Set up the dashboard tooling
before class starts.
Do this once, ahead of time. So class time is building, not installing.
Install a Google tag on your site — now, not in class.
The dashboard you build in class reads from your real website traffic. That data only exists if your site has been collecting it. The Google tag is the little snippet that does the collecting — and it needs to run for about a week before there's anything worth charting.
Get the tag installed and confirmed at least 7 days before class. A week of data is the difference between a live dashboard and an empty one.
Already have Google Analytics running on your site? You can skip ahead to “Confirm it's collecting data.”
Create the tag in Google Analytics.
This gives you a Measurement ID (it looks like G-XXXXXXXXXX). You'll need it for every install path on the next slide, so do this part first.
- 1. Go to analytics.google.com and create an account + property for your site.
- 2. Add a Web data stream for your site's URL (leave Enhanced measurement on).
- 3. Open the stream and copy its Measurement ID (
G-…). Keep it handy.
Follow Google's official walkthrough — it has the current screens for every step above:
Install the tag — two paths.
Your site is code you control, so just ask Claude. Open the project in Claude Code and say:
Claude adds the snippet, commits, and deploys for you. Nothing else to do — move on once it's live.
Use your platform's built-in field — no code needed. Open your platform's official guide and paste your G-… ID where it says:
Both paths do the same thing: the tag snippet ends up in your site's <head> on every page. Don't add it twice.
Confirm it's collecting data.
Two quick checks. Do both — the first proves the tag is on the page, the second proves data is reaching Google.
Go to tagassistant.google.com, enter your site URL, and confirm your G-… tag shows as connected / firing.
In Analytics, open your phone or another browser to your live site, then watch Reports → Realtime. You should see 1 active user — you.
Data can take up to ~30 minutes to first appear. If Realtime stays empty after that, jump to the troubleshooting slide. Verify guide: support.google.com.
Give Claude read-only eyes on your analytics.
The tag is collecting data — but it's locked inside Google. To build a dashboard from it, Claude has to be able to read that data directly. This step grants exactly that, and nothing more.
Almost nothing. You paste one message into Claude Code and follow two short browser prompts. Claude does all the technical setup itself.
Read-only. Claude can look at your analytics — it can't post, edit, or delete anything. You can't break your analytics with this.
You'll need the Google account your analytics lives under. Work/school accounts are sometimes locked down — if so, Claude will tell you, and the fix is a personal @gmail.com.
Make your dashboard project, then paste this.
This is the project you'll build your dashboard in for class — so set it up now and connect your data inside it.
- 1. Make a new empty folder for your dashboard (e.g.
my-dashboard) — save it next to your Class 1 website folder so they live together. - 2. Open that folder in a new VS Code window (File → New Window, then open the folder), then open Claude Code in it.
- 3. Paste this message to Claude, exactly:
Expect Claude to pause twice and ask you to click something in your browser — that's normal, not an error. Both moments are on the next slide. Everything else, it handles itself.
Claude will pause twice. Here's what for.
A Google sign-in page opens in your browser. Pick the account your analytics is under and click Allow, then tell Claude you're done.
Claude hands you a robot email to add in Analytics → Admin → Property Access Management as a Viewer. Claude walks you through each click.
Done when Claude confirms it has access — it'll say the connection works. Your numbers may still read zero at first: Google takes up to ~48 hours to start sharing data. That's expected. A few days later, just ask Claude "how many people visited last week?" — once it pulls a real number, you're set for class.
Don't wait around for the data — move on to Step 3 (the database) now, then circle back and re-ask Claude in a few days.
Get a free Supabase database.
Your dashboard needs somewhere to store and organize data. Supabase is a free, hosted database — you'll create an account and one project now, and in class Claude will build the tables inside it for you.
Just two things: make an account and create one project. That's the whole prerequisite. No tables, no setup — Claude handles all of that in class.
Free. The Free plan is plenty for this class — no credit card needed to start.
Heads-up: free projects pause after about a week of no use. If yours is paused by class day, just open the Supabase dashboard and click Resume — it's instant.
Sign up and create one project.
- 1. Go to supabase.com/dashboard/sign-up and create an account (sign in with GitHub is easiest).
- 2. When asked, create a new organization on the Free plan.
- 3. Click New project. Give it a name (e.g.
my-dashboard). - 4. Set a database password — let it generate one, then save it somewhere safe. You'll need it later.
- 5. Pick the region closest to you and click Create new project.
It takes a minute or two to set up — that's normal. When the project dashboard loads and stops saying "setting up," you're done with this step.
Let Claude build inside your database.
Back in your dashboard project in Claude Code (the same folder as before), paste this:
Read the next slide before you paste this. Unlike the analytics setup, this one makes you restart Claude Code partway through — and that's exactly where people get stuck. The next slide shows you how to pick up right where you left off.
Claude will ask you to restart. Here's how to come back.
The Supabase tools only switch on after Claude Code restarts. When Claude tells you to, fully quit and reopen it — then you need to get back into this same conversation so Claude remembers what it was doing.
After reopening, click the clock icon at the top-right of the Claude box (boxed in red below). That's your conversation history — pick the chat you were just in, then type "continue the Supabase setup."
If the Claude panel (the Anthropic logo) disappeared after restarting, just click any file in your project on the left — the Claude box pops right back.
Don't start a brand-new chat — Claude would forget where it was. Always come back through the 🕐 history.
Then one last thing Claude will walk you through: type /mcp in the Claude box, pick supabase, and choose Authenticate. A Supabase page opens in your browser — sign in if asked, pick your project, and click Authorize. That's it — Claude can now build your database.
You're done. Here's what you set up.
- A Google tag on your site, collecting visitor data.
- Claude can read your analytics (read-only).
- A free Supabase database, with Claude connected to build in it.
One thing to circle back on: a few days after installing your Google tag, ask Claude "how many people visited last week?" Once it returns a real number, your data is flowing and you're fully ready.
Bring your laptop to class with your dashboard project open. We'll build the dashboard together from here.
Stuck? Tell Claude. It's the troubleshooter.
This is the habit for everything going forward: when something doesn't work, you don't go hunting for the fix — you describe what happened to Claude, and it diagnoses and fixes it. Paste the error, or just say what you see:
Claude reads the error, knows the usual causes, and walks you through it — the same way it ran the setup. It can almost always get you unstuck.
Still stuck after asking Claude a couple of times? Don't lose your evening over it — email me at eric@stratengineai.com and I'll walk you through it.