# Choosing your build surface

> When the idea is to build something, you have many AI surfaces to start from. Canvas, Artifacts, Lovable, Claude Code: a map of when to reach for which

_12 min · intermediate · track: vibe-coding · id: choosing-your-build-surface_

> **Team:** 
>
> When you have an idea you want to build, the most expensive mistake is
> starting in the wrong place. Spending three hours wrestling Claude Code on
> something Canvas would have produced in two minutes is a real regret. So is
> shipping a Lovable demo as the actual tool you needed Claude Code for. This
> course is a map of the surfaces and the seams between them.

You have already met most of these surfaces in passing. [Canvas](/course/gemini) inside Gemini, [Artifacts](/course/claude) inside Claude, [Cowork](/course/claude) on the desktop, [Claude Code](/course/claude-code) in your terminal. There are a few you have not seen yet (Lovable, v0, Bolt) that fill the gap between "ephemeral demo" and "real project". Knowing where each one lands saves you the cost of starting over.

## A spectrum from throwaway to permanent

**Pick the surface that matches how long you expect the result to live and how much you want to own it.**

- **Canvas / Artifacts** are the cheapest. The result lives inside a chat. You iterate by talking to it. You demo it once. Maybe you keep the link for a week. The build cost is two minutes; throwing it away costs nothing.
- **Lovable, v0, Bolt** are the middle. AI-driven app builders that host the result on a public URL. Good for personal small tools and prototypes someone else can click. The platform owns the runtime; you own the prompts and the look.
- **Claude Code** is the deepest. A real folder on your laptop, real version control, real ownership. Slower start, much bigger ceiling. The right pick when "this needs to live, change, and ship" is the actual goal.

The fourth surface that sometimes fits is **Cowork** in the Claude desktop app, when the deliverable is a knowledge-work artifact (a working spreadsheet, a deck, a sorted folder) rather than code. Cowork sits between Artifacts and Claude Code in feel: agentic, but pointed at files instead of repos.

> **Tip:** 
>
> **Try it.** Take the same small idea ("a one-page dashboard from this CSV") and prompt it twice: once in Canvas or Artifacts, once in Lovable or v0. Notice how different the result feels even when the inputs are identical. Throwaway versus shareable.

## When to reach for each

**Match the surface to the verb you would use to describe the goal.**

- "Show me what this would look like." → **Canvas / Artifacts.** You will look at it, react, maybe iterate twice. The result lives in the chat. Charts of CSV anomalies, dashboards for tomorrow's meeting, clickable mockups, one-shot games to feel out a format.
- "I want a small app I can share a link to." → **Lovable / v0 / Bolt.** Small live tool, hosted by the platform. Personal trackers, internal helpers, prototypes you give to a teammate to click. Maintenance is on the platform; you keep iterating on the prompt.
- "I am going to build this and ship it, then change it next month." → **Claude Code.** Real folder, real Git, real deploy target. Anything that touches your existing codebase, integrates with your toolchain, or needs to outlive its first week.
- "I need a real file to send" (an `.xlsx`, a `.pptx`, a sorted folder of files) → **Cowork.** Knowledge work where the deliverable is a document or a folder, not a web app.

The trap in both directions:

- **Reaching too high.** Starting in Claude Code for "I just want to see the chart" is a tax on yourself. Canvas costs you two minutes of typing and you have what you needed.
- **Reaching too low.** Building a tool you actually want to use in Lovable or Artifacts and then realising you cannot version it, cannot extend it, and cannot move it to your own infrastructure. The migration to Claude Code is real work.

> **Tip:** 
>
> **Try it.** Pick something on your "I should build that" list. Before you start, write one sentence describing what the result needs to do six months from now. If the answer is "still be running and changeable", that is a Claude Code project. If it is "have proven the idea so I can move on", Canvas or Lovable is enough.

## A quick decision matrix

**The same question, asked four ways, points at the right surface.**

| Question | If yes |
| --- | --- |
| Will I look at this once and forget it? | Canvas or Artifacts |
| Do I want a clickable URL I can share with one person? | Lovable, v0, or Bolt |
| Will this live, change, and ship to real users? | Claude Code |
| Is the deliverable a document or a folder of files, not a web app? | Cowork |

If two answers are yes at once, the lower-on-the-list one wins. "I want to share it AND I plan to ship it" is a Claude Code project, not a Lovable one. "I want to see it AND I want to share the link" is a Lovable thing, not a Canvas thing.

## Hands-on

1. Pick one small idea from your "I should build that" list. One paragraph describing what it does and who would use it.

2. Apply the four-question matrix to it. Land on a surface. Write down which one and why.

3. Build the smallest viable version on that surface in 30 minutes. Stop at the timer regardless of how done it feels. Note what you learned about whether the surface fit.

## Reflect

- The last three things you tried to build with AI: which surface did you pick for each, and would you pick the same surface again knowing what you know now?
- Which of the four surfaces have you never tried? Pick one and put a 30-minute experiment on the calendar this week.