Working with the AI Builder
The AI Builder is the App Builder’s assistant: the one that lives inside the IDE and builds your application with you. It reads your project, answers questions, and, when you let it, writes the code, wires the widgets and sets up the database.
It has a counterpart in the other product, the AI Assistant of the Map Builder. They are two different capabilities, not one under two names: one works on a map, the other writes an application.
It is an assistant, not an autopilot. Everything it does, you can do by hand, and you stay in control of when it acts.
The two modes
Section titled “The two modes”You pick how the AI Builder behaves with a mode, shown next to the message box. Ask is the default.
- Ask. Read-only. It answers and explains, and nothing gets built. Use it to explore your project and decide what you want before anything changes.
- Build. It builds your application: pages, widgets, database, deploy. Every turn is saved to your history, so you can go back.
A good rhythm is to stay in Ask while you frame the problem, then switch to Build to carry it out.
What to expect from each mode
Section titled “What to expect from each mode”- In Ask, expect answers and guidance, never edits. It is safe to explore.
- In Build, expect real work on your project, visible live in the preview, and reversible from your history.
Conversations
Section titled “Conversations”Each project holds several conversations, so you can keep separate threads for separate topics: one to build a widget, another to wrangle a dataset. Conversations can be pinned, archived, renamed and searched, and each shows its live status, so you can tell at a glance which thread is working, which needs your input, and which has a new reply.
Giving it context
Section titled “Giving it context”The more precise the context, the better the result. Type @ in the message box to
point the AI Builder at exactly what you mean:
- Workspace, your project’s memory: what the project is, its documentation, the decisions taken and the tickets written. Attach the ticket or the decision it should take as its specification.
- Files & Folders, a file of your project.
- Datastore, one of your GIS items.
This keeps it focused on the right part of your app instead of guessing.
Choosing the model
Section titled “Choosing the model”The AI Builder can run on different AI models, and you choose which one, with settings for cost and defaults. See Models and settings.