TL;DR
- In 2026, you can go from blank screen to a live marketing website using three free tools: OpenCode, GitHub, and Vercel.
- OpenCode is a free AI coding agent that runs locally on your computer. You describe what you want in plain English; it writes all the code.
- GitHub stores your code. Vercel watches GitHub and auto-deploys every change you push.
- The whole process takes about 20 minutes the first time through. Every edit after that is just a sentence.
- Domain names run about $11/year and the DNS setup is literally copying and pasting a few values.
You don't need a developer. You don't need to know what HTML is. You don't need to understand how any of this works under the hood.
You just need three free tools, used in the right order.
Jackson (our co-host at Infacto Daily) walked through the entire thing on a solo episode while Dylan was traveling, and built a live marketing site for a fictional meal prep business called Foodstar. From nothing. In about 20 minutes.
Here's the breakdown.
The three tools (all free)
Before anything else: you don't need to understand what these do technically. You just need to know what role each one plays.
- OpenCode — a free, open-source AI coding agent that runs locally on your computer. The AI itself runs in the cloud, so your laptop doesn't need to be powerful. You describe what you want; it writes the code.
- GitHub — stores your code in a repository. Think of it like Google Drive, but for code. Free account.
- Vercel — hosts your website and deploys it automatically every time you push a change to GitHub. Free for most small business sites.
That's the whole stack. Now here's the order.
Step 1: Install OpenCode and start it up
Google "install OpenCode Mac" (or Windows, depending on your machine) and you'll find a single terminal command to copy and run. Paste it, hit Enter, and it installs.
Then type opencode and hit Enter. An interface opens up and shows you what AI model it's using. By default it's a free open-source model, so no API keys and no cost to start. If you want to upgrade to Claude or GPT later, you can plug in your API key... but you don't need to for a basic marketing site.
One note Jackson made: there is some risk to running AI-generated terminal commands, since the agent can access your file system. He hasn't had an issue, but it's worth knowing. Give it a dedicated project folder and don't point it at anything you can't afford to lose.
Step 2: Describe your site and let it build
First, tell it to set up a project folder:
"Move into a new directory for my website for my [business type] called [Business Name]."
Then give it the full brief. Jackson's looked like this:
"Create a marketing landing page for my meal prep business named Foodstar. I want users to know we exist and some of our products. I currently offer enchiladas and pancakes. I will deliver to the OKC metro area. Use a colorful vibe. Create a Git repo for this. We will be using Vercel to host it."
Notice everything that's in there: the business type, the products, the service area, the aesthetic, and the hosting platform. The more context you give it, the better the first version. The AI picks the right framework for Vercel automatically when you tell it that's where it's going.
Watch it work. You'll see it "thinking" out loud and then writing code. You don't need to read any of it. If something's wrong or you want to change something, you just say so.
Step 3: Push your code to GitHub
Go to github.com, create a free account if you don't have one, and create a new repository. Name it after your project, set it to public, and click Create.
GitHub will show you a block of commands under "push an existing repository from the command line." Copy those. Go back to OpenCode and say:
"Push this to GitHub." [paste the commands]
You'll also need a personal access token so the AI can authenticate. Go to GitHub Settings > Developer Settings > Generate new token (classic) > check the "repo" box > generate > copy. Paste it to OpenCode when it asks. The whole thing takes two minutes.
Once it says "pushed successfully," go back to your GitHub repo. Your code is there.
Step 4: Deploy on Vercel
Go to vercel.com and sign up... use the same email as your GitHub account. That's important. Vercel will automatically see your repositories because of the shared email.
Find your repo in the list, click Import, leave all the settings at their defaults, and click Deploy.
About a minute later, Vercel hands you a URL. Click it. Your website is live on the internet.
That moment is usually when it clicks for people. A real site. Your business name. Your products. And you wrote zero lines of code.
Making changes: the whole loop in one sentence
Tell OpenCode what to change, then tell it to push to GitHub. Vercel redeploys automatically. Done.
When Jackson didn't like the giant pepper icon next to his enchiladas, he just said:
"Instead of the pepper icon for enchiladas, use a tortilla."
Then:
"Push this to GitHub."
Two minutes later, a taco showed up on the live site. (Close enough.) That's the editing loop for as long as you have the site. No dashboards, no code editors, no tutorials. Just English.
Getting a real domain name
Your Vercel-generated URL works, but it's not something you put on a business card. A real domain runs about $11 to $15 a year.
Two paths:
- Buy through Vercel directly. Go to your project in Vercel > Domains. You can search and purchase right there, and Vercel likely handles the full DNS setup for you. Probably the easiest option if this is your first time.
- Buy through Namecheap (or any registrar). Once you have it, go to Vercel > Project Settings > Domains > Add Existing. You'll copy a couple of DNS values from Vercel and paste them into your Namecheap dashboard. It looks more technical than it is. If you get lost at any step, describe your screen to the AI and ask where to click. It'll tell you exactly.
Check whether your preferred domain name is available before you get too attached to it... foodstar.com has been taken since 1996, apparently.
What to do when you get stuck
You will hit a moment where something doesn't work or a screen looks confusing. That's normal.
Just describe what you're looking at and what you're trying to do. Ask OpenCode, ChatGPT, or Claude. These tools exist specifically so you don't have to know the technical details. The barrier to having a website isn't coding anymore. It's just typing the first sentence.
If you're still figuring out which AI tools are actually worth your time more broadly, the AI tools checklist from Infacto is a good place to sort through the noise.
What this actually means for small businesses
According to Forbes research on small business websites, a significant portion of small businesses still don't have a website at all. The two most common reasons: it feels too technical, and it feels too expensive.
Neither of those is true anymore.
A marketing site you control, can edit anytime, and costs $0/month to host (plus $11/year for the domain)... that's accessible to anyone. The technical part is handled by the AI. What's left is just knowing what you want your business to say.
If you want help figuring out what that is, or you'd rather not deal with any of this and just want it done, that's what Infacto is for. We help small businesses get the digital side of their company actually working.
Conclusion
In 2026, "I don't know how to code" isn't a reason to not have a website.
Three free tools. About 20 minutes. A live site you can update anytime by typing in plain English.
The bar keeps getting lower. Get over it.