Chatting with the assistant

The Assistant panel is where your website actually gets built. You type what you want in everyday language and the assistant makes the change, then the preview updates so you can see it.

Choosing your AI model

A new website starts on the model we currently set as the default for new websites. To change it, open your website's Settings → AI Settings, pick a model, then choose Save default model. The choice applies only to this website, starting with your next request. It does not delete your pages or chat history, and it does not change an update already running. If we later change the default for new websites, your website keeps the model it has.

The model choices and Model cost guide use the same current catalog. Compare the strengths and prices shown for each model. When supported models change, both lists update together.

OpenAI offers Sol. Anthropic offers Claude Fable 5.1 for demanding builds and complex redesigns, and Opus 5 for advanced website development. Models marked unavailable cannot currently be selected.

Terra, Luna, Sonnet and Haiku have been discontinued. Existing Terra/Luna websites move to Sol; Sonnet/Haiku websites move to Opus. These replacements use more credits, with rates shown in the cost guide. Your pages, chat history and past usage are preserved.

The Model cost guide shows your charged rates, including the 20% markup. Input is the context the model reads; output is the text and code it creates. Cached context has separate, lower read rates. Claude's cache writes use a five-minute lifetime. Very large OpenAI requests have a long-context surcharge; that surcharge does not apply to Claude. All models draw from this site's same AI-credit allowance. Fable uses credits fastest.

Changing the builder model does not change the separate image-generation service used for site icons and branding.

Your first message

If your website is empty, start with your business rather than with web design. Something like:

I run a family Italian restaurant in Portland called Vitello's. We do lunch and dinner, Tuesday to Sunday, and we're known for our wood-fired pizza. I need a homepage, a menu page, and a page with our hours and address.

That's enough. The assistant writes the pages, the wording, and the design, and you refine it from there.

Press Enter to send, Shift+Enter to add a line without sending. While a build is running you'll see its progress in the panel.

Speaking a prompt

The microphone beside the message box lets you talk instead of type. Click it, allow the microphone if the browser asks, and speak. The words appear in the box as you go so you can edit them before sending. Click the microphone again to stop. It is there on the website builder and on the form designer; browsers that cannot transcribe speech hide the button.

Stopping the assistant

If a build is heading somewhere you didn't intend, press the stop button beside the message box. It stops the work on our side, not just in your browser, so the message box is free again straight away and you can describe what you actually wanted.

Stopping also undoes the build. Your website goes back to exactly how it was before that message: pages the assistant had already rewritten are restored, and pages it had created are removed. Nothing is left half-finished, so you can describe what you actually wanted without first untangling a change you stopped part-way through.

That undo is itself recorded, so nothing is lost for good: if you stopped by mistake and want something the build had written, the revision history in the Files panel still has it. A stopped build is not charged against your AI credits.

Usually the website is back before the button finishes. If the assistant happened to be mid-save at that exact moment, the undo finishes a few seconds later — the preview catches up on its own.

The stop button is there whenever the assistant is working on that website, including when you have just reloaded the page in the middle of a build.

Working on more than one website

Each website builds on its own. If the assistant is busy on one of your websites you can open another and keep working there — one build never blocks another. Within a single website, though, the assistant handles one message at a time: if you send another while it's mid-build, you'll be asked to wait for it to finish or stop it first. Press Enter to send, Shift+Enter to add a line without sending. You can stop a build with the button beside the message box if it's heading somewhere you didn't intend.

Short answers

The assistant keeps its replies short. A question gets a sentence or two, a change gets a line or so saying what changed, and a new website gets a brief list. It skips recaps and suggestions you didn't ask for, but it always tells you what you need to know: a page it still has to build, a detail it needs from you, or a change it couldn't make. Want more detail? Just ask — "explain why" works.

It also knows which AI model your website uses, so "which model are we on?" gets a straight answer.

While it's working

The reply begins as three pulsing dots — the assistant is composing, the same way a messaging app shows the other person typing. When the reply is ready it takes the place of the dots.

Underneath every reply is a More Details row. Open it to watch the assistant work step by step — the section it's building, the page it's writing, the search-engine files it's setting up — with a tick beside each step as it finishes. It stays there after the reply lands, so you can look back at how a change was made at any time. Leave it closed and the panel stays quiet; the reply is the part that matters.

Existing websites show Quick edit, Website update, or Complex update according to the scope of the request. A small change to one selected element can be a Quick edit; centering, aligning, or moving something — like the menu — uses Website update, because where it sits depends on styles shared with other pages. Matching a live site's layout and behavior requires broader research. These labels do not change your selected AI model.

You can ask directly for a clear change such as “Align all breadcrumbs left.” You do not need to split that instruction into extra messages. The preview updates as soon as the changed pages are ready, even if the assistant is finishing its reply.

Leaving while your first website is built

A brand-new website can take several minutes to build. While it does, a bar under the canvas tells you it is safe to leave: the build runs on our servers, not in your browser, so closing the tab or navigating away does not stop it.

Press Email me when ready in that bar and the bar confirms the address we will write to — the one on your account. When the build finishes, you get one email with a link straight back to the builder. Only the person who pressed the button is emailed. If you stop the build, or it does not finish, no email is sent; open the builder to see what happened.

When you started from an existing website or a design image, the build is several rounds rather than one: the first version, then passes that compare it with what you gave us. The email waits for the last of them, and while they run a banner across the top of the canvas — with a pulsing amber dot — says We're still putting the final touches on your website, so a website that has appeared but is still changing never reads as a finished one.

If your browser loses the live view of a build

A long build — cloning a website from a URL is the usual one — can outlast the connection your browser is watching it through. Nothing is lost when that happens. The build carries on where it is running, and the builder keeps watching for it and brings in the finished work the moment it lands. You do not need to refresh, resend, or do anything at all; the working line simply keeps saying Max is still working on this, because Max is.

The one case that is genuinely different is a message that never reached Max in the first place. The builder can tell, and says so plainly: it asks you to send that message again.

If a build stops part-way through

Builds are allowed to take as long as they need. A big first website can run for many minutes, and the builder simply waits: it never gives up on a build that is still working, however long that is.

Very occasionally a build stops before it is finished — the machine running it goes away, or it runs past the limit on how long any one build may take. When that happens:

• You keep what it built. Every page the assistant had already finished is saved on your website. Nothing is undone; only pressing stop yourself undoes a build.
• You are not charged for it. A build that does not finish is not billed against your AI credits, the same as a build you stop.
• You carry on from there. Your message stays in the conversation with what happened underneath it and a Try again button, which sends the same message again — with the same photos and files. The assistant can see everything already on the website, so it picks up from what is there rather than starting over — you may find it only has a page or two left to add.
• If it was our doing, we send it again for you. When the machine running your build went away because the platform itself was being updated, and you still have the builder open, it sends your message again on its own — you will see Max was interrupted by a platform update and the build carry on from what was already saved. It does this once per message, and a few times at most before asking you to take over.

The message you see says which of the two happened: whether the pages it finished are saved, or whether it stopped before changing anything at all.

Every build that doesn't finish stays in the chat

A build that fails, loses its connection, runs out of time, or that you stop never vanishes. Your message stays in the conversation where you sent it, and right below it a note says plainly what happened — for example The connection to Max was lost, Max ran out of time, Something went wrong, or You stopped this update — with a sentence on what it means for your website. It is still there after you reload the page or come back tomorrow, so you never have to wonder whether a request went through.

If your website's first build doesn't finish

When the very first build of a new website doesn't finish, there is no website to show yet, so the builder doesn't pretend there is. The preview says your website will appear there, and the chat ends with The site creation did not fully complete, followed by the reason. You have two ways on:

• Send a new prompt. Describe the website again — or something different — in the message box, and the assistant builds from there.
• Start over. Press Start over to put the website back exactly as it was the moment you created it: a clean starting page, a fresh conversation, and the four starting points (Start from a website, Describe it, Start from an image, Blank canvas) to choose from again.

Starting over deletes nothing. The earlier attempt stays in Version history, marked Started over on the new starting page, and the earlier conversation stays in your chat history. Start over is only offered while the website has no pages of its own yet; once it does, use Version history to go back instead.

If the AI provider cannot connect

A big build sends the AI a lot to read, and it can take a while to start answering. The builder waits for it and keeps your view of the build alive meanwhile. If a Claude connection briefly fails, the assistant automatically retries opening it. If it still cannot connect, your message stays in the conversation with a Try again button. Any changes already saved to your website remain saved. Check the preview before trying again so you can describe what still needs doing.

When the assistant corrects itself

Occasionally the assistant reaches for a tool it doesn't have — the same way anyone might reach for the wrong drawer. It used to lose the whole reply when that happened. Now it is told what it actually has to work with and carries on, usually within the same message, so you see a finished reply rather than an error.

That correction is limited. If the assistant keeps missing, the message ends without the change rather than trying forever, and your next message starts fresh. If a request ends that way twice, describe the outcome you want rather than the mechanism — "the contact page needs a phone number under the address" instead of "edit the contact file" — which is what the assistant is best at anyway.

You are charged for the work the assistant does either way, including the step it spends correcting itself; a step is a small part of a typical message. Stopping a build still stops it immediately, even mid-correction, and a stopped build is not charged.

Asking for changes

Once a first draft exists, work in small, specific steps. The assistant uses the relevant parts of your website for each request, so you can refer to things by name:

• "Make the header photo taller and put the phone number on top of it."
• "The menu page needs a Desserts section — tiramisu, cannoli, and affogato, $9 each."
• "Use a warmer shade of green for the buttons."

A few habits that make a real difference:

• One goal per message. Five unrelated requests in one paragraph get a muddier result than five short messages.
• Say which page. "On the contact page…" saves a guess.
• Give it your real words. Real hours, real prices, real menu items — the assistant writes better copy from facts than from placeholders.
• Say what's wrong, not just what to do. "This section feels cramped" is a useful instruction all by itself.

Quick edits and larger updates

Small changes use a focused editing path. Select an element and ask for one specific change — for example, “Change this from blue to red” — to help Max find exactly what you mean. The preview refreshes as soon as the updated page is ready, even if the reply is still finishing.

A label below each update shows how it was handled:

• Quick edit — a small, targeted change.
• Website update — a broader change, such as updating a colour throughout your website.
• Complex update — a redesign or several related changes that need more work.

Plain language is enough: “Center the menu”, “Line the menu up with the logo”, or “Hide this on mobile” works without naming any code. Max knows which preview size you have open — desktop, tablet, or phone — so “the space on the left” is read at the width you're looking at. It looks for whatever is overriding the element before it writes, and a later request keeps earlier fixes and your own edits from Code mode. If a change didn't show up, just ask again — Max treats the repeat as a sign the first attempt was blocked, takes a closer look at what's overriding it, and tells you what it found.

If a change needs a broader approach than it first appeared to, Max continues in the same turn and shows a short note beneath the reply. The label and note stay in your conversation after a reload. Every update uses your website's selected model; the behind-the-scenes complexity check does not change that choice and is paid for by the platform.

These labels describe the work, not a guaranteed completion time. Larger updates can take longer. You can still stop an update using the stop button.

Pointing at something on the page

When it's easier to show than to describe, use the cursor button beside the message box to select an element in the preview. Click the thing you want to change — a heading, a button, an image — and it gets attached to your next message, so you can simply write "make this smaller". Press Escape to clear the selection.

Attaching photos and documents

The paperclip button attaches images and documents to a message. You can also drag files in from your computer: while the chat is open, drag them anywhere over the builder — the preview, the panels, the message box — and the whole window shows Add anything. Let go and they are attached to your message, exactly as if you had picked them with the paperclip. A picture dragged from another tab or web page attaches the same way. Dropping while Max is still working is fine too: the files wait for your next message.

Use it to hand over your logo, photos of your work, a menu PDF, or a screenshot of a layout you like. Images you attach are optimised into your website and then appear in the Media panel.

You can attach up to five files to one message. Images can be JPG, PNG, or WebP up to 50 MB each — full-page design mockups and tall screenshots included, up to 50,000 pixels on the longest side and 100 megapixels in all; documents can be PDF, DOCX, TXT, Markdown, or CSV up to 20 MB each.

Building from a design

If you already have a design — a full-page mockup from a designer, a screenshot of a website you like, a wireframe, even a photo of a sketch — attach it and say what you want: "build my homepage to look like this". The assistant treats the picture as the plan, not as a picture: it reads the whole page top to bottom, and builds real sections with live text you can edit, in the design's fonts, colours, layout, and spacing. A tall mockup is read in full-size pieces, so every word and measurement in it counts.

Three things to know:

• The picture never ends up on your page. Every heading, paragraph, and button in the design becomes real text, so search engines can read it, it fits a phone, and you can change any word later. If the assistant could not make out a word, it says which one.
• Photographs have to come from you. A photo in a mockup cannot be lifted out of it. The assistant uses a matching image from your Media panel when there is one, and otherwise holds the exact space with a placeholder in the same tone, then lists the photos to upload, section by section. Attach them in a later message and ask it to put them in place.
• It checks its own work. When the design is the first thing built on a new website, the assistant takes a screenshot of the result, compares it with your design, and fixes the differences it finds in one more turn — you will see that follow-up appear in the chat on its own. It is a normal turn, so it counts toward your website's AI usage.

For a website you already have live, Start from an existing website does better still: it reads the real pages rather than a picture of them.

Conversations

Each website keeps its conversations. The clock icon at the top of the panel lists them so you can return to an earlier one, and the plus icon starts a fresh conversation.

A new conversation is worth starting when you move to a genuinely different job — you've finished the homepage and now you're building a booking page. Staying in one conversation is better while you're refining the same thing, since the back-and-forth is context the assistant can use.

Who asked, and how long it took

When several people on your team work on the same website, each message in the chat shows a small picture of the person who sent it — the same avatar they have everywhere else in Max AI Builder. Hover over it (or move to it with the Tab key) to see their name and the date and time they sent the message, in your website's time zone. The very first message of a website's first conversation tells you who asked for the original build.

Someone who has since left your organization, or deleted their account, shows a plain placeholder that reads Former member — their name and picture are no longer shown. Messages sent before this feature arrived have no picture at all.

Under each finished reply, beside the time stamp, is how long the whole request took, from pressing send to the reply finishing — 48s, 2m 14s, 1h 03m. Updates still running, and ones that failed or were stopped, don't show one.

You can't change who a message is credited to; everyone on the team, Viewers included, sees the same thing.

Then what?

Everything the assistant builds lands in your draft, and your dev site shows it right away. When you're happy with it, press Publish to put that version on your own domain. See Touring the builder for what the publish button's labels mean.