Claude turns a photo of your house into a LEGO set: prompt, instructions and BrickLink parts list

What if your house were a LEGO set? Not a lookalike: yours, with its front door, its windows and the plant pots by the entrance.

You can ask Claude for it. Give it a photo of the front of your house and it returns the model design, layer-by-layer instructions, the parts list and a file to buy every piece at once on BrickLink.

What Claude gives you

The prompt asks for six things, in this order:

1. Analysis of the front of the house: the 5 details that make it recognizable (windows, door, lamp, plants, roof…) with their colors.
2. Design on a 32×32 stud baseplate (BrickLink part 3811), using only common parts and real LEGO colors.
3. Layer-by-layer instructions, bottom to top, with which parts go where and how many (stud coordinates).
4. Parts list as a table: BrickLink part number, name, color and quantity, plus total pieces, lots and colors.
5. BrickLink XML: a Wanted List ready to upload.
6. PDF with one page per step, if Claude can create files.

What we got in our test

We tested it for real with a photo of a Mediterranean-style house and this exact prompt. The result:

This is how its instructions started (excerpt from the real answer):

LAYER 1 — Green baseplate (garden)
Step 1 — Grass base
- 1× Baseplate 32×32 (3811) — Bright Green — covers everything
- Coordinates: (1,1) to (32,32)

LAYER 2 — Interior floor + path (height: 1 plate)
Step 2 — House floor
- Plate 2×4 (3020) — Tan — house interior fill (5,5)→(28,20)

And this is the XML for BrickLink:

<INVENTORY>
  <ITEM>
    <ITEMTYPE>P</ITEMTYPE>
    <ITEMID>3811</ITEMID>
    <COLOR>36</COLOR>
    <MINQTY>1</MINQTY>
  </ITEM>
  ...
</INVENTORY>

The exact prompt

Open Claude (claude.ai or the app), attach a photo of the front of your house, taken straight on in good light, and paste this as is:

Here is a photo of my house. I want to turn it into a real LEGO set I can build at home. Do it like this:

1. ANALYSIS: describe the front of the house and list the 5 details that make it recognizable (windows, door, lamp, plants, steps, roof…), with their colors.

2. DESIGN: redesign it as a LEGO model on ONE 32×32 stud baseplate (BrickLink 3811). Use only common parts that actually exist on BrickLink (bricks, plates, tiles, slopes, windows, doors, plants) and real LEGO colors. Keep the details from point 1 to scale.

3. LAYER-BY-LAYER INSTRUCTIONS: split the build into numbered steps from bottom to top (layer 1 = base). For each step, say which parts go on, how many and where (stud coordinates from the front left corner). Exact quantities, no "approximately".

4. PARTS LIST: a table with the BrickLink Part ID, name, color (BrickLink color name and ID) and quantity. At the end, total pieces, number of lots and number of colors.

5. BRICKLINK XML: generate the Wanted List in BrickLink's XML upload format, in a single code block, like this:
<INVENTORY>
<ITEM>
  <ITEMTYPE>P</ITEMTYPE>
  <ITEMID>3001</ITEMID>
  <COLOR>1</COLOR>
  <MINQTY>4</MINQTY>
</ITEM>
</INVENTORY>
One <ITEM> per lot (part + color), with no repeated combinations. Check that the XML quantities add up to exactly the same as the table.

6. If you can create files, also generate the instructions as a PDF (one page per step).

Be precise: if a measurement or color in the photo is hard to see, tell me what you assumed. If a part doesn't exist in that color, suggest the closest alternative and let me know.

Review the parts list and the XML: confirm that every part exists in that color on BrickLink, that there are no duplicate lots and that the XML total matches the table. If you change anything, give me the full corrected XML.

How to buy the pieces on BrickLink

1. Copy the XML block and save it in a text file named list.xml.
2. Log in to BrickLink with your account (it is free).
3. Go to Want › Upload, choose the BrickLink XML format and upload the file (or paste the text).
4. Pick an existing Wanted List or create a new one.
5. From the Wanted List, use the buy option to see which stores have the parts and add them to your cart.

The official XML format is in the BrickLink help pages. When you upload it, BrickLink shows you any lot with no sellers: that is where you swap the color or the part.

Tips for better results

• The photo is everything. Straight on, at door height, in daylight and with nothing in front. If your house has two floors, say so in the message.
• Ask for changes. If you don’t like the roof or the windows, just ask: “make the roof with 33° slopes and give me the list and the XML again.”
• One thing at a time. If the answer gets cut off, ask it to continue from where it stopped.
• Want the PDF? On claude.ai, turn on the file creation feature. If you don’t have it, Claude can give you a script to generate it yourself.

What it doesn’t do

• It isn’t an official set. The design is Claude’s and nobody at LEGO has tested it. Some parts may not fit on the first try.
• It doesn’t guarantee everything exists. Some part and color combinations may not exist or may have no sellers. Check on BrickLink.
• It isn’t a 3D render. Claude gives you the instructions as text and tables, not an image of the model.
• It doesn’t buy for you. Uploading the XML, choosing stores and paying is up to you.

Is it worth it?

If you like LEGO, it is one of the most fun uses of Claude we have tried. In a short while you have a design of your own house with its shopping list. And even if you have to tweak a couple of parts, building it makes a really original gift for whoever lives there.