Builder guide
Say it. See it. Ship it.
Builder is the side of Piye for the person with the idea. You describe the app in plain words, Piye plans it with you, builds a real codebase, shows it running on web and phones, and puts it online. No code required, and nothing locked in.
Start
What Builder is
Builder (also called Low Code or Mission Control) writes a real project: Next.js, React, Angular, Expo, NestJS, or FastAPI, depending on what you need. Everything it makes is a file in a folder on your computer, saved step by step in a private history.
That matters later. When you bring in a developer, they open the same folder in the IDE and keep going. There is no export, no rebuild, and no second tool.
Talk
See the shape
Watch it run
Start
The Builder screen
Customers
Book online
Booking App
Calendar Logic
Bookings + Staff
Database + Stripe
STATUS: LINKED
| Area | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Project name menu | Switch project, and switch between Builder and the IDE. |
| Comm-Link | The conversation. Ask, plan, and send work to Builder. |
| Blueprint | The map of your app. Click a node to inspect and change it. |
| Preview | The running app. Web viewport or phone frames, with Visual Edit. |
| Timeline | Every Builder step in plain words. Each one can be undone. |
| Outbox | Emails your app sent while you build, so you can see them without sending. |
| Publish | Put the website or mobile app online. |
Tip
Start
Start a project
- 01
Describe the app
One or two sentences is enough. "A booking app for my barbershop where people pay a deposit." - 02
Add the extras
Optional: upload a logo, list must-have features (for example "loyalty points" or "Arabic and English"). - 03
Choose what it is
Website, Website + mobile app, or Mobile app only. With both, Builder makes the website first and the mobile app next to it. - 04
Pick the stack, or let Piye choose
Every picker has Let Piye choose. Piye shows exactly what it will create before you start. - 05
Choose how to build
Architect first, or build right away, and how much power to use. Then press Create Project.
| Choice | Options |
|---|---|
| Website | Next.js, React + Vite, Angular, Vite (TypeScript, no framework) |
| Backend | Built into Next.js, NestJS, Python (FastAPI), No backend |
| Mobile app | React Native (Expo), Native (Swift + Kotlin) |
| Repository | Single app, Monorepo (Turborepo) with apps/web, apps/mobile, apps/api |
Already have code?
Start
Templates
Templates give Builder a head start: the right roles, pages, and data from the first step.
Each template starts with a three-part map. Bookings, for example, is Customers (book online), Booking App (calendar logic), and Bookings + Staff (database and Stripe).
Start
Architect first or build now
Architect first
Build right away
Tip
Start
Build power
Build power decides which model builds your app and which passes run. There are three: Fast, the default, Auto, and Customize for choosing yourself. The same setting appears on the Welcome screen, in Comm-Link, and on the Send to Builder step. Every model is paid from the same credits as the rest of Piye.
| Power | What happens | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Fast | GPT-5.6 Sol builds your whole app, every screen in one design, and checks it before it hands it over. The quickest: a new app takes about 4 to 8 minutes. | Most projects. |
| Auto | Piye picks the model for your app: GPT-5.6 Sol for small ones, Grok 4.7 for rich ones, and Claude Sonnet 5 for complex apps on paid plans. | Bigger, richer apps. |
| Customize | Pick the model for each step (Plan, Design, Build, Review, Fix) and turn the Design, Review and Fix passes on or off. Each model shows whether it uses more credits. | Choosing your own models. |
Tip
Make it
Comm-Link
Comm-Link is the conversation with your project. It has two voices: the Architect, who plans and asks questions, and Builder, who writes the code. You can talk to the Architect as long as you like without changing a file. Builder only changes things when you send it work.
- Attach files, images, or sheets to a message.
- Switch models and build power from the picker under the input.
- Stop a build at any time. What was done stays in the Timeline.
- Side questions can run while a build is going, without interrupting it.
Make it
Writing good requests
| Instead of | Try |
|---|---|
| Make it better | Make the header smaller and put the booking button on the right. |
| Add payments | Take a €10 deposit with Stripe when someone books. |
| Fix the bug | When I book on a phone, the date picker covers the button. |
| Make an app like Airbnb | Hosts list rooms with photos and prices. Guests search by city and dates and pay. |
One change, one message
Make it
Blueprint canvas
The Blueprint is a live map of your app. Nodes are the parts people care about: visitors and roles, the app itself, pages, logic, triggers, and the database. Lines show how they connect. Click any node to open its inspector.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| STATUS: LINKED | A project folder is open. The map is saved to .piye/blueprint.json. |
| STATUS: IDLE | No folder is open, so there is nothing to map yet. |
Note
Make it
Project inspector
Pages and routes
Data
Sign-in and keys
Theme
Frontend and backend
Business decisions
See it
Live preview
Preview runs the actual app, not a picture of it. As Builder writes files you see them appear. Logs from the running app are one click away when something looks wrong.
- Choose a device size, orientation, and light or dark appearance.
- Click through the app as a real user would. Links and buttons work.
- Websites preview in a browser frame. Piye will never put a website inside a phone frame.
See it
Phones and devices
Mobile projects run on a real iOS Simulator and Android emulator, side by side. Expo apps also show a QR code so you can open them on your own phone with Expo Go.
iPhone
Android
See it
Click to edit
Turn on Visual Edit and click anything in the preview. The inspector adapts to what you picked: a heading gets its words and typography, an image its source and fit, a box its layout.
- 01
Pick an element
Click it in the preview. It highlights, and the inspector opens. - 02
Change it
Every change shows in the preview immediately. - 03
Save, discard, or ask AI
The floating Edits bar shows what is pending. Save writes it into the real source file. If a value comes from code rather than plain text, Ask AI hands it to Builder. Undo is available for a few seconds after saving.
Keep it
Timeline and undo
The Timeline lists every Builder step, newest first, in plain words: "Added checkout page", "Made the header sticky". Each step can be undone.
Underneath, it is private local Git. Nothing leaves your computer until you connect GitHub at Publish. When a developer joins, they see the same history as normal commits.
Keep it
Outbox
While you build, the app does not send real emails. Sign-in links, welcomes, and receipts land in the Outbox instead, so you can open and read them. A badge shows when new ones arrive. When you graduate email, real sending starts.
Ship it
Publish a website
- 01
Press Publish
Choose Website. Piye first checks your app the way it runs online: a real production build, every page opened, and a list of anything it still needs. - 02
Connect your accounts
Your accounts lists only what your app uses, each with a few steps and a check that it works (see below). - 03
Connect the host once
Sign in to Vercel. Piye remembers it in your keychain. - 04
Watch it go live
Piye makes your live database and copies your content into it, sets your app's settings, publishes, sets up Stripe's payment notices, then opens the live site to check it. If the live site fails that check, Piye puts the previous version back.
Tip
Ship it
Publish a mobile app
Choose Mobile app in Publish. Piye walks you through each account it needs, with links to sign up, then builds and submits for you. Publish the website first: the phone app talks to its live server, never to the one on your computer.
| Account | Why |
|---|---|
| Expo | Builds the iOS and Android binaries in the cloud (EAS). |
| Apple Developer | Required for TestFlight and the App Store. Piye uses an App Store Connect API key, so your Apple account must be the team’s Account Holder or an Admin. |
| Google Play Console | Required to publish on Google Play. |
Ship it
Your accounts
While you build, Piye runs the services for you: a development database, Google sign-in, email, payments in test mode and AI, paid from your Piye credits. Your live app runs on your own accounts instead, so it is fully yours and never depends on Piye. Your accounts, in Publish, lists only what your app uses. Each takes a few steps, and Piye checks it works before you publish.
Database
Payments
Google sign-in
AI
Phone checks
Tip
Ship it
Payments in your app
While you build, your app takes payments in Stripe's test mode through Piye, so you can try checkout with test cards and no setup. To take real money, connect your own Stripe account in Your accounts before you publish. Your customers then pay you through your Stripe account. That relationship is between you and Stripe, separate from your Piye plan.
Team
Bring in a developer
- 01
Invite
Send an invite from the project. The developer gets a link and a summary written for them. - 02
They open the link
Piye opens the same project on their machine. No Piye yet? The page offers the download and keeps the invite. - 03
They work in the IDE
Same files, same history. Their commits show up in your preview and Timeline. - 04
You keep asking
Send Business decisions (New Feature, Change Pricing, Security Update) to Builder or to your developer.
Want to look yourself?
Team
Builder FAQ
Do I own the code?+
Yes. It is a normal folder on your computer, and you can keep it in a private repo on your GitHub.
Can I leave Piye?+
Yes. The project runs with standard tools. Nothing depends on Piye to work.
Why did my build take a while?+
A new app takes about 4 to 8 minutes on Fast. Auto picks a larger model for rich or complex apps, and Customize with large models, or with the Review pass on, takes longer.
The preview is blank+
Open Logs from the preview to see what the app reported. If it crashed, describe what you did in Comm-Link and ask Builder to fix it.
Can I undo a change?+
Yes. Open the Timeline and undo any step.