Red builds plant e-commerce store using Claude and Caffeine

Red has built an online plant store called First Leaf using AI development tools Claude and Caffeine, combining product listings, plant care information, a customer support chatbot and an online checkout process.

The project demonstrates how AI-assisted development can help turn an e-commerce idea into a working website, bringing together the storefront, product information and purchasing experience.

First Leaf features a home page, a shop with 10 plants and individual product pages. Customers can browse plants using filters for light requirements, pet safety and price, while the site is designed to work on mobile devices.

Plant care information is another key feature. Red says the information, including plant toxicity for pets, was checked against sources. This is particularly relevant for customers choosing plants for homes with cats or dogs.

The website also includes a chatbot called the “plant helper”, which is designed to answer customer questions. When it cannot answer a query, it stores the unanswered question, giving the site owner a way to identify gaps in the available information.

The purchasing journey includes a “Buy now” option that takes customers to Stripe for address and payment details. Customers can also add a gift note or choose an additional pot. After checkout, they return to the shop and receive an order confirmation.

Red tested the user experience locally before deploying the site on Caffeine. Stripe sandbox codes were used during the initial setup, although the announcement does not establish whether live payments have since been enabled.

The project brings together AI-assisted website development, product discovery and e-commerce functionality in a single application. It also illustrates how tools such as Claude and Caffeine can be used to build a specialised online retail experience without treating the chatbot as the only customer-facing AI feature.

However, the announcement does not provide sales figures, customer numbers or performance data, so the commercial impact of First Leaf remains unclear. Details about the site’s security testing and the accuracy of its automated customer support over time were also not provided.