Guide: from idea to a live app

About 30 minutes the first time. You need an email address, a GitHub account (free) and an AI coding assistant such as Cursor, Claude Code or GitHub Copilot.

1. What the hub does, what you do

The hub: your app’s database, the sign-in page (email, Google, GitHub, Microsoft, magic link, passkey), the rules for who sees which data, and API keys.
You: your app’s pages and features — usually by describing them to your AI assistant.
Vercel: puts your app online at a web address. The hub connects it for you, no terminal needed.

Open the home page → Start building — free. Sign up with email (a password of 12+ characters) or Google/GitHub/Microsoft.
Open the link in the confirmation email. Not there? Check spam, or press Send the link again.
On Build your app, read the Terms, tick the box, complete the "I am human" check and press Start building.
Free plan: up to 3 projects and 3 databases the hub creates.

3. Create a project

The Projects page shows "Your path to a live app" — press the highlighted step.
Your app: a name and one sentence about what it does. The hub suggests a look and a brief from it.
Data: keep Neon — shared apps project if unsure. The database is ready in a second.
Sign-in: pick the buttons your users will see. Email + password always works.
Look & extras: a style and a starter brief if you like — optional.
Review, then Create project.

4. Hand the kit to your AI assistant

After creating, the hub shows three things. You can come back to them any time in the Quickstart tab.

A one-time code and two commands. Run them in your app’s folder: the first writes the keys into .env.local. The code works once, for 10 minutes; when it expires press Get keys for .env.local for a new one.
The kit (.zip): instruction files for Cursor, Claude Code and Copilot. Unzip it into your app’s folder. It holds no keys.
The prompt: paste it into your assistant’s chat, then describe what to build on the last line.

Important: never paste a secret key (sk_…), a password or a database connection string into an AI chat. The kit tells the assistant not to read .env.local.

5. Put your app online

Open the Deploy tab → Create my app on Vercel.
Sign in to Vercel with GitHub when asked. Keep the suggested name, press Create, and allow "Minkoi's App System".
You land back on the hub. It writes your keys into Vercel and builds; about a minute later your app has a ….vercel.app address.
From then on, every push to GitHub (by you or your assistant) builds a new version by itself.
Already have the app on Vercel? Use Connect a project I already have on Vercel.

6. Your first users

Send your app’s address to friends. They press sign in on your app, go through the hub’s sign-in page and come back.
Everyone who signs in shows up under Members. Each person sees only their own data, by the access rules.
Change the sign-in methods or turn on two-factor for your users in Settings.

7. When something goes wrong

Database "Not responding": free databases fall asleep when idle. Press Resume on Projects or the Database tab. The hub also tries every hour.
One-time code expired: Quickstart → Get keys for .env.local. Every redeem is a new key pair.
A secret key leaked: API keys tab → revoke it, then get new keys as above.
Out of quota: delete a project you no longer need (Settings → Delete project) or ask the platform admin for more.

8. A few words you will see

Publishable key (pk_…): identifies your app; safe in the browser.
Secret key (sk_…): full server access — only in server code and Vercel’s environment variables.
Allowed origins: your app’s web addresses; sign-in only returns people to these.
Access rule (policy): who may read or change which rows — checked by the hub on every request.

In the dashboard, press the ⓘ next to a term for its meaning.