Getting Started

cdbx is an AI-powered development environment that runs in your browser — no installs, no local setup. The things you build are called Apps.

Signing in

Sign in with GitHub, Google, Microsoft (personal, work or school account), or your email. For email, type your address and press Continue with email — you'll get a 6-digit code. Type it into the sign-in box, or press the button in the email instead. A code works once, for 10 minutes.

No password, and no separate sign-up: the first time you sign in, your account is made. One email address is one account, so signing in with Google, Microsoft or an email code at the same address gets you the same account.

Building your first app

Describe what you want in plain English, from the dashboard or the landing page, and press enter. cdbx works out what to build and where to run it, writes the code, and drops you into your app with a live preview.

There is nothing to choose first — no template picker, no project type, no framework. Apps are React and TypeScript unless you ask for something else.

→ See Apps for how apps work, and Vibe Coding for a full walkthrough.

Starting from a template instead

Prefer a working starter over a blank prompt? Click New App on your dashboard and choose a framework or language — the editor opens with it immediately.

→ See Templates for the full list.

Your dashboard

When you sign in you land on your dashboard. It shows:

• Your profile — avatar, name, and GitHub link
• Contributions map — a GitHub-style heatmap of your activity over the last year
• The prompt box — describe what you want to build and go straight into it
• Apps — everything you've built, with search, sort, filter, and bulk actions

Want the code?

By default an app is a chat and a live preview. Turn on Advanced Mode in App Settings → Workspace to bring back the file tree, code editor, terminal, console and dev tools.

How your app runs

Most apps start instantly, bundled in the browser with esbuild-wasm and rendered in a sandboxed iframe — packages are fetched from unpkg, no npm install needed, and the preview updates in real time.

When you ask for something a browser can't do — a database, logins, a real backend — cdbx moves your app onto a real server automatically, with npm install and a real dev server. You never choose this yourself. See Apps for the details.

Compiled/backend languages (Python, Go, C#, Java, Ruby, and more) run through the cdbx Code Execution API in an isolated container — output streams to the Terminal panel.

AI Chat

The AI assistant in the left sidebar reads and writes your files directly. It understands your app's context — which framework you're using, which files exist, what errors are showing — and can generate complete multi-file apps, fix build errors, or explain what code does.

Key features:

• Fix error button — when a build or runtime error occurs, one click sends it to the AI
• write_files tool — the AI writes multiple files atomically, you see a diff and can accept or reject
• Auto-accept — optionally auto-apply AI edits without reviewing each one
• Chat persistence — conversations are saved and restored when you return to your app
• AGENTS.md — a file in your app the AI reads before every message; add conventions, goals, and off-limits rules once and they apply to every conversation

→ See AI Chat for full details.

Saving

Apps created via a prompt are saved automatically after the first AI generation.

Apps created from a template must be saved manually — the footer shows Saved or Unsaved; click Unsaved to save. After the first save, subsequent saves update the app in place.

Sharing

Apps are public by default — anyone with the link can view them, and they carry a small Built with cdbx badge. You can make any app private from the editor (lock icon in the toolbar) or from your dashboard; private apps are a Pro feature, and they have no badge.

→ See Sharing & Permissions for details.

Keyboard shortcuts

→ See the Keyboard Shortcuts reference.