is version 2, rebuilt at 04:10 after the owner's review. Go to version 2 ↓
Long titles fit a phone, the phone check catches headings that overflow, and the screenshots are retaken.
The walkthrough video fixed after the fresh eyes' notes, with its narration and two new glossary terms.
The owner reviews the walkthrough and asks for changes
A walkthrough's questions continue the plan's numbering.
can you explore more why we didnt fully fill the connections here?
its fine if this is the only possibility but arfe you sure we dcant just quote some small parts? i dont undersand why we wouldnt be able to, this is common to cite a line from a song, even in popular culture
i think the fonts and styling can be much better, more individualistic; it's kind of boring and stock right now. each era should mean something and visually be represented by that via the page. it shouldnt be standardized, it should evoke the creativity of bob dylan
is this missing some songs do you mean?
yeah visually this needs much enhancement, it is very basic and even ugly
we should be able to view other videos here too i mean there should be a lot we can view and probably on more than two
for the 4 that werent found we must find a replacement for it; can't leave dry
these should be loaded already; it looks much cleaner that way. also the rest of the page has ugly bubbles that need improving with the improvemnet of the rest of the themeing
What changed
The changes the owner asked for in the walkthrough review.
Track numbers get their own column, and the walkthrough's counts are updated.
The agent rebuilds the walkthrough video · version 2, the one you can watch
Walkthrough · The site, from an empty folder11 scenes · 2:11Watch it →
The owner reviews the walkthrough and approves it
So are you saying it is empty right now? that is what im concerned about
Excerpts added by hand move to their own file, so a data merge keeps them; the second walkthrough review is filed.
The owner writes
ok i think its fine to just have AI fill in the lyrics?
The owner writes
ok i think its fine to just have AI fill in the lyrics summary?
The owner writes
yes do both
Every album song gets a summary of its words, in our own words: lyrics are summarised, not quoted (decision D-033).
The owner writes
can you host the website now on that 8005 and i can open?
Asked for nineteen minutes apart and planned together, so their steps interleave.
The owner asks for a plan
we need a new plan to make this work better on a computer. right now there is poor formatting (e.g., themes not going on full page, the side by side threads and map) and functionality (e.g., can't press a dot on the thread map, still a button to change cards that can be clicked), as a lot was meant for a phone. we need to fill in more and fix it so it looks great on a computer too
The owner asks for a plan
ok also i know this is a little different but do you recommend including this here as part of hte refactor? i see songs like 'If You See Her, Say Hello' are in the main discogrophy but have nothing there
The owner writes
yes write the second plan now, both reviewed together
The agent writes the plan
Two plans written together: the site on a computer (6 steps, 3 questions) and every track a page (4 steps, 2 questions).
The agent makes the plan video
Plan video · Every track a page22 scenes · 3:58 · 2 questions for the ownerWatch it →
The agent makes the plan video
Plan video · The site on a computer32 scenes · 5:37 · 3 questions for the ownerWatch it →
The owner reviews the plan and approves it
another lyrics website will display though?
The every-song plan approved: all 277 tracks get a page (D-034), and another writer's song gets the same page (D-035).
The owner reviews the plan and approves it
actually maybe mixing this with scroll is good. i like how this is presented but if we scroll down, it should get us to the next era with a clean transition through scrolling, wihtout needing to click the arrow
The desktop plan cites those two decisions and records its answered questions.
The desktop plan approved: content up to 1200 px (D-036), one era per screen (D-037), a map dot selects its song (D-038).
Every album track mapped to a song (271 new ones), with Spotify for all 452, bobdylan.com links and 30 new connections.
What was built
The site on a computer: map clicks reach their dots, eras fill the window one per screen, pages in two columns, threads along the years, and a desktop check.
Official clips for 351 of the 452 album songs, and a check for them (the commit's 364 also counted 13 moments' clips).
The walkthroughs written for both plans, with a new question for the desktop plan.
The code checks for both plans, every finding answered.
A long word in a song title (Stardust) no longer breaks mid-word on a computer.
The agent makes the walkthrough video · version 1
This first version was not kept. The video you can watch is version 2, rebuilt at 21:10 after the owner's review. Go to version 2 ↓
The agent makes the walkthrough video
Walkthrough · Every track a page12 scenes · 2:11Watch it →
The owner reviews the walkthrough and approves it
probably want to give each writer credit
are there other lyrics providers not blocked?
Flagged: The 1979 Saturday Night Live moment stays without a clip: the YouTube finder found the same unofficial upload the first build dropped, and now skips it
From the every-song walkthrough review: co-writers credited on 21 songs, Lyrics.com links for 22 songs, and the 1979 Saturday Night Live clip back.
The owner writes
i just sent the desktop, can you see?
The owner reviews the walkthrough and asks for changes
A walkthrough's questions continue the plan's numbering.
i would like to give some visuals for these as well
Flagged: the album page's left column is not sticky
i also think that some on the desktop feels kind of bare; we might need more content. like the sides of the page are still kind of empty, and especially the biogrpahy pages with no other contents. they should have links, photos, etc. and same with album pages, some song pages. now i dont want it cluttered, i just want more informaiton, more visuals, more interaction even. just so there's enough
The agent writes the plan
The plan for a fuller site (6 steps, 3 questions), written from the owner's comment on the desktop walkthrough.
The agent rebuilds the walkthrough video · version 2, the one you can watch
Walkthrough · The site on a computer16 scenes · 3:03 · 1 question for the ownerWatch it →
The owner approves the plan in chat
ok i approved walkthrough. then sure i approve this, you can do it in chat
The owner reviews the walkthrough and approves it
A walkthrough's questions continue the plan's numbering.
The owner approves the plan in chat
The fuller-site plan approved in chat with its recommended answers (D-083 to D-085), and the desktop walkthrough approved.
What was built
The fuller site: stories for eras, moments and albums, 38 more photos, an album player, track rows, era bands, a side rail and links out.
The fuller site's walkthrough and code check written; two questions came up during the build.
The owner writes
how is the status
The agent makes the walkthrough video
Walkthrough · A fuller site18 scenes · 3:52 · 2 questions for the ownerWatch it →
The owner reviews the walkthrough and approves it
A walkthrough's questions continue the plan's numbering.
What changed
From the walkthrough review: each era links to Wikipedia, a drawn card for each moment with no photo, fuller galleries, and a Spotify link for Fallen Angels.
The owner writes
yeah i dont see youtube in there, i wonder if thats just bc we doing localhosting and that might address itself later?
The owner writes
ok great i see it, maybe we should note this somewhere thoug
The README says how to run the site, and to open it at localhost so YouTube clips play.
They ran as reelplanning, the tool's name then. Today the command is reelplanner (the old name still runs), and a new project's record is .reelplanner/.
reelplanning reel new-plan . <name> --plan plan.md reelplanning reel check .reelplanning/plans/<plan>
reelplanning narrate <video> reelplanning check-terms <video> reelplanning build <video>
reelplanning fresh-eyes <video> reelplanning fresh-eyes <video> --prompt newcomer reelplanning fresh-eyes <video> --prompt designer
reelplanning review <video> --port 8006 --detach reelplanning review --wait reelplanning reel record .reelplanning/plans/<plan> .reelplanning/inbox/<review>.json
reelplanning code-check .reelplanning/plans/<plan> --base <ref> reelplanning reel check .reelplanning/plans/<plan> --base <ref> reelplanning reel audit .reelplanning/plans/<plan>