Getting started
Quick start
Create your first project, navigate the workspace, add backend capabilities, and publish your app step by step.
Welcome to this step-by-step guide on how to create a full-stack application using Startbase.
Create your first project
Getting started takes less than a minute:
- Head to startbase.ai and sign in or create an account.
- On the dashboard, type a prompt describing what you want to build, for example "Build me a recipe sharing app with user profiles."
- Choose a template: Website or Mobile App.
- Optionally pick an AI model and thinking level from the model picker in the composer. Your choice carries into the new project.
- Hit Send. Startbase creates the project and the agent starts building immediately. While the first build runs you will see the build progress instead of an empty template; your app appears as soon as the agent finishes.
The more specific your initial prompt, the closer the first result will be to what you want. Include details about design, features, and target audience.
The Startbase workspace
Once your project is created, you enter the workspace, your development environment. The chat panel sits on the left, and the right panel has four tabs:
- Preview: see your app running in real time, in a browser view or a phone/tablet frame. A Page and Canvas toggle switches between the single-page view and the infinite canvas.
- Code: view and edit project files directly, with syntax highlighting, search, and file operations in the file tree.
- Activity: a feed of everything the agent did, with links into the code.
- Cloud: your project backend. Database, auth, storage, secrets, functions, payments, multiplayer, logs, and more.
Iterate with chat
Use the chat panel to request changes. The AI modifies your code in real time and the preview updates instantly.
> "Add a dark mode toggle to the navbar"
> "Make the landing page more colorful"
> "Add a contact form that saves submissions"You can keep typing while the agent works. New messages are queued and run next, and you can edit or remove queued messages before they start.
Add backend capabilities
Enable Startbase Cloud from the Cloud tab (or just ask the agent) to give your app a real backend. Then ask the AI to:
- Add authentication: "Add sign-in with email and Google OAuth"
- Create database tables: "Create a posts table with title, body, and author_id"
- Set up storage: "Add image uploads for user avatars"
- Add row-level security: "Make sure users can only edit their own posts"