CTCan I Code This?

STANDARD PROCEDURE · SP-001

How verdicts get stamped

Every sheet answers one engineering question: if you handed a capable AI coding agent a clear spec tonight, would you end up with a replacement you'd genuinely use — and would owning it beat renting the original?

The three stamps

  • BUILD IT — the personal version is real, the core loop survives contact with daily use, and nothing structural stands in the way. The subscription is paying for convenience you can own.
  • BORDERLINE — buildable, with a catch worth knowing before you start: a gatekept API, a feature that's most of the product, or polish that takes ten times the core's effort.
  • JUST PAY — the value is something a rebuild can't carry over: a network of other people, legal weight, or infrastructure measured in engineer-decades. Respect the moat.

What the estimates assume

  • You're building the personal version — one user, your data, your rules. Team features are always where the effort explodes.
  • An AI agent writes the code from the build spec on the sheet; effort measures your time steering, testing, and deploying, not typing.
  • "An evening" means usable tonight. "A weekend" means usable Monday with rough edges. "A real project" means you'd better want the hobby.
  • Prices are the typical paid tier when the sheet was last checked, and they drift — check before cancelling anything that matters.

What this site is not

Not a takedown of any product on the register — a subscription that saves you a weekend is a fine trade, and half the sheets here say exactly that. Not legal or financial advice either. It's a drawing set: check the sheet, read the tradeoffs, and make the call with open eyes.