Build an affiliate website with Codex

Give Codex a reader task, researched inputs and clear checks. Build a few useful pages in a shared template, then inspect the result before expanding.

This lesson includes a downloadable Astro starter. It is a working engineering example with hypothetical gardening data, not a ready-to-publish shopping site.¹

The workflow in four passes

1. 1
   Brief

   Choose one audience, the question each page answers and the evidence it needs.

2. 2
   Build

   Ask for static pages, shared components and visible unknowns.

3. 3
   Check

   Run tests, build the site and follow the actual reader journey.

4. 4
   Research and release

   Replace fixtures with reviewed facts; approve the real links and launch settings separately.

Bring the page brief from SEO for affiliate websites. If your ideas still overlap, revisit keyword research.

What you need

Open the working folder in the desktop app and choose Codex. The current official app guide describes selecting a project or folder and starting a Codex chat.²

The command names below are terminal instructions. The prompts are instructions to Codex. You do not need to understand every generated line before starting, but you need to inspect the pages and the checks.

A tested hypothetical patio project

The starter has five content pages plus a 404. A floor-plan illustration and comparison table make its reader journey tangible; all product inputs and the program profile are explicitly fictional.¹

The illustrative 120 × 60 cm footprint is 0.72 m². Access space and placement remain unassessed. Do not turn an invented input into a product specification or safety recommendation.

Start from the working files

Download and extract the ZIP. Open its package folder, which contains package.json, in Codex. Read CONTENT_BRIEF.md and AGENTS.md.

Codex uses AGENTS.md for persistent project instructions. The official guide explains how global and directory instructions combine; keep project-specific rules close to the files they govern.³

Read CONTENT_BRIEF.md and AGENTS.md. Explain the reader journey
and the current evidence gaps. Keep the static Astro architecture,
the shared layout, visible Unknown values and construction controls.
Run the existing tests, build and generated-link checks.
Report actual results before changing the content.

In the terminal inside the folder containing package.json, run:

npm ci
npm test
npm run build
npm run verify
npm run dev

These scripts are included in this starter. verify is our generated-output check, not a built-in Astro command. The install downloads the locked dependencies; tests and build must finish successfully before inspection.¹

Open the local address printed by Astro. dev serves the working project; build creates the static output; preview serves a completed build locally. A local preview is not production hosting.⁴

If you are building from an empty folder

Supply your own brief and ask for a small first implementation:

Build a fully static Astro publisher website from CONTENT_BRIEF.md.
Use one shared layout, ordinary internal links and one data file.
Create only the pages in the brief. Preserve missing facts as null
and display Unknown; do not invent rates, product tests or sources.
Include useful tables or diagrams where they clarify a decision.
Add tests for unknown values and approved outbound destinations,
plus a generated-output link check. Keep construction indexing
controls. Report commands run, versions and unresolved failures.
Do not deploy or create accounts.

This prompt describes the bounded workflow used for the reference; it does not promise identical output from another session.

Astro creates routes from src/pages/, while reusable components and layouts keep presentation consistent across pages.⁵

Check behavior, not just whether it builds

The initial install needed local filesystem permission. Windows cleanup warnings remained in the successful install; tests and build passed. TEST_RESULTS.md records these limits and the local preview configuration.¹

The compensated-link test uses a demo URL in a test fixture. The site itself has no commercial outbound links or tracking IDs.¹

For actual compensated links, Google documents rel=sponsored. This HTML attribute is separate from a readable relationship explanation; confirm the applicable notice and program rules before enabling your links.⁶

When a check fails, give Codex the exact error, the affected file and the expected behavior:

The comparison shows 0% for a missing commission.
Keep null as Unknown and preserve a genuine numeric zero as 0%.
Fix the display rule, add a regression test, then rerun the tests,
build and generated-link check. Explain the changed files.

Make one controlled improvement

Change the hypothetical option A width from 120 to 150 cm in the fixture file. Ask Codex to update the worked example and its diagram consistently. With a 60 cm depth, the new illustrative footprint is 0.90 m².

Run the checks again, then compare the fixture, table, worksheet and diagram yourself. Passing tests only cover their assertions; our starter does not automatically prove that every measurement in prose and artwork matches.

Replace a fixture with a real option only after gathering its evidence. Keep unconfirmed program rates, attribution and tier-two rewards Unknown. Request a review of the facts and citations before adding further pages.

Publishing is a separate step

The starter produces dist/ for a static host. Cloudflare’s Astro Pages guide uses npm run build and dist as the build command and directory.^4,7

This reference has no production domain, sitemap or approved commercial links. Its noindex and robots controls remain in place. The sample was tested locally; this lesson does not document a sample deployment or domain-connection test.

Use your project plan to finish the evidence, link, policy and launch review. Then publish deliberately and measure real outcomes.