Quickstart
No terminal or laptop setup is needed. This guide takes you from an idea to an app you can try in the browser. Android phone preview is optional.
What you need before you start
- A browser on your computer or phone.
- Optional: an Android phone with Expo Go for SDK 54. Hosted iPhone preview is currently unavailable; use the browser preview. See device compatibility.
- An email address.
That's it. No Mac, no Xcode, no Android Studio, no developer accounts. None of that until you're ready to publish. And that's a separate guide.
Step 1. Create an account (30 seconds)
Go to appsanic.com/create-account. Enter your email and a password. We'll send you a link; click it and you land in your projects dashboard.
Why the email check? Every account gets a real backend. Real users, a real database, real file storage. The email check is so we can reach you about it (security alerts, billing).
Step 2. Spend two minutes on the idea (2 minutes)
Before you type anything into Appsanic, grab a notebook (or the back of an envelope) and answer three questions:
- Who is this app for? Not "everyone." One specific person you know or can picture.
- What's the one thing they do every time they open it? One action. Not ten.
- Why would they open it again tomorrow?
Three short answers. These become the spine of your prompt. Apps with a clear answer to all three turn out much better than ones where you're still figuring it out.
Step 3. Start your first project (30 seconds)
From the dashboard, click New project. You land on a blank canvas with one big text input. That input is the prompt. Where you describe the app you want.
Don't want to start from scratch? Templates gets you a working app on day one. Pick one closest to your idea and tweak from there.
Step 4. Describe the app in one sentence (1 minute)
One sentence is plenty. Not a spec, not a bullet list. One sentence that answers the three questions from Step 2, strung together.
Examples that work well:
"A daily journaling app that prompts me each morning, tracks my streak, and lets me browse past entries on a calendar."
"A habit tracker for small accountability groups. Four friends, five habits each, checkmarks shared to the group."
"A simple expense tracker for freelancers: log expenses by photo, tag them by client, export monthly summaries as PDF."
Click Build.
Don't overthink this. If your sentence is too vague, the agent will either ask a clarifying question or pick a sensible default. You can refine everything after you see the first version.
Step 5. Read the plan, then approve (1 minute)
Before writing a line of code, the agent pauses to show you its plan:
- The screens it will create.
- The data it will store and where.
- The services it will plug in (sign-in, photo storage, payments if any).
- The edge cases it's planning to handle.
Read it. If something's wrong, say so in plain English:
"Actually, make it free. No payments."
"Use magic-link sign-in, not passwords."
"Add a calendar view, I forgot to mention it."
Fixing direction here saves twenty minutes of rework later. When the plan looks right, click Approve plan.
Step 6. Watch the app build itself (5 to 10 minutes)
The agent writes files one after another. Each one appears in the code editor on the left as it's written. You can watch if it's interesting, or go make coffee.
Use the browser Preview as the app takes shape. After the run finishes, optional Android testing is available from Phone preview: choose Android, select Start Android preview, then scan the ready QR with Expo Go for SDK 54.
Poke around. Tap things. Get a feel for it.
Step 7. Tell it what's off (3 to 5 minutes)
The first build is usually 85-95% right. Whatever's off, describe it in plain English. Don't try to write code. Just say what the user is experiencing:
"The streak doesn't carry over at midnight. It should roll at the start of each day in the user's local timezone."
"When I tap an entry on the calendar it opens the writing screen. I want a read-only view with an Edit button instead."
"Change the primary colour to a vibrant pink, something close to #ec4899."
Each tweak takes 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Your phone updates without you touching it. No rebuild, no re-scan, no refresh.
Step 8. Save it to GitHub (optional, 1 minute)
Your project is auto-saved inside Appsanic. If you also want the code under your own name on GitHub:
- Click Export to GitHub in the top right.
- Authorise the GitHub connection if you haven't before. We only ask for the permissions we actually use.
- Name the repo. Appsanic creates it in your GitHub account and pushes the code.
That's it. The app now exists as a real git-tracked project in your name. Even if you never run a single command yourself, the code is yours forever.
If something goes sideways
- The QR code won't scan. Confirm you are using Android with Expo Go for SDK 54, check your internet connection, then reopen Expo Go and try again. Hosted iPhone preview is unavailable. Your phone and computer do not need to use the same network.
- The build is taking longer than expected. Check its progress and status before sending another request. Refreshing restores recorded progress. Use Stop to cancel; check the final state before retrying so you do not start duplicate work.
- The app shows a red error screen on your phone. Copy the error into the conversation, explain what you were doing, and ask for a fix. Retest that journey after the repair.
- The preview is blank. Check whether the build completed, inspect the preview error, then reload. For phone preview, confirm the session is active and your Expo Go version supports the project's SDK.
What just happened, in plain English
Without touching a terminal or installing anything on a computer, you:
- Spun up a real, git-tracked React Native + TypeScript project using Expo.
- Got a real backend wired in. Accounts, a database, file storage. On Supabase.
- Reviewed the architecture before any code was written.
- Streamed a live version to your own phone.
- Iterated in plain English until it felt right.
- Exported the whole thing to GitHub under your name.
If none of those terms mean anything to you, that's completely fine. You don't need to know any of them to keep building. They're the engines under the hood.
Where to next
Pick what matters most right now:
- I want to understand how this works under the hood. Start with Writing Prompts, then The Planning Phase, then Fast vs Pro.
- I want to add a specific feature. First make sure Supabase is connected (it powers sign-in, the database, file storage, and live updates). Then jump to Authentication, Database & Data, File uploads, Payments, or Push Notifications.
- I want to publish to the App Store and Google Play. Go to Exporting to GitHub, then Publishing to the App Store and Publishing to Google Play.