How I Built a Full-Stack Roulette Game with Claude AI and Deployed It to AWS
I wanted to build a roulette website. I also set out to learn.
I have worked in IT for some time, started with Windows admin, moved to Linux, and then onto some basic DevOps work. I may have gotten to the 4th chapter of every Python book ever written, but never fully committed to programming. I have never really done every aspect of the build process, the "Full Stack."
I wanted to understand the full picture — how a modern web application actually gets built, containerized, deployed, and maintained in production. Not just the code, but the infrastructure. Docker. Reverse proxies. SSL certificates. DNS. The things that tutorials skip over and production demands.
I also wanted to test a theory: could I use AI — specifically Claude — as a genuine development partner to build something real? Not to generate a throwaway script, but to architect, debug, and ship a production application across multiple servers, frameworks, and deployment environments?
Why Roulette?
I've always been a casual gambler with a genuine interest in the mechanics of different betting systems. I'm a regular viewer of channels like CEG Dealer School, The Roulette Master, and Jack Ace, and I found myself wanting a sandbox where I could test out strategies without any financial risk. Building my own simulator felt like a much more rewarding challenge than simply clicking around on someone else's site.
Claude as a Development Partner
Let me be upfront: Claude wrote the vast majority of the code. But that undersells what actually happened. The project evolved over a long, iterative conversation — from a single React component to a multi-container Docker deployment with HTTPS, user authentication, and SEO optimization.
What made it work was that I brought the vision and the decisions, and Claude brought the implementation knowledge. This wasn't autopilot. I had to understand what was happening at every step. The AI accelerated my learning — it didn't replace it.
The Stack
The project grew from a simple spinning wheel to a full production application:
- Next.js for the frontend (SSR for SEO)
- Django REST Framework for the backend API
- PostgreSQL for persistent data
- Nginx as a reverse proxy
- Docker Compose tying it all together
- AWS Lightsail for hosting
- GitLab for source control
Each piece came through conversation, not a single prompt.
The Hard Parts
Django migrations kept disappearing because they were generated inside ephemeral Docker containers. It took multiple rounds of debugging before we figured out the root cause.
Docker builds would hang on a 512MB VPS. Next.js needs more RAM to build than a cheap server has. The solution: GitLab Container Registry for remote builds, then eventually upgrading the server and adding swap space.
A + in a database password broke the entire database connection by corrupting the URL parser. The fix: use openssl rand -hex instead of -base64.
SSL certificates ended up in a -0001 directory because the temp self-signed cert was squatting on the expected path.
Each problem taught me something real about infrastructure that no tutorial covers.
What I Learned
Without Claude, I would have built a static HTML roulette game and called it done. With Claude, I shipped a full-stack app to AWS with HTTPS, user accounts, and SEO. The AI didn't lower the bar — it raised how far I was willing to reach.
The game is live at bigspinfun.com. Free, no real money, no signup required. Spin the wheel and see for yourself.