Desktop Step 4: Put Your Project on GitHub So Vercel Updates Your Site Automatically

Put your project on GitHub, then connect Vercel to that GitHub project. From then on, every time you finish a change and tell the AI "save and upload", your site updates itself. The AI types the commands, so you never learn Git. You also gain a history you can roll back to, and the project survives if your computer dies.

In step two we put the site online by dragging the folder onto Vercel. That method is simple enough, but use it for a while and you will hit three walls:

1. Every one-word change means dragging the folder again. Ten changes, ten drags. Sooner or later you stop bothering to update.
2. There is no history. Broke something and want to go back to yesterday's version? It is gone. Yesterday's version only exists in your memory.
3. It only lives on this one computer. If the computer breaks or gets wiped and reinstalled, the project disappears with it.

These three problems share one solution that engineers have used for twenty years: GitHub + automatic deployment. This post shows you how to connect it, and you will not have to memorise a single Git command. The AI does all the hands-on work.

#What are GitHub and Vercel?

• GitHub: a cloud safe for your project, where every "save" also keeps a history record, so you can flip back to any version at any time.
• Vercel connected to GitHub: links the safe to your website. From then on, every time you save something up to it, your site updates to the new version within a minute.

Once it is connected, your daily routine comes down to one sentence: after you change something, tell Claude Code "save and upload". That is it.

#What do you need before you start?

• A website project folder. The smoothest choice is the one-page service site you built in step two, and this post uses it as the example throughout. (The Threads post-idea script from step three is a command-line tool, not a website, so it does not belong on Vercel. It is fine to leave it for now.)
• You have already installed Claude Code by following the Claude Code hands-on tutorial. Still using Antigravity works too: wherever this post says "tell Claude Code", say it in the Antigravity management panel instead. The process is exactly the same.
• A GitHub account: sign up at github.com, it is free. The sign-up flow is in English: fill in an email and a password, then pick a username in English letters (it will appear in your project's web address later, so keep it short). Along the way there is a small anti-bot puzzle. If any step is unclear, follow the usual rule: take a screenshot and ask the AI.

#Step one: How does the AI put your project on GitHub?

Open a terminal in the project folder, type claude, then say:

Put this project on GitHub for me. My GitHub username is ___, and set it to private. I don't know Git, so before each step, explain in plain language what you are about to do and why.

From here it handles all the grunt work: initialising, the first save, creating the remote repository, uploading. There are two situations where it will stop and come to you:

• Your computer does not have Git or the GitHub tools installed yet: it will tell you how to install them, or install them for you. Follow along.
• A GitHub authorisation window pops up (a browser sign-in or a code): this is GitHub confirming that it really is you. Sign in, enter the code, and go back to the terminal to continue.

When it is done, open github.com/your-username and you will see your project sitting there. From this moment on, even if your computer burns up, the project is still there.

A good habit to build now: before uploading, ask it one question: "Is there anything in this project that should not be public, such as an API key or a password? If so, deal with it first." We fell into the trap of an API key leak that ran up a bill in seven days, and this one sentence blocks that whole class of accident.

#Step two: How do you connect Vercel to GitHub?

1. Go to vercel.com and sign in. There is a fork in the road here, and taking the wrong branch is very confusing: if you signed in with Google in step two, sign in with Google again this time (pressing Continue with GitHub instead creates a brand-new empty account, and your earlier project will look as if it vanished into thin air). After signing in, click your avatar in the top-right corner → Settings → Login Connections, and connect GitHub. Only people using Vercel for the first time should sign up directly with Continue with GitHub.
2. Click Add New → Project. The first time, an authorisation page in English pops up asking you to install Vercel into your GitHub: choose your account and press the green Install button to agree. Once it is installed you will see your list of GitHub projects.
3. Choose that project, press Import, then Deploy. You do not need to touch any settings. Vercel works them out on its own.
4. When it finishes, it gives you a web address. Note: this is a new address. The old address you got from dragging the folder will not update along with it. Send the new address again to everyone you sent the old one to, and delete the old project in Vercel so that later you are not left unsure which one is the real one. From now on, this new address updates itself.

#Step three: How do you check automatic updates work?

1. Go back to the terminal and tell Claude Code: "Add a 🚀 to the homepage title, then save and upload."
2. Once it has made the change and finished uploading, wait a minute.
3. Refresh your web address: the 🚀 is there.

That is the entire process for every update from now on: say one sentence, and the site updates itself.

#What is the routine from here?

• "Save and upload" is your catchphrase. Say it every time you finish a meaningful change. What it does behind the scenes is called commit + push. If you want to understand that, great; if you would rather not, that is completely fine.
• If you break something: tell it "go back to the last saved version". The full history is there. This is the undo button GitHub gives you.
• If a Vercel deployment fails: the Vercel page shows a red Failed. Click into it, copy the whole error message, and paste it to Claude Code. Fixing it is its job.

#What is the next step up?

Your project now has a home, a history, and goes live on its own. You will notice a new annoyance: every time you open a new conversation, you have to explain all over again "what this project is for, who I am, and what my rules are".

The next post solves that: write a CLAUDE.md so the AI automatically remembers your project every time it starts work.