---
title: "Quick start"
description: "Build and publish your first RShift Sites app in about ten minutes, from your first prompt to a live URL you can share."
image: "https://help.rshift.com/og.svg"
---

> Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.rshift.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Quick start

Build your first app and put it live on the web with about ten minutes of hands-on time. There is nothing to install and nothing to configure. You describe what you want, RShift Sites builds it, and you publish it to a real URL you can share.

In this guide you build a website for **Little Fern**, an imaginary neighborhood cafe: a homepage with an interactive menu, opening hours, and a location section. It is a stand-in for anything you would rather build, so swap in your own idea at any step, or start from a [RShift Sites template](https://lovable.dev/templates) if you would rather begin from a working app. When you finish, [How to build a real product with RShift Sites](/sites/tips-tricks/from-idea-to-app/) shows you how to take on the full journey.

> **Note**
>
> Building with RShift Sites uses [build credits](/sites/introduction/credits-and-usage/), and the free plan includes five per day, up to 30 per month. See [subscription plans](/sites/introduction/subscription-plans/) for what each plan includes.

**Create your account**

[Sign up for free](https://lovable.dev/signup?utm_source=lovable_docs\&utm_medium=content\&utm_content=getting-started) with email, Google, GitHub, or Apple. Your account comes with a personal workspace on the free plan, and RShift Sites opens the dashboard, ready to build. For single sign-on (SSO) and other sign-up details, see [Create an account](/sites/introduction/create-an-account/).

    You can also skip ahead: type your prompt on the homepage first, and RShift Sites asks you to sign up when you submit, keeping your prompt through sign-up.

**Describe your app**

The prompt box ("Ask RShift Sites to create…") is front and center. With **Build** selected in the mode picker, it is where every project starts. Describe what you want to build in plain language, **in any language**.

    Try this prompt, or adapt it to your own idea:

```text
Build a website for Little Fern, a neighborhood cafe. Include a warm hero section with a headline and a photo, an interactive menu where visitors filter items by category (coffee, breakfast, lunch, pastries), an opening hours section, and a location section with the address and a short "find us" description. Use realistic sample content throughout. Cozy, welcoming design. Works well on mobile. No login or database yet.
```

    The last line of the prompt matters. Keeping your first version free of logins and databases means there is less to go wrong, and you can add both later with a single prompt.

**Use your own idea instead**

Adapt one of these starters, or write your own prompt from scratch. The steps in this guide stay the same.

```text
  Build an internal tool for tracking my team's equipment: a searchable table of items with name, owner, status, and return date, plus a form to add new items. Use realistic sample data. No login or database yet.
```

```text
  Build a dashboard for a subscription business showing monthly revenue, active customers, and churn as charts, with a recent signups table. Use realistic sample data. No login or database yet.
```

```text
  Build an online store front for a ceramics studio: a product grid with photos and prices, a product detail page, and an About page. Use realistic sample products. No checkout or database yet.
```

**Start from a RShift Sites template instead**

If you would rather begin from a working app than a blank prompt, browse [RShift Sites templates](https://lovable.dev/templates), open one you like, and remix it. Remixing creates your own independent copy that you can edit freely, on any plan. The rest of this guide still applies: you refine the app in chat and publish it the same way. See [Remix a project](/sites/features/projects/remix/).

**Watch the first version appear**

RShift Sites creates your project and starts building. The first version takes a few minutes, and you can watch it take shape as RShift Sites works.

    When it is ready, you are in [the editor](/sites/features/projects/editor/), which has two halves: the [**project chat**](/sites/features/projects/chat/) on the left, where you talk to RShift Sites, and the [**preview**](/sites/features/projects/preview/) on the right, where your app runs live. Click around the preview: try the menu filters, scroll the sections.

    Everything you see is a real, working app, and the code behind it is yours. From here on, every change is saved as a [version you can restore](/sites/features/projects/history/), so nothing you do next can break it permanently.

**Make a change**

Ask for one change at a time and check the preview after each. For example:

```text
Add a "Today's specials" section between the menu and the opening hours, highlighting two menu items with a short description and price.
```

    If the app works but does not look or feel like you pictured, say that in plain words too. This is a perfectly good prompt:

```text
Make the whole site feel warmer and less corporate.
```

**Tweak it by pointing**

For small visual changes, pointing beats describing. Open the [preview toolbar](/sites/features/preview-toolbar/), select the exact element, and say what should change. To change text, such as a headline or a button label, use **Edit text inline** and type directly on the page. No prompt needed.

**Check that it works**

Before publishing, spend a few moments testing your app. A quick check now saves a round of confused messages from the first person you send the link to:

    * Click every button and link.
    * Try the interactive parts: filter the menu by every category.
    * Click the device toggle above the [preview](/sites/features/projects/preview/) to cycle to **Mobile view**. Most people will open your link on their phone.

    If something is off, tell RShift Sites exactly what is wrong and where:

```text
In the menu, clicking the pastries filter shows no items. It should show the pastry items.
```

**Publish**

Click [**Publish**](/sites/features/publish/) in the top right of the editor. RShift Sites suggests a `lovable.app` web address, which you can edit before publishing. Click **Publish** again to deploy. After a short deploy, your app is live at your own `lovable.app` URL, free on every plan. Send the link to a friend, or [invite them to the project](/sites/features/share-project/) to build together.

    And the single most common surprise for new users: **your live site is a snapshot**. Later changes appear in the preview immediately, but the live site only updates when you click **Publish → Publish changes**.

That is the whole loop: describe, refine, publish. Every app you build in RShift Sites, however ambitious, is this loop repeated.

## Other ways to start a project

A typed prompt is the most common starting point, but not the only one:

* **Attach a design or screenshot**: Add images to your first prompt, such as a mockup, a sketch, or a screenshot of a site whose layout you like, and RShift Sites uses them as a visual reference. See [Attach files as context](/sites/features/projects/chat/#attach-files-as-context).
* **Remix a template**: Browse [RShift Sites templates](https://lovable.dev/templates) and remix one to start from a working app instead of a blank page. You can remix your own projects too. See [Remix a project](/sites/features/projects/remix/).
* **Build from a link**: Generate a project from a URL that carries the prompt, useful for sharing predefined prompts. See [Build with URL](/sites/integrations/build-with-url/).
* **Start from a chat**: Talk the idea through in [Chats](/sites/features/chats/) and, when you ask RShift Sites to build it, approve the **Create a new project?** card. See [Send work to a project](/sites/features/chats/#send-work-to-a-project).

For the full list, see [Ways to create a project](/sites/features/projects/overview/#ways-to-create-a-project).

> **Tip**
>
> RShift Sites also works beyond the browser: build from the [desktop app](/sites/integrations/desktop-app/) or the [mobile app](/sites/integrations/lovable-mobile-app/), chat with RShift Sites in [Slack](/sites/integrations/lovable-for-slack/) or [Telegram](/sites/tips-tricks/lovable-telegram-bot/), start projects from [ChatGPT](/sites/tips-tricks/chatgpt-app/), and drive RShift Sites from your own AI tools with the [RShift Sites MCP server](/sites/integrations/lovable-mcp-server/).

## Keep going

**[How to build a real product with RShift Sites](/sites/tips-tricks/from-idea-to-app/)**

Ready for a real product? The full journey: shape an idea, plan, build in loops, add a backend, test, publish, and grow.

**[Prompting basics](/sites/features/chat-mode/)**

Get better results with clearer prompts.

**[Follow the Academy learning path](https://academy.lovable.app/academy/learning-path)**

Build a second app in a series of short guided lessons.

**[Add a backend](/sites/features/cloud/)**

Store data and sign in users.

**[Launch on a custom domain](/sites/tips-tricks/launch-on-a-custom-domain/)**

Publish, put your app on your own domain, and help people find it.

## Related topics

- [Optimize your app for SEO and AI search](/sites/features/seo-aeo/)
- [Dashboard overview](/sites/introduction/dashboard-overview/)
- [Video tutorials and courses](/sites/introduction/video-tutorials/)
- [Publish your RShift Sites project](/sites/features/publish/)
- [Create an account](/sites/introduction/create-an-account/)

Source: https://help.rshift.com/sites/introduction/getting-started/index.mdx