--- title: "Briks in plain words | Briks" url: https://briks.dev/docs/plain-words description: "New to building a website? The words Briks uses everywhere, from credits to domains, and the jobs Briks does for you, such as hosting, certificates and checks." last_updated: 2026-10-08 --- # Briks in plain words You do not need to know how websites work to use Briks. This page explains the few words you will see everywhere, then the jobs Briks does for you, so you know what you never have to think about. 4 minute read Checked against the studio on 8 October 2026 ## Words you will see - **Credits**: What the AI work is paid in: building a site, making a change, an agent's task. A new site holds 50 credits while it builds and a change holds 5. Each is charged for the work it took, what it does not use comes back, and a request that fails costs nothing. You start with 50 free credits. See [credits and plans](https://briks.dev/docs/credits-and-plans). - **Brief**: What you write to say what you want built: who it is for, what it offers, how it should feel and which pages it needs. Plain sentences are enough, up to 25,000 characters. See [writing a good brief](https://briks.dev/docs/writing-a-brief). - **A site you like**: A website you show Briks when you start, so your site follows its layout, spacing, type and motion, with your own words. One per project, and you can add screenshots too. See [build from a site you like](https://briks.dev/docs/build-from-sites-you-like). - **Look**: How your site appears: its colours, typefaces, corners and buttons. Briks designs it from your brief and any site you like. For a new website without a site you like, you can switch on **Choose the look from three directions** to see three looks with your own words and pick one. See [pick a look](https://briks.dev/docs/pick-a-look). - **Publish**: Putting your site online. Every build and change is published to your site's own `briks.live` address, first as a preview that search engines are asked to leave out. **Publish to production** makes it public in full, after a launch check. See [preview and production](https://briks.dev/docs/preview-and-production). - **Versions**: Every build and change is saved as a version. You can undo, redo or restore any of them, and the site is published again as it was. See [versions, undo and redo](https://briks.dev/docs/versions). - **Agents**: AI helpers you can hire for a live site, from the Starter plan. Each has one job, such as replying to customers, writing posts or checking security, and asks you before anything goes out unless you let it act on its own. See [hire AI agents](https://briks.dev/docs/ai-agents). - **Workspace**: Your shared space in Briks, with its own projects, plan and credits. You can invite people into it, each with a role: Owner, Admin, Editor or Viewer. See [workspaces](https://briks.dev/docs/workspaces). - **Domain**: Your own web address, such as `yourbakery.com`. You can connect one from the Starter plan. Every site also keeps its own `briks.live` address. See [connect your domain](https://briks.dev/docs/custom-domains). More words Every other word Briks uses, from A/B test to webhook, is in [words we use](https://briks.dev/docs/glossary). ## What you do not need to worry about - **Hosting.** It is part of every plan, free included. Your site is online as soon as it is built, and hosting is never paid in credits, so a live site stays online whatever your balance. See [preview and production](https://briks.dev/docs/preview-and-production). - **Certificates.** Every site is served over https, the padlock browsers show. When you connect your own domain, Briks gets its certificate and renews it for you, at no extra cost. See [connect your domain](https://briks.dev/docs/custom-domains). - **Backups.** Every version of your site is kept on every plan, so a change can be undone. On a paid plan you can also switch on nightly copies of your site's records, each kept for 30 days. See [backups](https://briks.dev/docs/backups). - **Security checks.** Before a build or change goes live, Briks reads the code written for your site for the mistakes that most often leak data, and holds back a change that would load scripts from other websites. A key pasted into a message by mistake is cut out before the message is kept, when Briks knows its kind. See [secrets](https://briks.dev/docs/secrets). ## Your first site in five steps 1. Describe your business Pick what you are making, give it a name, and write a few sentences about who it is for, what you offer and which pages you need. Adding a site you like, your colours or your logo is optional. 2. Answer a few questions Before planning, Briks suggests pages from your brief and asks about anything it leaves open. Each question has a recommended answer already chosen, and **Decide for me** takes them all. 3. Watch it build The conversation shows each stage as it happens. The first version takes a few minutes, and you can leave the page while it runs. 4. Open the preview Your site is published at its own `briks.live` address. It is a real, working site, but search engines are asked to leave it out and form messages are not emailed to you yet. 5. Change it, then publish to production Ask for changes in plain words, as many as you like. When it is ready, **Publish to production** runs a launch check and makes the site public in full. ## If something goes wrong - **A request that fails costs nothing.** Its credits come back in full. - **You changed your mind mid-build.** **Stop** ends a running build before it publishes, so the site stays as it was, and you pay only for the work done until then. - **You do not like a change.** Undo it. Going back to an earlier version publishes it again as it was, with no credits held. - **A build waits for credits.** A build that usually takes more credits than you have stops once it is planned, and the plan is kept until you press **Resume building**. It never carries on by itself. - **You are stuck.** [Troubleshooting](https://briks.dev/docs/troubleshooting) covers the common problems, and you can always write to hello@briks.dev with what you were trying to do. Where to go next Ready to start? [Your first site](https://briks.dev/docs/your-first-site) walks through a whole build, from the brief to a published site, with a worked example. ## Read next - [Getting started **What Briks does** Briks plans, designs, builds, checks, hosts and publishes websites, web apps and dashboards from a plain description. What it does, and what it cannot do yet.](https://briks.dev/docs/introduction) - [Getting started **Your first site** Follow one small bakery from New project to a preview on briks.live, a first change in the chat and Publish to production, with every screen shown in order.](https://briks.dev/docs/your-first-site) - [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) - [Getting started **Words we use** Plain definitions of the words used across the Briks docs, from A/B test and brief to webhook and workspace, each linked to the page that explains it in full.](https://briks.dev/docs/glossary) 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.