Every Tool in the Program, and What It Costs: Nothing
This whole internship runs on free tiers. You do not need a paid AI plan, a paid builder, or a paid host to finish it. This page is the tool glossary: what each tool is, what it is for, when it shows up in the ten weeks, and what "free" honestly covers. Skim it once now, come back when a week names a tool you have not met.
- One AI chat tool as your build partner: Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini. Any of them. The program is identical in all three.
- One place to build: plain HTML in a folder, or a no-code builder like Carrd. Week 4 helps you choose.
- One free host: Netlify, GitHub Pages, Cloudflare Pages, or Vercel, so your site lives on a real URL.
- One form service: Formspree or Netlify Forms, so your contact form actually reaches your inbox.
AI chat partners
Your thinking partner for the whole build: the interviews, the drafts, the stack decision, the debugging, the tutoring. Pick one as your main tool and make accounts with the others to compare answers. Where the weekly briefs say AI workspace, this table tells you what that is called in your tool.
| Tool | Made by | Your AI workspace is called | Free tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | OpenAI | a Project | Daily usage limits, plenty for this program |
| Claude | Anthropic | a Project | Daily usage limits, plenty for this program |
| Gemini | a Gem | Generous free tier with a Google account | |
| Any other AI chat | a context doc you paste in | Depends on the tool |
ChatGPT ↗
The most widely used AI chat. Strong all-rounder for interviews, drafts, and code. Projects hold your proof statement, voice card, and style note for the whole build.
AnthropicClaude ↗
Excellent at long, careful writing and honest feedback, and very good at explaining code like a tutor. Projects work the same way: instructions once, remembered every chat.
GoogleGemini ↗
Google's AI chat, generous on the free tier and tied into your Google account. A Gem is its saved workspace: set your custom instructions once and reuse them.
PerplexityPerplexity ↗
An AI that searches the live web and cites its sources. Not your main build partner, but the best of the free tools for research and checking claims.
Where your work lives
GitHub ↗
The home for your project's files and every version of them (a repository). Free hosting comes with it via GitHub Pages, and for anyone technical, a clean repo is itself proof you can ship.
MicrosoftVS Code ↗
The standard free code editor: a word processor built for code, with coloring and warnings that catch mistakes early. Where you paste, read, and understand what your AI writes with you.
CodePenCodePen ↗
A sandbox in your browser: paste HTML and CSS, see the result instantly, no setup. Perfect for testing a snippet before it goes into your real build.
Build without writing code
A real, respected path, not a lesser one. If Week 4's stack decision lands here, these are the free tiers worth knowing.
Carrd ↗
A genuinely good builder for sharp one-page sites. The free tier covers up to three sites on a carrd.co subdomain, enough for a focused portfolio.
FramerFramer ↗
A design-first builder that produces polished, modern sites, with an AI assist built in. Free tier publishes to a framer.website subdomain with its badge on the page.
CanvaCanva ↗
You may already use it for graphics; it also builds simple one-page sites. And even on the code path, it is a free workhorse for your logo, favicon, and social preview image.
Put it live, for free
A host moves your site from your computer onto a real URL anyone can open. All four below are free, serve over HTTPS, and can take a custom domain at launch. You need exactly one.
Netlify ↗
The friendliest start: drag your site folder onto the deploy area and seconds later it is live on a real URL. Built-in forms, easy custom domains. The default suggestion in Week 4.
GitHubGitHub Pages ↗
Free hosting straight from your repo: push your files and they are live. The cleanest "plain code on a URL" path, and your commit history doubles as proof of work.
CloudflareCloudflare Pages ↗
Free static hosting on a fast global network with unlimited bandwidth. A solid choice on its own, and pairs with Cloudflare's free analytics at launch.
VercelVercel ↗
A polished host loved by developers, strongest when your stack grows into a framework later. The free Hobby tier covers a personal portfolio comfortably.
The one real thing
Week 8 wires one real feature, usually a contact form that reaches your inbox. You do not build a server for that. And if your build genuinely needs to remember things, two free databases exist; most portfolios launch happily without one.
Formspree ↗
Point your HTML form at a Formspree endpoint and submissions arrive in your email. No server, no backend, works on any host. The free tier covers a portfolio's traffic.
NetlifyNetlify Forms ↗
If you host on Netlify, add one attribute to your form tag and Netlify collects the submissions for you. The least-moving-parts option there is.
SupabaseSupabase ↗
A free database and login system when a build needs to remember things: entries, submissions, users. Overkill for most portfolios at launch; good to know it exists when your next build grows.
GoogleFirebase ↗
Google's version of the same idea: database, login, and hosting under one roof. The free Spark plan is enough to experiment with. Pick this or Supabase, not both.
The look, without a designer's budget
Google Fonts ↗
Free, fast-loading fonts with ready-made pairings. Where your Week 3 type choice comes from: one heading font, one body font, done.
CoolorsCoolors ↗
Generate and lock a small palette in seconds, then copy the hex codes straight into your style note and your build.
WebAIMContrast Checker ↗
Paste two colors and confirm your text is actually readable before you commit. One free check that prevents a common review note in Week 7.
GoogleSquoosh ↗
Drag an image in, watch it shrink dramatically with no visible quality loss, download. Oversized images are the number one reason pages feel slow; this is the free fix.
favicon.ioFavicon generator ↗
Turn your initials, an emoji, or a small image into a proper favicon set in one minute. The tiny tab icon that makes a site feel finished.
Prove it is real, then watch it work
PageSpeed Insights ↗
Paste your live URL for a real report on speed, accessibility, and SEO, with fixes ranked by impact. Your Week 7 hardening pass starts here.
CloudflareWeb Analytics ↗
Free, privacy-friendly visitor stats with no cookie banner: see that real people are landing on your launched site, without spying on them.
OpenGraph.xyzSocial preview tester ↗
Paste your link and preview the share card for every platform at once, so the launch link you send in Week 10 looks intentional in the chat it lands in.
Porkbun / NamecheapA domain registrar ↗
Where you buy yourname.com at launch. The one optional cost in the program, roughly ten dollars a year. Porkbun and Namecheap are both honest, no-nonsense choices; a clean free subdomain from your host is the zero-budget fallback.