make your own copy.

When you buy unparty-app, you get access to the original repository on GitHub. Access is not the same as owning it. This step turns that access into a copy that is entirely yours: your own private repository, in your own account, downloaded to your own computer. After this, the original can change or disappear, and your copy stays exactly where you put it.

(Access is borrowed. A copy is owned. This step is the difference.)

🧭 Where Your Copy Lives

Place	What it is	Why it matters
Your GitHub account	A private repository you own	The official version of your site, with every change saved
Your computer	A downloaded copy (a clone)	Where you and Claude make changes before they go live
Vercel (later)	Your live website	It publishes whatever is in your GitHub repository

PlaceYour GitHub account

What it isA private repository you own

Why it mattersThe official version of your site, with every change saved

PlaceYour computer

What it isA downloaded copy (a clone)

Why it mattersWhere you and Claude make changes before they go live

PlaceVercel (later)

What it isYour live website

Why it mattersIt publishes whatever is in your GitHub repository

BUILD.

✓ Success: your copy is on your computer.

this is a work in progress

1️⃣ Accept Your Invitation

After you purchase, GitHub sends an invitation to the email on your GitHub account, the one you set up in the GitHub step. Open it and click View invitation, then Accept invitation. If you cannot find the email, sign in to GitHub and check github.com/notifications.

Invitations expire after seven days. If yours did, ask for a new one. Nothing is lost.

2️⃣ Make Your Own Repository

You now have access to the original. Use it once, to create a repository that belongs only to you:

On the original repository's page, click the green Use this template button, then Create a new repository
Owner — choose your own account
Repository name — your business or site name, lowercase with dashes (for example, my-studio-site)
Visibility — choose Private
Click Create repository

Your new repository starts with a single commit: the entire app. Everything after that is your history, not mine. Do not use Fork instead. A fork of a private repository stays attached to the original, and it is removed if your access to the original ever ends. A repository made from the template is independent from the first click.

“Your repository, your account, your history. From the first commit.”
— unparty-app

3️⃣ Download It With GitHub Desktop

Downloading a repository is called cloning. GitHub Desktop does it with a few clicks, and it brings everything it needs along with it, so you do not have to install anything else first:

Download GitHub Desktop, open it, and sign in with your GitHub account
Choose File → Clone repository
On the GitHub.com tab, pick the repository you just created (under your username, not the original)
Set Local path to a folder you will remember, like Documents/Projects
Click Clone

When it finishes, GitHub Desktop says "No local changes." That is exactly right: your computer and GitHub match.

4️⃣ Open It in Your Editor

An editor is where you read and change the files. Install Visual Studio Code, which is free. Then, in GitHub Desktop, choose Repository → Open in Visual Studio Code. If you set up Claude Code in the last step, open this same folder there too.

You will see a lot of files. You do not need to understand them yet. These are the ones worth knowing by name:

src/app — your pages. Each folder is a web address on your site
public — images, covers, and anything else visitors can download
prisma — the shape of your database
.env.example — the list of keys you will fill in during the next few steps
CLAUDE.md — instructions that teach Claude Code how this codebase works. It reads this file on its own

⌨️ Already Comfortable in a Terminal?

bash

# Clone your repository (use your own username and repo name)
cd ~/Projects
git clone https://github.com/your-username/your-repo.git
cd your-repo

# Open it with Claude Code
claude

🔒 Keep It Private

Leave your repository Private. Your content, your customers' pages, and your settings history live in it
Invite people only through Settings → Collaborators, and only people you would hand your office keys to
Your keys still never go in the repository. They arrive in the next steps, in a file called .env, which git ignores

🤖 Your First Look Around

This is the moment Claude Code starts earning its place. Open it in your new folder and ask for a tour before you touch anything:

prompt

Read CLAUDE.md and give me a five-sentence tour of how this
codebase is organized. Do not change anything.

Where does the text on my homepage come from? List the file
paths only.

Explain what package.json and .env.example are for, as if I
have never opened a codebase before.

✅ You Are Done When

A private repository exists under your username, created from the template, not forked
GitHub Desktop shows it with No local changes
The folder is open in your editor, and you can see CLAUDE.md, package.json, and src

That is the moment unparty-app becomes yours. Next is Install the tools: the few programs your computer needs to run the site, so you can see your copy working before you change a single word.

“Access you rent. A copy you own.”
— unparty-app