This post is part of an ongoing series where Claude is a real collaborator on the build, not autocomplete.
I learned Czech using the old Memrise flashcards — not the current version, but the one that had community-made courses alongside two modes that mattered to me. A study mode introduced new words a few at a time. “Speed review” was a fast quiz mode over words I’ve already learned — tap to see it, tap to reveal the translation, no typing, no grading.
Between the study mode and speed review, I picked up around 600 words without much struggle. I’ve tried Duolingo before that and kept getting stuck on grammar precision. It wanted the sentence exactly right before it would let me move on, which turned learning into a typing test. Memrise’s old flow never did that to me.
They’ve since removed speed review, and the current Memrise leans on AI-generated exercises and video lessons instead. Neither does what the old flow did for me. So I’ve been rebuilding those Memrise flashcards myself, working with Claude — same as the standing desk project, just software this time instead of a soldering iron.
The two Memrise flashcard modes I actually used
The rebuild recreates the same shape. A study mode for new words. A fast, no-typing quiz mode for words I already know. No grammar checking, no typing anywhere — you either know the word or you don’t, and you find out instantly.
It runs as a small app I can open on my phone. It works without an internet connection once it’s loaded, and remembers where I left off.
How it’s actually being built
I’m using Claude Code directly on my own PC. What’s actually notable is how differently it’s working lately. Each command takes a few minutes to run. Claude runs full tests in the background in a headless Chrome browser, without me watching every step. It’s noticeably more autonomous than babysitting each command used to be — though in hindsight, I should have compacted the session sooner. Right now it’s still carrying its entire history with it, which is almost certainly part of why every command takes minutes instead of seconds.
Status
Today was the actual start of building it — about two hours with Claude, from an empty folder to something real. I can open word lists per topic and work through them iteratively. Speed review mode works. There’s already been a first UX pass to make the whole thing feel more visual rather than just functional. Then I ran out of credits on my Pro plan and had to stop for the day. Not bad for a single sitting.
Since then, I’ve had Claude working on pronunciation audio for each word — generated with Piper, an open-source text-to-speech tool, then run through ffmpeg. I didn’t specify an encoding; I left it to work out for itself what actually keeps file size down without losing audible quality. Whatever it landed on, the result is around 4MB total for all 1,000 words’ worth of audio. That’s small enough that shipping it inside the app isn’t really a question.
There’s still a list of UX issues to work through, and the overall feel needs another pass. But for two to three hours of actual coding time, these Memrise flashcards are already doing what I built them to do. It’s hard not to wonder, watching that happen, whether subscription software still earns its place for tools this simple.
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