[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":428},["ShallowReactive",2],{"docs-navigation":3,"docs-\u002Fbuilding\u002Fwhen-it-asks-you":254,"surround-\u002Fbuilding\u002Fwhen-it-asks-you":425},[4,33,86,114,173,212,231],{"title":5,"path":6,"stem":7,"children":8},"Start","\u002Fstart","1.start",[9,13,18,23,28],{"title":10,"path":6,"stem":11,"description":12},"Start here","1.start\u002Findex","What Desifex is, and how to get an application of your own running.",{"title":14,"path":15,"stem":16,"description":17},"What Desifex is","\u002Fstart\u002Fwhat-desifex-is","1.start\u002F1.what-desifex-is","An application factory where conversation is the interface — and the handful of things it deliberately will not do.",{"title":19,"path":20,"stem":21,"description":22},"Your first application","\u002Fstart\u002Fyour-first-application","1.start\u002F2.your-first-application","From a sentence to something running, in about twenty minutes, with nothing to install.",{"title":24,"path":25,"stem":26,"description":27},"The workbench","\u002Fstart\u002Fthe-workbench","1.start\u002F3.the-workbench","A tour of the screen you will spend your time on — the conversation, the six tabs, and the menu.",{"title":29,"path":30,"stem":31,"description":32},"What to expect","\u002Fstart\u002Fwhat-to-expect","1.start\u002F4.what-to-expect","How long things take, what a good working rhythm looks like, and the parts that genuinely go wrong.",{"title":34,"path":35,"stem":36,"children":37},"Building","\u002Fbuilding","2.building",[38,41,46,51,56,61,66,71,76,81],{"title":34,"path":35,"stem":39,"description":40},"2.building\u002Findex","Getting what you actually wanted out of the conversation.",{"title":42,"path":43,"stem":44,"description":45},"Describing what you need","\u002Fbuilding\u002Fdescribing-what-you-need","2.building\u002F1.describing-what-you-need","How to phrase a request so that what comes back is what you meant.",{"title":47,"path":48,"stem":49,"description":50},"Watching a build","\u002Fbuilding\u002Fwatching-a-build","2.building\u002F2.watching-a-build","What the steps mean, what is happening underneath, and why you are not shown a log.",{"title":52,"path":53,"stem":54,"description":55},"Changing your mind","\u002Fbuilding\u002Fchanging-your-mind","2.building\u002F3.changing-your-mind","Interrupting a build, correcting a misunderstanding, and undoing something you asked for.",{"title":57,"path":58,"stem":59,"description":60},"When a build fails","\u002Fbuilding\u002Fwhen-a-build-fails","2.building\u002F4.when-a-build-fails","What a failure actually means, what to try, and when to ask us.",{"title":62,"path":63,"stem":64,"description":65},"Showing it a file","\u002Fbuilding\u002Fshowing-it-files","2.building\u002F5.showing-it-files","Attaching a screenshot, a spreadsheet or a document to the conversation — often faster than describing it.",{"title":67,"path":68,"stem":69,"description":70},"Choosing a design system","\u002Fbuilding\u002Fchoosing-a-design-system","2.building\u002F6.choosing-a-design-system","What a design system decides, how to pick one, and what changing it later does.",{"title":72,"path":73,"stem":74,"description":75},"Asking for settings","\u002Fbuilding\u002Fasking-for-settings","2.building\u002F7.asking-for-settings","The conversation reaches the whole platform — addresses, icons, redirects, users, integrations and shipping. If you do not know where a setting is, ask.",{"title":77,"path":78,"stem":79,"description":80},"When it asks you","\u002Fbuilding\u002Fwhen-it-asks-you","2.building\u002F8.when-it-asks-you","Some decisions arrive as a screen rather than a message — a table to correct, a list to choose from — and the build waits for your answer.",{"title":82,"path":83,"stem":84,"description":85},"Starting from what you have","\u002Fbuilding\u002Fstarting-from-what-you-have","2.building\u002F9.starting-from-what-you-have","A spreadsheet, a document, a picture or a page of your own site — attached, read, and built from.",{"title":87,"path":88,"stem":89,"children":90},"Shipping","\u002Fshipping","3.shipping",[91,94,99,104,109],{"title":87,"path":88,"stem":92,"description":93},"3.shipping\u002Findex","Getting what you built in front of people, and getting back to an earlier version.",{"title":95,"path":96,"stem":97,"description":98},"Versions","\u002Fshipping\u002Fversions","3.shipping\u002F1.versions","Every build is kept, named after what was asked for, and can be compared and restored.",{"title":100,"path":101,"stem":102,"description":103},"Environments","\u002Fshipping\u002Fenvironments","3.shipping\u002F2.environments","Preview, test and live — what each one is, who can reach it, and why their data is separate.",{"title":105,"path":106,"stem":107,"description":108},"Deploying","\u002Fshipping\u002Fdeploying","3.shipping\u002F3.deploying","Putting a version into test or live, what happens while it deploys, and what happens if it fails.",{"title":110,"path":111,"stem":112,"description":113},"Going back","\u002Fshipping\u002Fgoing-back","3.shipping\u002F4.going-back","Restoring an earlier version when a change turned out to be wrong.",{"title":115,"path":116,"stem":117,"children":118},"Running","\u002Frunning","4.running",[119,123,128,133,138,143,148,153,158,163,168],{"title":120,"path":116,"stem":121,"description":122},"Running it","4.running\u002Findex","Everything in Settings — addresses, access, people, files, integrations and what crawlers are told.",{"title":124,"path":125,"stem":126,"description":127},"Addresses and domains","\u002Frunning\u002Faddresses-and-domains","4.running\u002F01.addresses-and-domains","The address an application gets, and how to put it on a domain you own.",{"title":129,"path":130,"stem":131,"description":132},"Who can reach it","\u002Frunning\u002Fwho-can-reach-it","4.running\u002F02.who-can-reach-it","Open, behind one shared password, or accounts — and why the choice is enforced in front of the application.",{"title":134,"path":135,"stem":136,"description":137},"People who sign in","\u002Frunning\u002Fpeople-who-sign-in","4.running\u002F03.people-who-sign-in","The workspace's user directory — adding the people who use your applications, which ones each may open, what you can keep about them, and two-step sign-in.",{"title":139,"path":140,"stem":141,"description":142},"Published files","\u002Frunning\u002Fpublished-files","4.running\u002F04.published-files","Documents your application hands to its users — a price list, a brochure, a form — with a stable address and no build to change them.",{"title":144,"path":145,"stem":146,"description":147},"Integrations","\u002Frunning\u002Fintegrations","4.running\u002F05.integrations","Email, SMS and Google — connected once, used by the application without it ever holding a credential.",{"title":149,"path":150,"stem":151,"description":152},"Appearance","\u002Frunning\u002Fappearance","4.running\u002F06.appearance","The browser tab, the icon, what a link looks like when somebody pastes it, and adding it to a phone's home screen.",{"title":154,"path":155,"stem":156,"description":157},"Redirects and search engines","\u002Frunning\u002Fredirects-and-search-engines","4.running\u002F07.redirects-and-search-engines","Old addresses that still get visited, and what crawlers are told about each environment.",{"title":159,"path":160,"stem":161,"description":162},"Configuration values","\u002Frunning\u002Fconfiguration-values","4.running\u002F08.configuration-values","Named values the application needs but must not contain — API keys, account numbers, thresholds.",{"title":164,"path":165,"stem":166,"description":167},"Your data","\u002Frunning\u002Fyour-data","4.running\u002F09.your-data","The Data tab — reading, correcting, adding to and clearing out what your application has stored, one environment at a time.",{"title":169,"path":170,"stem":171,"description":172},"Visitors","\u002Frunning\u002Fvisitors","4.running\u002F10.visitors","Who is using the application, counted without identifying anybody and with nothing to set up.",{"title":174,"path":175,"stem":176,"children":177},"Workspace","\u002Fworkspace","5.workspace",[178,182,187,192,197,202,207],{"title":179,"path":175,"stem":180,"description":181},"Your workspace","5.workspace\u002Findex","What every application in it shares — the domain, the design systems, the people, the user directory and, if you want it, one set of records — and how to be in more than one.",{"title":183,"path":184,"stem":185,"description":186},"People and roles","\u002Fworkspace\u002Fpeople-and-roles","5.workspace\u002F1.people-and-roles","Three roles, what each can do, how they apply to the builder as well as to the buttons, and why they belong to a workspace rather than to an account.",{"title":188,"path":189,"stem":190,"description":191},"More than one workspace","\u002Fworkspace\u002Fmore-than-one-workspace","5.workspace\u002F2.more-than-one-workspace","Belonging to several, switching between them, the role you hold in each, and why nothing crosses over.",{"title":193,"path":194,"stem":195,"description":196},"Organising applications","\u002Fworkspace\u002Ffolders-and-organising","5.workspace\u002F3.folders-and-organising","Folders on the dashboard, and how to keep a growing list navigable.",{"title":198,"path":199,"stem":200,"description":201},"Your own design systems","\u002Fworkspace\u002Fyour-own-design-systems","5.workspace\u002F4.your-own-design-systems","Authoring a design system for your brand, or a client's, by importing guidelines, a website or a Figma library.",{"title":203,"path":204,"stem":205,"description":206},"Your profile","\u002Fworkspace\u002Fyour-profile","5.workspace\u002F5.your-profile","Your name, your password, your picture, and the theme.",{"title":208,"path":209,"stem":210,"description":211},"Where records live","\u002Fworkspace\u002Fwhere-records-live","5.workspace\u002F6.where-records-live","One store per environment, one across an application's environments, or one the whole workspace shares — what each costs you, and how to change it.",{"title":213,"path":214,"stem":215,"children":216},"Developers","\u002Fdevelopers","6.developers",[217,221,226],{"title":218,"path":214,"stem":219,"description":220},"For developers","6.developers\u002Findex","What is actually generated, and what to do when you inherit one.",{"title":222,"path":223,"stem":224,"description":225},"What gets built","\u002Fdevelopers\u002Fwhat-gets-built","6.developers\u002F1.what-gets-built","The stack, the shape of the repository, and the parts the platform provides rather than the application.",{"title":227,"path":228,"stem":229,"description":230},"Taking one over","\u002Fdevelopers\u002Ftaking-it-over","6.developers\u002F2.taking-it-over","For the developer who has just been handed an application built here.",{"title":232,"path":233,"stem":234,"children":235},"Reference","\u002Freference","7.reference",[236,239,244,249],{"title":232,"path":233,"stem":237,"description":238},"7.reference\u002Findex","Terms, limits, and what to do when something specific has gone wrong.",{"title":240,"path":241,"stem":242,"description":243},"Glossary","\u002Freference\u002Fglossary","7.reference\u002F1.glossary","Every term this documentation uses, in one place.",{"title":245,"path":246,"stem":247,"description":248},"Limits","\u002Freference\u002Flimits","7.reference\u002F2.limits","The boundaries that are real, so you do not discover them at an inconvenient moment.",{"title":250,"path":251,"stem":252,"description":253},"Troubleshooting","\u002Freference\u002Ftroubleshooting","7.reference\u002F3.troubleshooting","Specific symptoms, and what each one usually means.",{"id":255,"title":77,"body":256,"description":80,"extension":418,"hidden":419,"meta":420,"navTitle":421,"navigation":422,"path":78,"seo":423,"stem":79,"__hash__":424},"docs\u002F2.building\u002F8.when-it-asks-you.md",{"type":257,"value":258,"toc":407},"minimark",[259,263,276,284,289,296,299,306,309,315,319,326,332,337,341,356,359,363,369,372,378,382,393,400,404],[260,261,262],"p",{},"Most of the time the builder decides and tells you what it did. Sometimes the\ndecision is genuinely yours, and the answer is not a sentence.",[260,264,265,269,270,269,273],{},[266,267,268],"em",{},"Which of these forty columns is the customer's name."," ",[266,271,272],{},"Which of these sheets\nshould become screens.",[266,274,275],{},"Is this the structure we found in your spreadsheet.",[260,277,278,279,283],{},"Asked in the conversation, those produce a paragraph back that then has to be\ninterpreted, and it is wrong often enough to matter. So the builder puts a\n",[280,281,282],"strong",{},"screen"," in front of you instead.",[285,286,288],"h2",{"id":287},"the-one-it-always-asks","The one it always asks",[260,290,291,292,295],{},"Every first build stops, early, and puts up the same question: ",[280,293,294],{},"is this the\nright shape for your records?"," A table, one row per kind of thing the\napplication will keep — what it is called, what it holds in your words, and\nthe fields that matter.",[260,297,298],{},"It is filled in already, from your brief. The usual answer is to read it,\ncorrect a row and press the button.",[260,300,301,302,305],{},"This one is asked every time because the cost of being wrong is lopsided.\nA screen is an afternoon to change afterwards; the records underneath it are\nnot, and everything built on top has to move with them. It is also the moment\nyou are most likely to notice something obvious about your own business that\nyou would never have thought to write down — ",[266,303,304],{},"a site visit has two engineers,\nnot one"," — and noticing it now is a row in a table rather than a rebuild.",[260,307,308],{},"Add rows for anything missing, change what is wrong, and take out what you do\nnot need. If it is right as it stands, press the button and it carries on.",[310,311,312],"note",{},[260,313,314],{},"After this one it goes quiet. The builder is told to make the rest of the\nordinary decisions itself and say what it decided, so a first build asks you\nthis and then gets on with it.",[285,316,318],{"id":317},"what-it-looks-like","What it looks like",[260,320,321,322,325],{},"A tab appears at the front of the strip — ",[280,323,324],{},"Your answer"," — and opens itself.\nYou get the question, a sentence about why it is being asked, and the right\ncontrol for each part of it: a table you can correct cell by cell, a list with\nan explanation under each option, a box to type in.",[260,327,328,331],{},[280,329,330],{},"The build is stopped, waiting on it."," It carries on the moment you answer,\nwith your answer in hand rather than a guess.",[310,333,334],{},[260,335,336],{},"It is there when you come back. Close the tab, go to a meeting, open the\napplication again an hour later — the question is still on screen and the\nbuild is still waiting.",[285,338,340],{"id":339},"answering-it","Answering it",[260,342,343,344,347,348,351,352,355],{},"Press the button at the bottom. It says what it is going to do — ",[266,345,346],{},"Build it\nlike this",", ",[266,349,350],{},"Use these tables"," — rather than ",[266,353,354],{},"Submit",".",[260,357,358],{},"Anything the builder proposed is filled in already. Often the right answer is\nto read it, change one thing and press the button.",[285,360,362],{"id":361},"not-answering-it","Not answering it",[260,364,365,368],{},[280,366,367],{},"Let it decide"," takes the question away. The builder is told nobody\nanswered, decides for itself, and says what it assumed — which is what it\nwould have done if it had never asked.",[260,370,371],{},"Worth using when the question is not one you have an opinion about. A build\nwaiting on somebody is not making progress.",[310,373,375],{"type":374},"warning",[260,376,377],{},"Nobody answering for half an hour has the same effect: the question comes off\nscreen and the builder carries on without it. It says so in the conversation.",[285,379,381],{"id":380},"what-it-will-not-do","What it will not do",[260,383,384,385,388,389,392],{},"The builder is told to ask ",[280,386,387],{},"only"," when the decision is really yours, and to\nask ",[280,390,391],{},"one thing at a time",". It should not be asking permission for ordinary\nwork, or asking you something you already said in the brief.",[260,394,395,396,399],{},"If it asks too much, say so in the conversation — ",[266,397,398],{},"stop asking me, use your\njudgement"," — and it will.",[285,401,403],{"id":402},"who-can-answer","Who can answer",[260,405,406],{},"Anyone who can change the application. A viewer sees the question and what is\nbeing decided, but cannot answer it: the answer changes what gets built.",{"title":408,"searchDepth":409,"depth":409,"links":410},"",3,[411,413,414,415,416,417],{"id":287,"depth":412,"text":288},2,{"id":317,"depth":412,"text":318},{"id":339,"depth":412,"text":340},{"id":361,"depth":412,"text":362},{"id":380,"depth":412,"text":381},{"id":402,"depth":412,"text":403},"md",false,{},null,true,{"title":77,"description":80},"RgzW3fiY6TzZFyxCOFXs-2_gVjXiQQ7cH3Brfdb0iDg",[426,427],{"title":72,"path":73,"stem":74,"description":75,"children":-1},{"title":82,"path":83,"stem":84,"description":85,"children":-1},1790202296894]