Start from a template
Begin a new app from a working one instead of a blank description.
A template is a finished app you copy as the starting point for your own. Your new app is a full copy, so anything you change is yours alone and the template stays as it was. Starting from one saves you from describing a structure that already exists.
Where templates live
Open Templates in the sidebar, or select Browse all in the Templates section of the Overview. The Templates page lists every available template with a search box, and each card shows Use. The whole card is the button, so selecting anywhere on it starts from that template.
Templates are grouped by category — Website for pages someone reads, App for something someone uses. Select a category to narrow the list, or All to see everything.
See one before you use it
Every card carries a Details button in its top corner. It opens the template's own card: what it does, its category, and — because a template is a real app — Open live app, which opens the running app in a new tab. Nothing is created by looking: you can read a template and try it as a visitor before starting from it.
The built-in General starter has no live app to open, so its card says so instead. Templates are public apps, which is what makes the live view possible; see Publish your own app as a template.
What you will find
The built-in General template is always there. It is a blank app, ready for you to describe from scratch.
Other templates come from apps their owners have published, so the list grows
over time. A published template appears in the public gallery on the website, at
apphandle.com/templates, once it has been reviewed.
Start from one
- Open Templates.
- Find a template by browsing or searching.
- Select the card to start from that template.
- The Create new app form opens with that template already chosen. Give the app a name and a description of what you want it to do, choose the model, then select Create App.
- The app is created and you land on its own page. Select Open Session to start the agent on it.
You can also choose the template on the Create new app form itself: the Template section shows the available starting points, and the first one is selected for you.
After your app is created
The template becomes your app, with everything in it available to change. Describe what should be different and the agent works on your copy. Nothing you do affects the original template.
If you would rather start from nothing, choose the blank General starter and describe the app you want. Describe what you want explains how to make that description a good one.