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The Baker's Dozen · Cultivated AI · Lab 04

Build a Chrome extension

In Session 2 everyone builds a real Chrome extension by pasting one prompt into Google AI Studio. Pick the card from your corner of the company, or bring your own idea. None of these need an API key or a server. Each one runs entirely inside Chrome, and the whole build is three steps.

How this works

  1. Copy the prompt from your card below. It is a complete brief. Nothing to add unless you want to.
  2. Paste it into Google AI Studio's Build mode and send. When the app is ready, export it as a zip.
  3. Unzip it. Open chrome://extensions, switch on Developer mode, click Load unpacked, choose the folder. Then tell AI Studio what to change, export again, reload. Three to five rounds.
Eleven ideas

Pick your corner

One idea for every corner of the company, matched to the worlds from the questionnaire. Small on purpose: each one fits inside twenty minutes with rounds to spare. Every prompt already carries the packaging rules, so the zip AI Studio exports loads straight into Chrome.

🥐 Kitchen & production

Recipe scaler

Paste an ingredient list, type how many batches you need, and every quantity rescales instantly. No more mental math at 4am.

📦 Operations & supply

Order message builder

Your vendors and their usual items live in the popup. Tick what you need and it writes the WhatsApp order message, ready to copy.

🛵 Marketplace

Complaint spotter

Highlights the words you care about (late, stale, missing, refund) on any reviews page, so problems jump out before you scroll past them.

Heads up: Chrome will warn that it can read data on all sites. Highlighting needs that.

📣 Marketing & content

Caption counter & hashtag stash

A live character count for captions, plus your saved hashtag sets with one click to copy. Ends the count-by-hand era.

📈 Trade

Quote builder

Keep your price list in the popup. Tick products, set quantities and a discount, and it writes out a tidy quote with the total.

🧾 Finance & accounts

GST splitter

Type any amount and see it with GST added at 5, 12 and 18 percent. Works backwards too: what an inclusive amount breaks into.

🤝 People & admin

Team dates reminder

Store birthdays and work anniversaries. Chrome notifies you that morning, so nobody's day slips past unnoticed.

Heads up: Allow notifications when Chrome asks.

🎨 Design & creative

Color grabber

Click any pixel on any page and get its exact color code. Chrome has a built-in eyedropper; your extension just puts it to work.

💻 MIS

Morning launcher

One button opens every portal and dashboard you check daily, each in its own tab. The whole 9am ritual, one click.

⚖️ Legal

Clause library

Your approved clauses and disclaimers in a searchable popup. One click copies the exact wording, every time.

🧭 Founding & leadership

Focus tab

Replaces Chrome's new-tab page with today's one priority and a countdown to your next big date. Every new tab asks whether you're on it.

Heads up: On the first new tab after installing, Chrome asks whether to keep the change. Choose Keep it.

If none of these fit

A good first build lives in one popup and saves you a minute a day. Find your minute, then describe that instead. Copy any card's prompt and replace the Goal, What it does and Features sections with your own words. Keep the rest: the Files and Rules sections are what make the zip load.

Google AI Studio

From prompt to zip

Google AI Studio is free with a Google account. Its Build mode writes the whole project from one prompt, and its export hands you a zip with every file inside.

  1. A

    Go to aistudio.google.com and sign in.

    Any Google account works. No card, no payment.

  2. B

    Open Build.

    It is in the left sidebar, or go straight to aistudio.google.com/apps. You get a prompt box for describing an app.

  3. C

    Paste the full prompt from your card and send.

    AI Studio writes every file and shows a preview on the right. The preview shows your popup with its sample data. Buttons that need Chrome itself only work once the extension is installed.

  4. D

    Export it as a zip.

    When it has finished, click Export at the top right and choose Zip. Your browser downloads the whole project as one zip. If your AI Studio shows a download icon on the Code tab instead, that is the same thing.

  5. E

    Unzip it on your desktop.

    Inside the folder you should see manifest.json at the top level. If it sits one folder deeper, that inner folder is the one you will load.

Chrome

Load unpacked

"Developer mode" sounds scary. It is not. It only means you are running an extension you did not get from the Chrome Web Store. One toggle, one button, one folder.

  1. 1

    Open chrome://extensions in a new tab.

    Type it into the address bar. This is Chrome's own extensions page.

  2. 2

    Switch on Developer mode.

    The toggle is at the top right. Three buttons appear: Load unpacked, Pack extension, Update.

  3. 3

    Click Load unpacked.

    A folder picker opens. Choose the folder that has manifest.json in it.

  4. 4

    Pin it.

    Click the puzzle-piece icon next to the address bar and press the pin beside your extension. Click its icon to open the popup. (If you built the Focus tab, open a new tab instead.)

  5. 5

    Something red?

    Chrome shows an Errors button on any extension that fails. Open it, copy the message, and paste it into your AI Studio chat with: "This did not work. Here is the error." Then export, unzip and load again.

  6. 6

    Every change after that.

    Tell AI Studio what to change, export again, unzip into the same folder so the old files are replaced, then press the reload arrow on the extension's card on the extensions page.

The loop

Three to five rounds

Nobody's first version is the finished version. The loop is the lesson. Keep the same AI Studio chat open for the whole lab; it remembers your project.

Things to say

  • The popup is too narrow. Make it 420px wide.
  • Add a delete button next to each item.
  • This did not work. Here is the error: (paste it)
  • Change nothing else. Give me the complete updated files.

Common snags

  • "Manifest file is missing or unreadable": you picked the folder above the one with manifest.json.
  • "Could not load icon": an icon is declared but the file is missing. Paste the error back.
  • Popup opens blank: right-click the extension's icon, choose Inspect popup, copy the red line from Console, paste it back.
  • The preview in AI Studio shows nothing: fine. The extension only fully works inside Chrome.
  • The zip unzipped into "name (1)": load whichever folder has manifest.json, and remove the old one from chrome://extensions.