The first one

Cape Town’s first Claude build day.

Fable 5.1 landed, and the fastest way to understand a new model is to put it in front of people who build things and watch what happens. So this is the first Claude Community build day in Cape Town: one room, one morning, 40 builders and a model none of us has properly stress-tested yet. No talks, no panels — everything gets made here, and the room picks what it liked best.

Bring your laptop and an idea. The only prep is having Claude Code set up before you arrive.

Tracks

Pick a track

Three ways in. Pick whichever one fits the thing you actually want to build — nobody is checking.

Track

Delight

Something surprising, beautiful, or just plain fun.

The brief

The bar: you couldn't have made it this good, this fast, before. Lean into craft, polish or sheer playfulness — the thing people want to show someone else the moment they see it.

Track

Breakthrough

Something that wasn't possible before.

The brief

Take a problem the last model couldn't handle and see how far this one gets. Bring the prompt that used to fail, the task that needed too many steps, the thing you gave up on.

Track

Everyday

Something that fixes a real annoyance in your life or work.

The brief

The unglamorous one, and often the most useful. A script, a tool, a small piece of automation that removes a job you actually do every week.

How the morning runs

Three and a half hours, start to finish

Show up, set up, pick a track, build for a focused 90 minutes, demo, vote, wrap. That's the whole format.

  1. 01
    09:30
    Doors open

    Coffee, get your laptop and your API credits set up.

  2. 02
    10:00
    Kickoff

    What's new in Fable 5.1, plus a few live demos.

  3. 03
    10:30
    Tracks explained, teams form

    Pick Delight, Breakthrough or Everyday. Go solo or team up in twos to fours.

  4. 04
    10:45
    Build time

    A focused 90 minutes — pick your track and go.

  5. 05
    12:15
    Demos

    Two minutes each. Voting is already open — spend your 3 votes as you watch.

  6. 06
    12:45
    Group photo, share your build, wrap up

    Vote closes, winners called out, group photo.

  7. 07
    13:00
    Close

    That's a wrap. See you at the next one.

Times are our plan for the morning rather than a contract — the hosts will call the room if something shifts.

The vibe

Think co-working meets accountability group. Small enough (40 people) that you'll actually know what everyone else is building. Laptops open. Help available when you're stuck.

Who should come

Developers and more technical product people. You'll want a basic grasp of Claude Code, the Console and the terminal, and to be comfortable loading an API credit voucher via the console. Bring a laptop, a charger, and one problem you've been meaning to solve.

Perks

What's in it for you

The morning is free — and built so you leave with real progress, not a tote bag.

Free (always will be)
$100 in Anthropic API credits per attendee
Coffee and a room full of people building the same day you are
Access to Cape Town's growing AI builder community
Lightning demos

Two minutes. What makes them count

Four things worth getting right before 12:15.

Show the thing

Two minutes is enough for a live screen, not for slides. Open the real thing.

Say what surprised you

Everyone is meeting Fable 5.1 today. What it did better — or worse — than you expected is the most useful thing you can tell the room.

Half-finished is fine

A rough prototype that runs tells the room more than a polished description of one.

Practice once

Run it through before 12:15 so the two minutes go on the demo, not on finding the right tab.

Demos start at 12:15 sharp and every registered builder gets the floor, in the order the hosts call. Register early — the running order comes straight off the list.

Audience vote

The room picks the winners

Everyone gets 3 votes. Spread them across one demo, two, or three — however you felt watching them.

Voting opens at 11:30 and closes at 12:45, just before the wrap. One ballot per device, and the results go live on the vote page the moment you've cast yours.

Vote
Hosts

Who's running the morning

In the room all morning. Grab either of us — that's what we're here for.

  • Tessa Verster

    Claude Community Ambassador, Cape Town

  • Daniel Schwartz

    Senior DevOps Engineer at JUMO

House rules

Community over flakiness

Five simple expectations. They keep the room small and the energy high.

Do
Show up

40 seats and a waitlist. If your plans change, release your spot on Luma so someone else can build.

Do
Come set up

Have Claude Code working on your laptop before you arrive — the only prep there is.

Do
Ship, don't pitch

Everything gets made in the room. Demos beat slides every time.

Do
Share openly

Trade tips, post your repo, paste your prompt.

Do
Bring one problem

A laptop, a charger, and one problem you've been meaning to solve.

Venue

Roamwork Harrington

An iconic building in Cape Town's East City, turned into a flexible co-working space. Roamwork has run here since 2018 — hot desks, meeting rooms and board rooms across the second floor.

Second floor of The Harrington, 50 Harrington Street, District Six. Basement parking with direct access to the workspace, plus showers, lockers and bike storage on site.

Address50 Harrington St, District Six, Cape Town, 7925
Find us2nd floor
Nearest stopCape Town East City, walking distance from the CBD
Room40 builders
TeamsSolo, or in a team of two to four formed on the day

Got a 2-minute demo?

Register your lightning demo now — fill in the form, or wire up the MCP server and let Claude do it for you.