Getting Started
Create your first AppCafe project in under two minutes.
1. Create your account
Go to appcafe.com and sign in. Depending on your workspace configuration, you can use social sign-in or email-based auth.
2. Open the dashboard
After sign-in you land on the Dashboard. This is your control center for:
- starting new projects
- reopening existing projects
- checking credits and usage
- reviewing generation history
Click the ＋ button to create a project.
3. Describe the app you want
Enter a prompt that explains the product, audience, and key features. A strong starting prompt usually includes:
- what the app does
- who it is for
- the most important pages or workflows
- visual preferences, if you have them
Examples:
- "A recipe sharing site where users can post, search, and save recipes."
- "An internal inventory tracker with categories, stock alerts, and a clean admin dashboard."
- "A portfolio website for a photographer with galleries, booking inquiries, and a premium editorial feel."
4. Decide whether to use AI prompt refinement
The Improve prompt with AI option is enabled by default. When it is on, AppCafe asks a short set of clarifying questions before generation starts.
Use refinement when you want:
- better page structure
- stronger copy direction
- clearer feature prioritization
- fewer follow-up edits after generation
Turn it off only when your prompt is already very detailed or when you want the fastest possible first draft.
5. Name the project
After you submit the prompt, AppCafe asks for a project name. You can accept a suggested name or enter your own.
Choose a name that will still make sense later in the dashboard. It becomes the main label you use to find the project again.
6. Watch the workflow run
The workflow view shows generation progress in real time. Depending on the app, you may see phases such as:
- planning
- layout and page generation
- data model or schema work
- image generation
- final assembly and preview preparation
This view is the best place to understand what is happening if generation feels slow or if you want to inspect the result before editing.
7. Review the preview
When generation completes, AppCafe opens a live preview of the result. Review:
- page structure
- copy quality
- imagery
- navigation
- forms and calls to action
- overall visual direction
If the result is close but not perfect, edit it instead of starting over.
8. Edit before you publish
You can keep improving the app in three main ways:
- Visual editor for layout and content changes
- Chat editing for natural-language updates
- Code view for direct source edits when you need precision
See Editing Your App for the full editing workflow.
9. Publish the app
When the preview looks right, click Publish. AppCafe creates a live production deployment and gives you a shareable URL.
After publishing, open App Settings to review the generated admin access for the site. Each generated site gets:
- one immutable admin email
- one temporary password
- a required password change on first login
That generated admin account is separate from your AppCafe account.