# How do you use AI to design and build a tool?

AI runs inside every step, from research to shipped code. Claude for synthesis and reasoning, Claude Code and Cursor for the build, Figma for design. The rule never changes. AI widens the options and speeds the work. I make the decisions, because judgment is the part that does not delegate.

By Surinder Thakur, AI Product Designer. Published 3 Aug 2026. Updated 1 Nov 2026. Topic: [Building an AI tool](https://www.surinder.design/work?type=building-an-ai-tool).

## Where does AI help in research?

It reads what a team has no time to read. Support tickets, process docs, exported spreadsheets, call notes. It finds the patterns.

I decide which patterns cost money. Machines find signals. Experience ranks them.

## Where does it help in design?

Claude argues with me. It attacks my favourite direction and finds the case I missed.

In Figma, AI drafts let me explore 20 directions where I used to afford 3. Most die fast. The one that survives comparison gets built.

## Where does it help in the build?

Claude Code and Cursor turn approved designs into working code. The stack is Next.js, Vercel and Supabase. Voyage AI and Cohere Rerank join when the tool needs search.

1 senior leads it from design through deployment, so nothing is lost in a handoff. ProUX, my own AI product, ships from this pipeline.

## Every decision stays human.

In each step the machine widens the options and speeds up. A person narrows them and decides.

Founders ask if AI will replace this process. It already is the process. The question is who steers it.

## In 1 picture

AI widens at every step. A person narrows and decides.

1. Research: AI reads the tickets and docs
2. Rank: I pick what costs money
3. Design: 20 directions drafted
4. Choose: 1 survives comparison
5. Build and ship: A live demo every week

## Next questions

- [Why hire a senior when AI can build the tool?](https://www.surinder.design/work/why-hire-a-senior-when-ai-can-build-it): Because building was never the hard part. AI can write the code and draw the screens in hours.
- [Why hire 1 senior instead of an agency?](https://www.surinder.design/work/why-one-senior-instead-of-an-agency): Count the layers between you and the person building. An agency quote pays for account managers, project managers and handoffs before anything works.
- [What do you get from a 2 week Blueprint?](https://www.surinder.design/work/what-you-get-from-a-blueprint): In 2 weeks you get a business case, a working prototype and a fixed build price.

Page: https://www.surinder.design/work/how-i-use-ai-to-design-and-build