This article is republished with permission fromWonder Tools,a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps.Subscribe here.I dont know how to code. So I was delighted this week to discover a new AI service,Windsurf Cascade, that helped me make several little games and apps right after downloading the free software.How it works:I draft a prompt explaining to the AI what Im envisioning. It spits out code I can test, then I ask for revisions. I then publish and share an app.Why it matters:Windsurfis the first tool Ive seen that makes it easy for absolute beginners to code full games and applications without any prior experience. If youve ever been curious about coding but intimidated by the complexity, nows a great time to dive in with AI assistance.What you can do:If theres a game youd love to makeor a simple applicationyou might finally be able to do so without professional help. Read on for how it works, what you can do with it, and why Im so excited about this new service.Getting startedDownload thefree Windsurf code editor. Once installed, the software1lets you chat with an AI assistant in one window, while code shows up in another. The AI guides you through generating code to run new games or apps you make.How to begin:Chat with it just as you would with ChatGPT or Claude. Windsurf incorporates both top AI models to understand your requests and generate the necessary code.Your first prompt:Start by telling Windsurfs AI in a few sentences about the subjects, games or applications of interest to you, asking it for ideas for what you can make.Start simple.Consider beginning with the simplest of gameslike Tic-Tac-Toe or Hangman. Youll get a quick feel for the interface.Level up a bit.Move on to a trivia or arcade-style game, or a little converter or calculator.Make something useful.After youve made a couple of quick apps, try customizing a mini application you can use for work or a hobby. Consider making a teaching or learning game. Or an information assistant that looks up policy information in your own documents or spreadsheets. Use it yourself or share it with a friend or colleague.What the founder saysVarun Mohan, the CEO and co-founder ofCodeium, which makes Windsurf, told me in a recent Zoom interview that he was surprised at the surge of interest from non-coders.We have a lot of non technical people at the company. Very quickly, once the product was released internally, all of them were spending the entire day building apps instead of doing their job, he said.He said Codeiums goal is to help developersand othersmore efficiently complete ambitious projects. Our goal is to actually reduce the time it takes to build apps by 95%.Pricing, platform and privacyPricing: Freefor the first two weeks. You can continue using the code editor indefinitely for free, but after that the AI assistance costs $10/month.Platform:Works onMac,WindowsandLinux. Not designed for mobile devices, though the apps and games you make will work on mobile browsers, and you can theoretically use Windsurf to make mobile apps.Privacy:Your games, apps and other software canrun locallyon your machine. The files are private until and unless you upload them to a public server.Ideas for what you can makeTrivia gamesAsk the AI to create aJeopardyorWho Wants to Be a Millionaire-style game with questions it designs or pulls from a public database like theOpen Trivia Database. Or post your own questions in a published Google spreadsheet or Airtable and share it with the AI.Action gamesIf you miss your old Atari or arcade games of yore, ask the AI to help you make your own version of Frogger, Pac-Man, or Donkey Kong.Learning gamesBrush up on your geography, periodic table, presidents, star formations, or whatever else youd like to study.Skill gamesStrengthen your typing with an app measuring your speed and accuracy. Or improve your listening skills by guessing the pitch of notes played or the name of a song. Customizing skill games allows you to choose your own look, feel, and functionality.Mini work applicationsMake a little cost or sales calculator tied to your specific services. Or a timeline estimator for planning projects with particular parameters. Or an analysis tool that references a particular spreadsheet or document.Watchsomeone make a check-sharing app and apersonalized email weather alert.Useful featuresThe AI excels at debugging code.Programming errors can cascade through an application, making it difficult for novices to identify and correct problems. When somethings not working right, I just tell the AI whats wrong. It figures out the problem and helps me fix it.You can learn as you go.The AI can answer questions as well as write or edit code for you. As I watch the AI generate code and iterate on app features, I can ask it to explain what its doing or how a bit of code works.You can create as many public or private projects as you wantThe software lives on your computer, so you can keep all your work private. In my case, Im aiming to make and share teaching applications, so the AI has been helping me to publish code to Github Pages. I can host games and apps for free for others to try, like the examples below.This article is republished with permission fromWonder Tools,a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps.Subscribe here.