---
title: "Approve as it builds: words, look and hero | Briks"
url: https://briks.dev/docs/approval-steps
description: "Have a first build stop for you: approve the words, choose one of three looks, then pick a hero from four grey layouts. How to turn it on and what it costs."
last_updated: 2026-10-08
---

# Approve as it builds: words, look and hero

A first build normally runs from your description to a published preview without stopping. If you want a say along the way, Briks can pause up to three times: for the words, for the look and for the layout of the first screen. This page shows how to switch each pause on, what you see at each one and what it costs.

9 minute read Checked against the studio on 8 October 2026

## The three stops

All three are off by default. Each is a switch you turn on when you create the project, and they only ever apply to the first build. Once the site exists, every change you ask for is built and published without stopping.

When more than one is on, they come in a fixed order: the words, then the look, then the hero. If Briks also asks [questions before building](https://briks.dev/docs/questions-before-building), those come first, before anything is planned. These stops are for a site's first build. Work your AI agents propose waits in a different place, covered in [Approvals and budgets](https://briks.dev/docs/agent-approvals).

| Stop | Switch | What you see | Offered for |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Words | **Approve the words before building** | Every word of the home page, section by section, with the thinking behind it | Websites and apps |
| Look | **Choose the look from three directions** | Three boards: Nordic / clean, Warm and Bold | Websites and apps without a reference site |
| Hero | **Choose the hero from four wireframes** | Four plain grey layouts of the first screen, with your words in place | Websites and apps without a reference site |

Reference sites and dashboards

If you give Briks the address of a site you like, that site decides the look and the hero, and the studio says “Your reference site decides the look and the hero, so there is none to choose.” You can still approve the words. Screenshots alone do not count as a reference site, so with only screenshots the look and hero stops are still offered. A dashboard never stops: “A dashboard builds straight through, with no words to approve and no look or hero to choose.” The approval switches aren't offered for dashboards.

## Switch them on

The first build starts as soon as you create the project, so set the stops in the **New project** steps.

1. Start a new project

   Where: New project

   Click **New project** in the sidebar. Choose **Website** or **App**, give it a name and click **Next**.

2. Describe it and add what you like

   Where: Describe it

   Write your description, then add references, brand settings and a picture choice if you want to.

3. Turn the stops on

   Where: How it is built

   Turn on any of **Approve the words before building**, **Choose the look from three directions** and **Choose the hero from four wireframes**.

4. Check and build

   Where: Review and create

   The review lists every switch as on or off. Click **Build it**. The studio opens and the first part of the build starts.

Where

1. New project
2. How it is built
3. Approve the words before building

The same switches appear later under **Settings**, **Preferences**, in the **Building and publishing** group. Changing them there makes no difference to a site whose first build has finished, because the stops belong to the first build alone.

Where

1. Projects
2. Your project
3. Settings
4. Preferences
5. Building and publishing

## Stop 1: the words

Briks plans the page, then writes every word of it before anything is designed. A message arrives in the conversation that begins: “Here are the words for your site, written before anything is designed. Approve them to start the build, or tell me what to change.”

The thinking comes first, in four lines: **Who it is for**, **What they are dealing with**, **The story the page tells** and **What people search for**. Then the **Page title** and **Search description** that search engines show, and then each section by name in capitals, with its heading, its text, any items as a list and the words on its **Buttons**.

Under the message are the **Approve and build** button and the line “Or type below what you would like changed.” Once you approve, the message is marked **Approved** and the build carries on with “Building with the words you approved.” Before it publishes, Briks checks that every heading you approved is on the page exactly as you approved it.

A change asked for at the words A physiotherapy clinic in Manchester

> The hero says “Move without pain”. We never promise that. Make it “Physiotherapy for runners and desk workers in Didsbury”, and drop the second button in the hero.

Briks writes the words again with those changes and posts them as a new message to approve. The earlier draft is marked “Replaced by a newer draft”.

## Stop 2: the look

Briks draws three boards and posts them with: “Here are three looks for the site, each drawn in one of the studio's own styles with your words. Pick one, or describe the look you want.” Each board shows the colours, the type, the corners, a button and a card, set with your own hero words. No pictures are made for the boards.

| Look | How the studio describes it |
| --- | --- |
| Nordic / clean | Quiet and airy: a pale ground, black type, square corners and plenty of space. |
| Warm | For a business that works with its hands, such as a bakery, a florist or a joiner: “Natural and made by hand: cream and olive, a soft serif, rounded corners.” For everyone else: “Friendly and editorial: warm paper tones, a characterful serif, one bright accent.” |
| Bold | Loud and cheerful: a saturated accent, chunky rounded type, big soft corners. |

Click a board to see it at full size. The arrows, or your arrow keys, move between the three, and **Use this look** chooses the one on show. The whole site is then built in that look. [Pick a look](https://briks.dev/docs/pick-a-look) describes the boards in more detail.

## Stop 3: the hero

The hero is the first screen of the home page. Briks draws four ways to arrange it, in plain grey with your words in place, and posts them with: “Here are four ways the hero could be arranged, drawn bare so you choose the layout, not the finish. Pick one, or describe the hero you want.” The grey is on purpose. Colour and pictures come later, so you judge only the arrangement.

| Option | Layout |
| --- | --- |
| 1. Centred statement | The words centred in one column, with a wide picture below them. |
| 2. Split, words left | The words on the left, a tall picture on the right. |
| 3. Words over a full picture | One picture fills the hero, the words sit over its lower left. |
| 4. Oversized headline | A very large heading across the width, with a row of pictures below. |

Choose with **Use this one** under a layout, or from its full size view. The rest of the site is built around the one you choose.

A hero chosen A wedding photographer in Cornwall

> Sam left all three stops on. She approved the words, chose the Warm look, then opened option 3, Words over a full picture, and clicked **Use this one**.

The conversation shows “Chose hero option 3.” and the build runs to the end. Her first screen is one full photograph with her name and two buttons over its lower left.

## Approve, ask for something else, or wait

At any stop

1. See what is waiting

   Where: Studio

   The pill above the conversation reads **Waiting for your approval**, and the preview pane says what is needed, for example “Waiting for your approval. Choose a look in the conversation and the build carries on.”

2. Decide

   Where: Conversation

   Click **Approve and build**, **Use this look** or **Use this one**. Your decision appears as your own message, such as “Approved the words.”, “Chose the Warm look.” or “Chose hero option 2.”, and the build carries on.

3. Or describe what you want

   Where: Message box

   Type in the message box instead. Its placeholder says what it expects, such as “Describe the hero you want, or choose one above”. At the words, Briks rewrites them and asks you again. At the look or the hero, your description becomes the choice: the options are marked “Set aside for what you described” and the build carries on in the direction you gave.

4. Or leave it for later

   Where: Anywhere

   Nothing runs while a stop waits, and nothing is charged. Come back when you are ready.

A stop also shows in the **Notifications** bell as your project's name with "waiting for you". If you connected [Telegram](https://briks.dev/docs/telegram), the stop arrives there too, with **Approve the words**, a numbered button for each look or hero, and **Open in the studio** to see them first.

What you cannot do at a stop

Pictures cannot be attached while a stop waits: “Pictures and videos can be added once the site is built. Describe what you want for now.” Changes cannot be queued during a first build that stops for you either; send them once the site is published. While Briks is getting a stop ready, the **Stop** button works as it does for any build (see [Watching a build](https://briks.dev/docs/watching-a-build)).

## What it costs

Each stop splits the first build into parts, and each part is charged for the work it took, like any other job. What a part does not use goes back to your balance. The credits each part used are shown in small print under its message.

| Moment | Held while it runs | Charged |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Creating the project, up to the first stop | 50 credits | The work up to the stop |
| Approving or choosing, which starts the next part | Up to 50 credits (what your balance has, down to 5) | The work of that part |
| Typing what you want at a stop | 5 credits | The work that follows: new words to approve, or at the look and hero, the rest of the build |
| Waiting at a stop | Nothing | Nothing |

Keep at least 5 credits for the next part

Approving holds 50 credits when your balance has them. With less, it holds what you have, as long as that is at least 5, the hold of a change. Either way, the part is charged for the work it takes, and if that costs more than was held, the rest comes from your balance. Below 5 credits the stop keeps waiting and the studio says what you have. On the Free plan the first part uses some of your 50 credits, so a long build with several stops can run your balance low.

Separately from these stops, a first build checks its credits once it is planned. If the rest usually needs more than you have, it waits with **Waiting for credits** until you choose **Resume building**. [Watching a build](https://briks.dev/docs/watching-a-build#credits-and-pauses) explains that pause.

## Questions people ask

### Can I turn the stops on for a site that is already built?

No. They belong to the first build. To rework the words or the hero of a published site, ask for it as a change. See [Making changes](https://briks.dev/docs/making-changes).

### Are pictures made before I approve?

No. Pictures are made after the last stop, so nothing is drawn for a look or a layout you turn down.

### What if the words cannot be written?

The build does not wait for words that do not exist. The studio says “The words could not be written this time, so the build goes on without waiting for them.” If a rewrite you asked for fails, the last version waits again for you to approve or change.

### Who can approve?

Anyone with edit rights on the project: Owners, Admins and Editors. Viewers can read the stops but cannot decide them.

## Read next

- [Building **Questions before building** Before a first build is planned, Briks asks which pages to make and what your brief leaves open. How to answer, use Decide for me or turn extra questions off.](https://briks.dev/docs/questions-before-building)
- [Building **Pick a look** See three looks before your site is built, each a board of colours, type, corners, a button and cards set with your own hero words, then build the one you pick.](https://briks.dev/docs/pick-a-look)
- [Building **Watching a build** Follow a build as it plans, writes and publishes, watch your pages fill in, stop a build safely, and learn what is checked and what a failed build costs.](https://briks.dev/docs/watching-a-build)
- [Getting started **Credits and plans** How Briks credits work: holds of 50 and 5, charges for the work done, estimates and builds that wait, what happens at zero, and what each plan includes.](https://briks.dev/docs/credits-and-plans)

Still stuck?

Write to [hello@briks.dev](mailto:hello@briks.dev) with your project's name and what you expected to see. A screenshot helps.