--- title: "Your first site, start to finish | Briks" url: https://briks.dev/docs/your-first-site description: "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." last_updated: 2026-10-08 --- # Your first site, start to finish This walkthrough follows one business from an empty workspace to a public site, so you see every screen once before doing it yourself. The example is Larder Lane, a small bakery in York, built on the Free plan's 50 credits. 9 minute read Checked against the studio on 8 October 2026 ## Before you start Have three things ready: the business name, a paragraph about it, and a rough list of pages. Sam, who runs Larder Lane, wants a site that shows the bread, takes Saturday pre-orders and tells people where the shop is and when it is open. Sam is on the Free plan, so he has 50 credits and room for 1 project. A new site holds 50 while it builds, so he starts with a full balance and does not spend any on anything else first. As the first site of a Free workspace, it is built in full even if it takes more than he has. ## Step one: describe the business Where 1. Projects 2. New project You can also start from the prompt box on Home and press **Continue**. Either way you reach a short setup in seven steps: **What are you making?**, **Describe it**, **Show what you like**, **Your brand**, **Pictures**, **How it is built** and **Review and create**. A list beside it shows where you are, and **Back** and **Next** move between steps. What you enter is kept in this browser until the build starts, so you can leave and come back. 1. Choose the kind and name it Where: What are you making? Sam picks **Website** and types `Larder Lane` into **Business or project name**. The name also becomes the site's first address. 2. Write the description Where: Describe it The box takes up to 25,000 characters and needs at least ten. You can type or speak. The panel under it lists what a good description says: who it is for and where, what it offers or does, how it should feel, and the pages or features it needs. 3. Skip the optional steps Where: Show what you like, Your brand Both are marked **Optional**, and with nothing filled in the button reads **Skip**. Sam has no sites he wants to follow and no fixed colours, so he skips both and lets Briks choose. 4. Keep the included pictures Where: Pictures The first choice, marked **Included**, takes fitting pictures from the studio's library and draws anything missing, with no charge for pictures. The other choices draw every picture new and add a price per picture to the build. 5. Check how it is built Where: How it is built **Ask about what is unclear before building** is on; leave it on. Sam leaves the approval switches and **Check the published site** off. 6. Review and build Where: Review and create Every choice is listed with a way back to change it. The note under it says the new project holds 50 credits while it builds, what your balance is, and that the first version takes a few minutes. When a project like this usually takes more than you have, a line under it gives the estimate. Sam presses **Build it**. Sam's brief Larder Lane, York > A small neighbourhood bakery in York, open Wednesday to Saturday. Sourdough, rye and pastries baked on site every morning. People can pre-order loaves for Saturday collection through a simple form: name, phone, what they want and a pickup time. Pages: home, our bread, pre-orders, visit us with opening hours and directions, and a short story about the two of us. Warm and plain-spoken. Cream and deep green, big honest photos of bread. Why a form and not a shop Sam asks for pre-orders through a form, not online payment, because he wants to start simply: the customer pays at the counter. To take payment online later, he would connect his own payment processor under **Settings**, **Payments** and ask for it in a change. Leave the approval steps off on 50 credits **Approve the words before building**, **Choose the look from three directions** and **Choose the hero from four wireframes** each pause the build until you decide. Carrying on after one holds up to 50 credits again, or what your balance has down to 5, and each part is charged for its work. On 50 credits, a build with several stops can run your balance low; see [approve as it builds](https://briks.dev/docs/approval-steps). ## Step two: answer the questions The project opens on its **Studio** tab, with the conversation on the left and the preview on the right. Before planning anything, Briks prepares a few questions; the label above the preview reads 'Waiting for your answers'. The full detail is in [questions before building](https://briks.dev/docs/questions-before-building). 1. Tick the pages Where: Studio Briks suggests pages from your brief. **Home** is marked **Always**. Tick or untick the rest, and add your own in the field that reads 'Add a page, for example Careers'. A site can start with up to 10 pages, and each page you tick is built in full. 2. Answer the other questions Where: Studio Each one has a choice marked **Recommended**, already selected. Change any that are wrong, or choose **Something else** to write your own answer. 3. Send your answers Where: Studio Press **Continue**. **Decide for me** takes every recommended answer instead. You can also type your answers in your own words in the box below the conversation. What Sam chose > Sam kept Home, Our bread, Pre-orders, Visit us and Our story, and added `Wholesale` for the three cafés he supplies. One question asked how pre-orders should be taken; he kept the recommended answer. Six pages, then Continue. The build started straight away. ## Step three: watch it build The conversation shows each stage as it happens, such as **Planning the site and its pictures**, **Designing and building**, **Verifying build** and **Publishing**. The first version takes a few minutes. You can leave the page while it runs; the build carries on and the result is waiting when you come back. [Watching a build](https://briks.dev/docs/watching-a-build) explains each stage. When the site is published, the preview fills in and the label above it changes to **Live preview**. The buttons above the preview let you see it at desktop, tablet and phone widths, reload it, open it full screen, or open it in a new tab at its own address so you can click through every page as a visitor would. Changed your mind mid-build? **Stop** ends a running build before it publishes, so the site stays as it was. You are charged only for the work done until the stop. If a build waits for credits On later sites, or on a paid plan, a build whose rest usually takes more credits than you have stops once it is planned. The conversation says **Waiting for credits**, with the estimate and what you have, and the plan is kept. Press **Get credits**, then **Resume building** once you have them; it never carries on by itself. See [credits and plans](https://briks.dev/docs/credits-and-plans). ## Step four: open the preview The first publish is a preview at an address made from the project name, here `larder-lane.briks.live`. If that name is taken, a few characters are added to the end. An Owner or Admin can change it later; see [your site's address](https://briks.dev/docs/site-address). A preview is a real, working site that anyone with the address can open. It differs from production in two ways: search engines are asked to leave it out, and messages sent through its forms are kept in the studio but not emailed to you. - Read every page on your own phone, not just in the preview pane. - Open the menu and make sure each page you ticked is there. - Send a test pre-order through the form, then find it in the project's **Forms**. Where 1. Projects 2. Larder Lane 3. Settings 4. Forms ## Step five: make one change Sam notices the opening hours sit low on the Visit us page, and the home page photo shows croissants when he is known for sourdough. He writes one message in the box under the conversation, the one that reads 'Change the hero, add a page, adjust the colours…'. 1. Write the change Where: Studio Say what to change and where, in plain words. One message can carry several related changes, up to 6,000 characters, with up to six pictures or videos attached. 2. Decide on a check Where: Studio Under the box, **Check the site after this change** looks at the published site at four screen sizes and repairs what renders broken. It adds a few minutes and some credits, so leave it off for small changes like this one. 3. Send it Where: Studio Press the send button, **Send**. A change holds 5 credits while it runs. If a build is already running, the button becomes **Queue**: the message waits and runs when that build finishes. Sam's change > On Visit us, put the opening hours at the top in large type: Wednesday to Saturday, 8am to 2pm. On the home page, swap the big photo for a close shot of sourdough loaves on a wooden board. Briks built the change and published it to the same address, and the preview reloaded. The earlier version stayed in the project's versions in case Sam wanted it back. Tip Typing a question rather than a change, such as 'which pages have a form?', gets an answer in the conversation with no build and nothing held. See [asking questions](https://briks.dev/docs/asking-questions) and [making changes](https://briks.dev/docs/making-changes). ## Step six: publish to production Production makes the site public in full: search engines can list it, and messages from its forms are emailed to you. 1. Press Publish Where: Top bar Once a site has been published, the top bar shows **Preview** and a **Publish** button. Press it. 2. Read the dialog Where: Publish to production It explains what changes. Briks checks the site first, including its links, and if something needs fixing, nothing changes and the studio tells you what. 3. Confirm Where: Publish to production Press **Publish to production**. When it is done, the button in the top bar reads **In production**. Publishing to production, and going back with **Back to preview**, hold no credits. Once the site is in production, each change you send is published there too. More in [publish to production](https://briks.dev/docs/publish-to-production). ## Step seven: your own domain On the Free plan the site stays at its `briks.live` address, which works in production too. Connecting a domain of your own, such as `larderlane.co.uk`, starts on the Starter plan. Where 1. Projects 2. Larder Lane 3. Settings 4. Domain There you type the domain under **Your domain** and press **Connect domain**. Then you add three records at the company where you bought the domain. Records are short settings that tell the internet where your domain points: here an A record, a CNAME for `www` pointing to `edge.briks.live`, and a TXT record named `_briks` that proves the domain is yours. Briks re-checks them every 2 minutes and issues the security certificate for you. [Connect your domain](https://briks.dev/docs/custom-domains) walks through it. ## If something goes wrong ### The build failed. Was I charged? No. A request that fails is not charged, and its hold goes back to your balance. The project shows **Needs attention**; read the last message in the conversation, then send your next message to carry on. ### I do not have enough credits for a change. The studio says what the change holds and what your balance is, and nothing starts. A change that adds pages can also be refused when it usually takes more than you have, with the estimate. Your site stays online. An Owner can move to a plan with more credits from the window that opens, or from **Billing**. See [credits and plans](https://briks.dev/docs/credits-and-plans). ### Can I build a second site on Free? No. The Free plan includes 1 project. Pro and above include more; see the plans table in [credits and plans](https://briks.dev/docs/credits-and-plans). ### Someone else should see it before it goes live. Send them the preview address. They do not need an account. See [sharing a preview](https://briks.dev/docs/sharing-a-preview). ## Read next - [Building **Start a new project** 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.](https://briks.dev/docs/new-project) - [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) - [Working on a project **Making changes** How to change your site by writing to Briks: what to say, adding pictures, what a change holds and costs, inner pages, queued requests and fixing a miss.](https://briks.dev/docs/making-changes) - [Publishing and domains **Publish to production** Take a Briks site from preview to production: what the launch check reads, what blocks a launch, how to fix each finding and how to go back to preview.](https://briks.dev/docs/publish-to-production) 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.