> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://vlyai-1c28d863.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Quickstart

> From signup to a deployed app in five minutes. The fastest path to a working vly project.

This is the **five-minute path**. By the end you'll have a real, deployed app live at a public URL. Pick something modest for your first prompt — a task list, a link saver, a feedback form — and lean on the prompt examples below.

<Note>
  **You'll need.** A vly.ai account (free tier works), a modern browser, and roughly five focused minutes. No CLI, no git, nothing to install.
</Note>

<Steps>
  <Step title="Sign in to vly.ai" icon="user-plus">
    Open [vly.ai/app](https://vly.ai/app) and sign in. New accounts start on the **Free** plan with credits to build your first few apps.

    <Tip>
      Sign in with Google or GitHub if you'd like vly to commit changes to a repo on your behalf later. You can always link or unlink an account from **Workspace settings**.
    </Tip>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Click New project and write a prompt" icon="message-square-code">
    The prompt is the entire spec. Be specific about **what the app does**, **who uses it**, and **what data it stores**. Don't worry about styling or implementation details — vly handles those.

    Try one of these:

    <Tabs>
      <Tab title="Task tracker">
        ```
        A real-time task tracker for small teams. Each user has a list of tasks
        with title, due date, and priority (low, medium, high). Tasks can be
        assigned to other team members. When a task is assigned, the assignee
        gets an in-app notification. Built-in auth so each user only sees their
        own and their team's tasks.
        ```
      </Tab>

      <Tab title="Link saver">
        ```
        A bookmark manager. I paste a URL, it fetches the page title and a
        favicon and saves it. Each bookmark has tags. I can search bookmarks
        by title or tag. Show recently added at the top.
        ```
      </Tab>

      <Tab title="Feedback form">
        ```
        A public-facing feedback form. Visitors submit a comment and an
        optional email. Admins (logged-in users) see all submissions in a
        sortable table, can mark each as 'reviewed' or 'archived', and reply
        by email through Resend.
        ```
      </Tab>
    </Tabs>

    <Tip>
      Stuck on what to ask for? See the [prompt library](/prompting/prompt-library) for 30+ examples organized by app type, or read [Prompting fundamentals](/prompting/fundamentals) before you write your first one.
    </Tip>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Pick an agent (or stick with the default)" icon="bot">
    Below the prompt box, choose which AI coding agent runs your build:

    * **Claude Code** (default) — strong reasoning over many files. Best general-purpose pick.
    * **OpenAI Codex** — fastest on small, surgical edits.
    * **Gemini CLI** — best for multi-file design work.

    For a first project, leave it on Claude Code. You can switch agents at any point during iteration. Read [Choosing an agent](/features/agents/choosing-an-agent) for the full breakdown.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Watch vly plan, then build" icon="workflow">
    After you submit, vly enters **Plan mode** by default and shows you the schema, pages, and components it intends to create — *before* writing any code.

    Read the plan. If anything's wrong, edit it directly or reply with a refinement ("also store a 'description' field on each task"). When the plan looks right, click **Approve and build**.

    The chosen agent then writes the code. You'll see files appear live in the editor on the right. A typical first build takes 30 seconds to two minutes.

    <Check>
      When you see "Build complete" and a preview URL, your app is running.
    </Check>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Open the preview and try it" icon="eye">
    Click the preview URL (or open it in a new tab). You should see your app, fully usable, with auth, the database, and the UI all wired up.

    <Tip>
      Open the preview in a second browser window or incognito tab and create another account. Watch the data sync between the two windows in real time — that's [Convex](/convex/overview) doing its thing.
    </Tip>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Iterate by chatting" icon="message-circle">
    Want to add a feature, fix something, change the design? Just ask. Examples:

    <CodeGroup>
      ```text Add a feature theme={null}
      Add a settings page where users can change their display name
      and upload an avatar.
      ```

      ```text Change the UI theme={null}
      Make the task list more compact. Move the priority indicator
      to the left side, use small color pills instead of text.
      ```

      ```text Fix a bug theme={null}
      When I delete a task, the page refreshes the entire list and
      scrolls to the top. It should remove just that row in place.
      ```
    </CodeGroup>

    Each prompt produces a new revision in [version history](/building/version-history) — you can roll back at any time.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Deploy to a custom domain (optional)" icon="globe">
    Your app is already on a public `*.vly.app` URL. To use your own domain:

    1. In your project, go to **Settings → Domains**.
    2. Enter your domain (e.g., `app.example.com`).
    3. Add the two DNS records vly shows you at your DNS provider.
    4. Wait \~5 minutes for SSL to provision.

    See [Custom domains](/deployment/custom-domains) for the full walkthrough including apex domains, redirects, and DNSSEC.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## You did it

<Check>
  You shipped a deployed full-stack app in under ten minutes. Real database, real auth, real custom domain. That's the workflow.
</Check>

## What to read next

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="Build your first real app" icon="hammer" href="/getting-started/first-app">
    A longer, end-to-end walkthrough of a complete project — from prompt to launch.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Master prompting" icon="message-square-code" href="/prompting/the-five-layer-method">
    The single skill that makes everything faster. The five-layer method takes 20 minutes to learn.
  </Card>

  <Card title="How vly works" icon="workflow" href="/getting-started/how-vly-works">
    The four-step loop, the agent system, the data flow. The mental model to make sense of everything else.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

<Note>
  **Got stuck?** See [Troubleshooting common errors](/troubleshooting/common-errors), check the [FAQ](/getting-started/faq), or reach out via [support](mailto:support@vly.ai).
</Note>


This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.