Build with AI: From Zero to Your First App · Module 8: Finish, publish and present
Write a README That States Limits and AI Help
The README is the project's handshake: what it is, what it is not, who helped, what remains. This lesson writes one short enough to be read and honest enough to be trusted.
9 min reading
Objectives
- Write a README that states what the project is and is not
- Disclose the AI contribution honestly in two sentences
- State limits: browser-only, per-device data, unfinished items
- Keep the README short enough to be read fully
Why this matters
Visitors judge unfinished projects by their honesty: a README stating limits earns trust a silent demo never does. Employers, friends and future-you all read the same file. AI disclosure is part of it: hiding the tool's help invites questions later; stating it plainly shows judgment, the skill the whole program taught.
Concepts
Five short sections. What (one line: bakery one-page order site). Use (how to open: address or double-click index.html). Features (three bullets, matching scope). Limits (browser-only, per-device storage, no payment or accounts, known unfinished items named). AI help (two sentences: which tools for what, what you verified yourself). Under one page; longer READMEs are not read.
Honest AI disclosure example. "Drafted with a chat tool (briefs, text variants) and a coding assistant (single-change edits); every fact checked at its source, every fix verified with the course test routine." Names the help, claims the verification. Never "built entirely by AI" (untrue: decisions were yours) and never silent (invites discovery).
Limits as features. "Orders persist in this browser on this device" is not an apology; it is architecture stated plainly. "Multi-device sync out of scope for version one" schedules the future instead of hiding it. Stated limits convert criticism into roadmap.
Worked example
Bakery README: what (one line), use (address plus local open), features (menu, order form with echo, persistent list with delete), limits (browser-only, per-device, no payment/accounts/tracking, gallery deferred), AI help (two sentences as above). Read fully in ninety seconds, trusted immediately, roadmap visible. The project presents itself while its author sleeps.
Expected result: your README in five sections, under one page, with AI help and limits stated.
The common wrong move
README as marketing ("revolutionary AI-powered platform disrupting food"). Hype without evidence destroys the trust the project earned. Plain words, checked facts, named limits: the course voice to the end.
Lab and next step
Lab A24 (paired with lesson 31) finishes with the README review. Next: the capstone build itself, then module checks, the final assessment and the optional completion certificate, all per the course rules.
Quick check
An optional 4-question self-check. Answers never leave your device, are not stored, and never count toward any assessment.
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Exercise
Write your five-section README under one page with AI disclosure and limits. Read it aloud in under two minutes; cut anything that fails the read.
Pass criteria
Five sections present; AI help in two honest sentences; limits named (browser-only, per-device, out-of-scope items); full read under two minutes.
Next step
Finish the course: project, final, certificate.
Last lesson done. Submit the capstone project, pass the free final assessment, then the optional $15 certificate opens.