Build Your First Web Agent in 15 Minutes, Student Edition (No Code Needed)
Most of us use AI like a very smart search box. You ask which spring weeks are still open, and it tells you which websites to check. Good luck! You still open the tabs, click around and write it all down.
A web agent does the work instead. You say "find the roles, compare them, make me a table", and it goes to the real websites, clicks through them like a person would, and hands you the answer.
This is the student edition: how to build your first one in about 15 minutes with the TinyFish Playground, using the tasks students actually care about, like internships, scholarships and sold-out tickets. No code, no setup, just one box where you type what you want.
TL;DR
- What you need: a free TinyFish account. Students get $35 in their TinyFish wallet by signing up with a school email.
- Where to build: the TinyFish Playground at agent.tinyfish.ai/playground.
- How it works: type a task in plain English, watch the agent browse live, and get a clean answer back.
- The secret weapon: TinyFish Monitor. Turn any task into an alert that runs by itself, so you hear about new internships, listings or price drops the moment they happen.
- Next steps: use it inside Claude or ChatGPT, and submit what you build as a bounty for a gift card.
What is a web agent?
A web agent is an AI that uses real websites for you. Instead of telling you where to look, it opens the pages, searches, clicks, reads and fills in what it needs to, then reports back.
The shift is from chat to delegation:
- Chat: "Which spring weeks are still open?" → "Here are some sites you could check."
- Delegation: "Find the open spring weeks, compare them, and make me a table." → the agent does it.
How to build your first web agent
Step 1: Get your TinyFish account
Students: sign up at tinyfish.ai/students with your school email and a password, and $35 is added to your wallet automatically. Everyone else can sign up at tinyfish.ai.
Step 2: Open the Playground
Go to agent.tinyfish.ai/playground. You'll see one box that asks: "What should your agent do?"
Step 3: Type your task in plain English
Write it like you're texting a friend. Say what you want, where to look, and what you want back. For example:
Check all the open jobs Jane Street has in New York. I'm mainly interested in quant and software engineering roles.
Step 4: Watch it work
The agent opens a real browser, goes to the website, finds the careers page and clicks through the listings, just like a person would. You can watch every step live, so you always know what it's doing.
Step 5: Get your answer
About a minute later, you get a clean, organised answer. In this example, the agent returned 24 open roles in New York, grouped into quant and research roles and software engineering roles.
Not quite right? Just ask a follow-up, like "only show internships" or "put it in a table with links".
Step 6: Make it run by itself
Running a task once is useful. Running it every day without lifting a finger is a superpower. That's what Monitor is for, and it gets its own section below.
Level up: let TinyFish Monitor watch the web for you
Half of student life is refreshing pages: is the internship open yet, did a room come up, are tickets back, has the price dropped? TinyFish Monitor does the refreshing for you. It checks a page on a schedule, understands what actually changed, and emails you only when it matters.
How Monitor works
- Pick a page to watch, like a careers page, a listings site or a product page.
- Say what you care about in plain English, like "only tell me when the price drops below $799" or "only new internships in London", and how often to check.
- Get an email when it happens, with exactly what changed and a link to see it.
It ignores noise, like small layout changes or things you didn't ask about, so you only hear about real news.
In the demo above, a monitor watches a phone's product page every 5 minutes. When the price drops from $899 to $728.19, below the $799 target, it flags the change and sends the alert email.
Monitors students actually set up
- New internships and spring weeks: "Email me when a new spring week in London opens on the Bright Network page."
- Rooms and flats: "Tell me when a new room under £[budget] near [area] is listed."
- Concert and event tickets: "Alert me when [artist] tickets are back on the official site."
- Price drops: "Email me when this laptop drops below $[price]."
- Scholarships and deadlines: "Tell me when [scholarship page] opens for 2027 applications."
- Course and uni updates: "Let me know when [course page] updates its reading list or timetable."
Set one up in seconds
In the TinyFish dashboard, open Monitor and fill in the page and your goal. Or, if you use Claude or ChatGPT with TinyFish, just ask in plain English:
Use TinyFish to monitor the Bright Network spring weeks page every day. Email me when a new spring week in London opens.
A daily monitor costs about $0.15 a month from your wallet, so your $35 goes a long way.
5 great first tasks to try
1. Find open spring weeks or internships
Find the spring weeks and internships open right now at [company 1], [company 2] and [company 3], with deadlines and links.
2. Find scholarships for your course
Find scholarships for [subject] students in [country] with deadlines in the next three months, with amounts and links.
3. Compare restaurants before you go
Compare [restaurant 1], [restaurant 2] and [restaurant 3]: price range, rating, opening hours tonight, and whether you can book online.
4. Track down a sold-out item
Check whether [product] is in stock at [shop 1], [shop 2] and [shop 3], with prices and links.
5. Find where to stream a show
Find which streaming services in [country] have [show] right now, and the cheapest way to watch it.
These are all based on agents students have actually built, like a scholarship finder, a restaurant comparison tool, a Lego stock hunter and an anime watch hub. You can see 40+ more, with code, in the TinyFish Cookbook.
Tips for writing a good task
- Be specific about what you want back: a table, a list with links, or a yes/no answer.
- Name the website if you know it. It's faster and more accurate.
- Say what to skip, like "don't buy anything" or "don't submit the form".
- Start small, then add detail with follow-ups.
Where to go next
- Use it inside your AI chat: TinyFish in Claude and TinyFish in ChatGPT.
- Want to code it? Start with the TinyFish docs or the TinyFish CLI.
- Turn it into a bounty: build something real and submit it on TinyBounties. Approved builds earn a gift card and are published under your name.
- Join the Students Program: TinyFish Student Program: Tiers, Rewards and How to Join
Follow TinyFish for bounty drops and build spotlights: X (@Tiny_Fish) · LinkedIn (TinyFish) · Instagram (@tinyfish_ai)
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AI disclosure
Content on this website may be created or refined with the assistance of AI tools and is subject to human editorial review.
