--- title: "Start a new project | Briks" url: https://briks.dev/docs/new-project description: "Every choice on the New project page, step by step: the kind of project, your brief, a site you like, brand, pictures, build switches and what starting costs." last_updated: 2026-10-08 --- # Start a new project Every website, app and dashboard in Briks starts on the **New project** page. It is a short setup in seven steps. Only the name and the description are required, and nothing is built or charged until you press **Build it** on the last step. This page walks through each step and every choice on it. 10 minute read Checked against the studio on 8 October 2026 1. 1 Each step has its own screen. This one is **Describe it**, where you write the brief. 2. 2 Example briefs you can start from, picked for the kind of thing you are making. 3. 3 Optional steps, such as **References** and **Brand**, can be skipped. 4. 4 **Next** moves on (it reads **Skip** on an optional step you leave empty). Nothing is built until you press **Build it** on the last step. New project on its second step, **Describe it**, with the seven steps listed beside it. ## Ways to open it There are four ways in, and they all lead to the same page. - **New project** under **Projects** in the sidebar, or the **New project** button at the top of the Projects list. - The box on **Home**. Type a first description, choose **Website**, **App** or **Dashboard** under it and press **Continue**. Your words are waiting on the **Describe it** step. The line under the box tells you what a build holds and what you have, for example "A build holds 50 credits; you have 50." If building usually takes more than you have, a second line says so before you go on. - **Jump to** at the top of the sidebar (⌘K on a Mac, Ctrl K elsewhere). Type `New project` and press Enter. - The prompt box on briks.dev, before you have an account. The next section explains what comes with you. Where 1. Projects 2. New project Who can start a project Owners, Admins and Editors can start projects. Viewers can look around a workspace, but they don't get the **New project** button, and **Home** tells them that starting projects is for Editors and above. ## Arriving from the briks.dev home page If you typed a description into the box on briks.dev and pressed **Start building**, your words come with you. The sign-up page shows them under **Your brief**, with the line "Your first project starts from these words. You can change them before anything is built." Once your account is ready, New project opens with those words already on the **Describe it** step. The other choices in that box travel too. The tile you picked (such as **Landing page** or **Internal tool**) sets the kind of project. A site added under **Add a site you like** in the **+** menu appears on the **Show what you like** step. The **Pick a look first** switch arrives as **Choose the look from three directions**, already on. Up to 2,000 characters of description are carried over, so if your brief is longer, paste the rest on **Describe it**, which takes 25,000. ## The seven steps On a wide screen the steps run down the left as **Project**, **Description**, **References**, **Brand**, **Pictures**, **How it is built** and **Review**, and each finished step shows a short note of what you chose. On a phone you see **Step 2 of 7** and the name of the next step instead. Click any step you have already reached to go back to it, or use **Back** at the bottom. The two optional steps, **Show what you like** and **Your brand**, carry an **Optional** tag, and their **Next** button reads **Skip** while they are empty. Below, each step goes by the heading it shows at the top. From an idea to Build it 1. Choose the kind and the name Where: What are you making? Pick **Website**, **App** or **Dashboard**, then fill in **Business or project name** (2 to 60 characters). The name is also the start of your site's address on briks.live, which you can change later. 2. Write or speak the brief Where: Describe it Type your brief, or press the microphone (**Speak your request**) and talk for up to two minutes; your words appear in the box for you to edit. It needs at least ten characters and takes up to 25,000; the counter under the box shows how many you have used. **Start from an example** offers two sample briefs for the kind you chose, and **A good description says** lists what to cover. 3. Add a site and screenshots you admire Where: Show what you like Optional. One address under **A site to learn from** and up to six pictures under **Screenshots**. Briks reads how they are put together and doesn't copy them. 4. Set only what is already fixed Where: Your brand Optional. Under **Brand rules**: **Accent colour**, **Light or dark**, **Headline face**, **Text face**, **Content width**, **Spacing**, **No gradients anywhere** and **Anything else that is fixed**. Anything left on **Designer's call** or **Auto** is chosen for your business. 5. Choose how pictures are made Where: Pictures **Default studio model** is included: pictures that fit come from the studio's library, cut to size, and anything missing is drawn new. **GPT Image 2.5** draws every picture new for your site, at 1 credit a picture, charged when the build finishes. See [Pictures](https://briks.dev/docs/pictures). 6. Decide where the build stops Where: How it is built Five switches decide what Briks asks you, where it waits for you and what it checks. The table below explains each one. 7. Check and start Where: Review and create Every choice is listed with an **Edit** button that takes you back to its step. Under the list you see the hold and your balance, and a line on what building usually takes when that is more than you have. Press **Build it**. When you press **Next** on **Describe it**, Briks checks that your words describe a project. If they read as a question instead, such as `How long does a first build take?`, the answer appears under the box and you stay on the step with your words in place. Nothing is made, held or charged. Rewrite them as a brief and press **Next** again. Keep keys and passwords out of the brief A key pasted into the description is cut out before anything keeps it or reads it. The project's conversation then says "A key was removed from your message so it isn't stored. Add it in Project Settings → Secrets.", with an **Open Secrets** button. A site's keys live in [Secrets](https://briks.dev/docs/secrets), where you add them once the site is published. If your project needs another service's key, name the service in the brief and Briks asks about it before building. ## The three kinds | Kind | Good for | What changes | | --- | --- | --- | | **Website** | Pages people visit: a clinic, a restaurant, a portfolio, a landing page | Every step and switch applies | | **App** | Something people use rather than read, such as a booking request tool or an internal tool for your team | The same steps and switches as a website | | **Dashboard** | Numbers a team keeps an eye on: sales by stage, stock to reorder | No questions before building, no words to approve, no look or hero to choose, and no pictures | Sign-in and payments Ask for accounts and visitors get sign-up and sign-in with email and password. A site takes one-time payments through your own processor once its keys are saved under **Settings**, **Payments**, and subscriptions through Stripe, Paddle, Polar or Lemon Squeezy. For shipping, say so in the brief, and Briks builds it into the site with your own payment account. See [Sign-in and payments](https://briks.dev/docs/sign-in-and-payments), and [Web apps and dashboards](https://briks.dev/docs/web-apps-and-dashboards) for what apps do today. ## The switches under How it is built | Switch | Starts | What it does | | --- | --- | --- | | **Ask about what is unclear before building** | On | Briks always asks which pages to build. With this on, it also asks about what your words leave open, such as bookings or prices. Not shown for dashboards. | | **Approve the words before building** | Off | The words are written first, with the thinking behind them, and the build waits until you approve them or say what to change. | | **Choose the look from three directions** | Off | You pick from three boards (Nordic and clean, warm, bold) and the whole site is built in that one. | | **Choose the hero from four wireframes** | Off | You pick the layout of the home page's first screen from four plain grey sketches with your words in place. | | **Check the published site** | Off | Once the first version is published, Briks looks at it at four screen sizes and repairs what renders broken. A few minutes more and some credits. | The look and the hero switches disappear when they can't apply, and the step says why: "Your reference site decides the look and the hero, so there is none to choose." or "A dashboard builds straight through, with no words to approve and no look or hero to choose." If you added a site you like, **Show what you like** also offers **Measure the build against the reference**, off by default; [Build from a site you like](https://briks.dev/docs/build-from-sites-you-like) explains it. The stops for words, look and hero are covered in [Approve as it builds](https://briks.dev/docs/approval-steps). ## What starting costs 50 credits are held when you press Build it The review says it in the studio's words: "A new project holds 50 credits while it builds and is charged for the work it takes", followed by your balance. When the build ends, what it didn't use comes back. If it took more than 50, the difference comes from your balance. Two choices add to the charge. **GPT Image 2.5** adds its price for every picture it draws; the price shows beside the option (1 credit a picture as this is written) and the review line mentions it. **Check the published site** takes, in its own words, "a few minutes more and some credits". Questions before building are never charged, and a build that fails isn't charged. ### When building usually takes more than you have Briks knows what builds like yours usually cost, from the builds before it. When that is more than your balance, the review, the box on **Home** and the build card in the studio add one line, for example: "Building it usually takes about 85 credits after planning, and you have 30. If it needs more than you have once planned, it waits there for credits with the plan kept." When your balance covers it, the line doesn't show. The check that counts comes after planning, once your pages are chosen. If the rest of the build then usually needs more than the build still holds plus your balance, it pauses with its plan kept and waits for you to choose **Resume building**. [Watching a build](https://briks.dev/docs/watching-a-build#credits-and-pauses) explains the pause. Your first site on the Free plan is built in full A Free workspace's first site never pauses for credits. If it needs more than you have, it carries on all the same and the conversation says so: "Building it usually takes about 85 credits, and you have 30. As your first site, it is built in full all the same; later builds wait for credits when they need more than you have." Your plan also caps how many projects a workspace holds: 1 on Free, 1 on Starter, 3 on Pro, 10 on Studio and 30 on Agency. [Credits and plans](https://briks.dev/docs/credits-and-plans) has the full table. ## What happens after you press Build it 1. The project is made Where: Review and create The button reads **Starting the build** for a moment while the credits are held and the project gets its address. The setup kept in your browser is cleared. 2. The studio opens Where: Studio You land in the project's studio. Your description is the first message in the conversation. 3. Questions, for websites and apps Where: Studio The status reads **Preparing questions**, then **Waiting for your answers** when a card asks which pages to build and anything your words left open. See [Questions before building](https://briks.dev/docs/questions-before-building). 4. The build runs Where: Studio Briks reads your references, plans the pages, writes the words, makes the pictures, then builds and checks the site. If you switched on an approval step, it stops there for you. If the plan shows it needs more credits than you have, it waits for **Resume building**. The first version takes a few minutes. 5. The preview is published Where: Studio The reply says what was built and where it was published on briks.live. That preview is kept out of search results. Going live properly is a separate step: [Publish to production](https://briks.dev/docs/publish-to-production). ## If it won't start ### It says my plan includes a set number of projects. Every plan holds a set number, and the message ends "Upgrade to add more." Delete a project you no longer need, or move to a bigger plan from the upgrade box that opens, or in **Billing**. ### It says the new project holds 50 credits and my balance is lower. The build can't start until your balance covers the hold. Paid plans get their credits each month; Free gets 50 once. The message ends "A plan with more credits is in Billing.", and the upgrade box that opens offers the smallest plan with more credits. ### I closed the tab halfway through. Your setup is kept in this browser, so opening **New project** again takes you back to the step you reached with your choices in place. It isn't saved to your account, so another browser or device starts fresh. ### Can I change the brief once the build has started? Not the original. Once the site is built, you change it by typing what you want in the studio. See [Making changes](https://briks.dev/docs/making-changes). ## Read next - [Building **Writing a good brief** What to put in a brief so the first build lands: the business, its audience, the pages, the main action, facts and tone, with six before and after examples.](https://briks.dev/docs/writing-a-brief) - [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 **Build from a site you like** Add one site and up to six screenshots you like. Briks reads its layout, spacing, type, motion and menus, then builds yours in that spirit without copying.](https://briks.dev/docs/build-from-sites-you-like) - [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.