How to Build Your First App in ChanTan Studio

Describe your idea, press Generate, and watch a real website appear in 2–4 minutes. A complete beginner's walkthrough of your very first ChanTan Studio build.

Your first build creates a whole project from nothing. It takes about 2–4 minutes and runs on its own once you've pressed Generate — the only thing that can need you is a question card, which the AI sometimes puts in the chat and waits on.

Before you begin: creating a project is free. Credits are spent by the build that runs afterwards.

1. Put your idea in the box

On your dashboard, the big box says "Speak or type — describe your app and we'll build it..."

Write what you want in normal words. "An online store for my honey business, warm colours, with a page about our farm." The box grows as you write.

Prefer to talk? Press the round blue microphone at the top-right of the box ("Tap to speak"). Your browser asks permission once. You get Pause, Cancel and "Done — transcribe", and your words appear in the box in your own language.

Nothing is sent automatically — you always read it first.

Not sure how to start? Press "Call us" next to "Not sure how to start? Talk to a ChanTan AI" to have a real spoken conversation with an assistant, who then writes the request for you.

ℹ️ Very long descriptions are fine. Past about 45,000 characters you'll see "📎 Long brief — it will be attached as a file automatically". It never blocks you — ChanTan turns the long text into attached documents and reads them all.

2. Choose a builder (optional)

The row of chips under the box lets you pick which ChanTan builder does the work.

All three check their own work before handing it back, and all three carry a "Beta" tag — that's expected, not a warning. The $ / $$ / $$$ marks are a relative hint at how heavy the build is, not a price.

In the narrow chat footer inside a project the same names are shortened to their last word, so "Chantan Pro" shows as "Pro BETA", "Chantan Pro Max" as "Max BETA" and "Chantan Ultra" as "Ultra BETA". Same three builders — see choosing an engine.

Hover a chip (on a phone, tap the one already selected) to see its marks out of 10 for "Speed", "Build quality", "Security", "Reliability" and "Cost". Your choice is remembered for next time.

If you're not sure, leave it on "Chantan Pro". It's the default for a reason.

3. Decide whether you want a plan first (optional)

The small "Plan" button next to Generate means, in the product's own words: "Plan first — the agent proposes a plan you approve before anything is built". There's a whole article on plan-first mode if you want the detail.

With Plan on, the big button changes from "Generate" to "See the Plan", and you get a plan to read and approve before a single file is written. A plan changes nothing — it's a proposal.

4. Press "⚡ Generate"

Press "⚡ Generate" — or ⌘/Ctrl + Enter.

There's no confirmation step. ChanTan creates the project, gives it a short 2–4 word name from your idea, and opens it straight away.

ℹ️ The page changes immediately — that's correct. Your project has just opened, and the build starts on its own. You don't name the project; rename it any time from the card's "•••" menu → "Rename".

5. Watch it build

A full-cover animated screen takes over the preview area for the whole build, so you never see a half-finished page.

You'll see the chat header "Building your first version" with "Estimated time: 2-4 min" under the bar, and a status line cycling through what's being set up for you — "Booting the development environment", "Installing project dependencies", "Creating your private project database", "Preparing the live preview server", "Running workspace health checks".

In the chat, the AI narrates what it's doing in your own language — write to it in Arabic and the whole story comes back in Arabic.

When photos are being made you get a strip of tiles labelled "Image N of M", each moving from Creating to "Ready". Tap a finished tile to see it full size.

ℹ️ You never have to sit and watch. The build runs on ChanTan's side, not in your browser. Close the tab, switch device, lose your connection — when you come back, the chat catches up.

6. Answer any card the AI shows you

The AI may pause and put a card in the chat. A card that's waiting pauses the build until you answer it.

The AI asks questions instead of guessing because a wrong guess would cost you a whole build.

7. Your app appears

The cover lifts only when your app is genuinely ready — a short fade, then your app is there, live and clickable on the right.

A short bright chime plays when the build finishes.

✅ Done! You should now see your real, working website in the right-hand panel — you can click its links and scroll it like a visitor would. In the chat you'll find a "What's next?" card with suggestions, and an "Undo" button under the message box.

Your app is private at this point. Nobody else can see it until you press "Publish".

8. Ask for your first change

Type your next request in the same chat: "make the header green", "add a contact page".

Follow-up changes look different from the first build: no cover screen, the preview stays visible and updates in place, and the chat says "Understanding your request" with no time estimate.

Every reply that changed files leaves an Undo point — the "Undo" button at the bottom of the chat, and a "↩ Undo" on the reply itself.

If something goes wrong

Refreshing the page is safe, even mid-build. When the page loads, ChanTan reconnects you to the running build — and if it finds one that had actually died, it restarts it for you. A build that dies unexpectedly is picked back up automatically, up to two times, with your message and photos intact.

What it costs, honestly

• Creating the project is free. The build afterwards spends credits based on the real work done.
• Generated photos cost credits — ChanTan tells you in a notification when it charges for one.
• If you press Stop, everything already finished is kept and you're charged only for the completed work. Nothing is rolled back.
• A hold, not a charge. When a build starts, credits are set aside — shown as "Running work reserve" — so a build can never take you below zero. The unused part is released automatically when it ends.

⚠️ There is no "credits refunded" message anywhere in the product. Don't wait for a notification. To confirm, check your balance in the header and the credit activity list on the Wallet page. (Receipts and payment methods live separately, under Settings → Billing.)

Honest limits

• One build at a time per project. Send a message mid-build and it's queued for you — nothing is lost.
• Every build has a work limit so it can never spin, or bill, forever. If the AI hits it with real work left, a "▶ Continue where I stopped" button resumes the same job. You can also just type "continue".
• The AI sometimes touches a file you didn't mention — because your request depended on it. Unusually wide edits ask you first with "Large modification detected.", and a rewrite of most of your project is blocked until you type a confirmation word.