I want to build a website.
Every question is optional. The ones marked Recommended matter most.
How to brief an AI to build a website
Use this form when you want an AI tool to build a site that people mainly read and act on: a studio, a portfolio, an event page. Tool makers’ guides put a website’s content, and the one thing you want visitors to do, at the center of the brief. If you need screens, accounts and stored data, the app form fits better.
Why the recommended questions matter
- The site and its goal. Lovable’s prompting guide asks for the site’s purpose and its key action. OpenAI’s frontend guide gives “one primary CTA above the fold” as an example of a useful constraint.
- Who visits. Lovable asks for the audience, and Vercel’s guide to prompting v0 asks who will use the page, when, and what decision they are making.
- Pages and sections. OpenAI suggests outlining the page as a story, from the opening section through product detail and social proof to a final call to action. Replit’s guide also asks you to name the sections or screens.
- Your words. Real copy, not placeholders, avoids generic messaging. Lovable’s best practices say to use real content from day one, and OpenAI asks for real copy too.
- Look and feel. Without direction, AI design drifts to the most common patterns. Anthropic calls this “distributional convergence” and advises naming a specific theme or aesthetic.
A worked example
A pottery studio wants bookings for a beginner class. Their answers: the goal, who visits and what they need to know, one page in six sections, the real headline and prices, an earthy look, and a note on accessibility. The form composes:
I want to build this website: Site for my pottery studio; the goal is booking a beginner class.
<context>
Who visits, and what they need to know: Local adults new to pottery; they want price, time, and whether it suits beginners.
Starting point and tools: Starting fresh.
</context>
<source_material>
My real copy, to use as written: Headline: 'Get your hands muddy.' Classes $45, Tue and Thu 7pm.
</source_material>
<task>
Pages and sections, in order: One page: hero, what a class is like, photos, prices, reviews, booking.
Build the first version described here.
Use my copy where I have given it. Mark any text you write yourself as a placeholder.
</task>
<constraints>
Look and feel: Earthy and handmade; clay and cream tones; a serif headline.
Accessibility needs: High contrast; works with a screen reader.
</constraints>
Plan first. List any assumptions rather than guessing. If the information here is not enough to answer well, say so and tell me what you would need. If something missing would materially change the result, ask me up to 3 short questions first. Otherwise proceed and state your assumptions.
What the form adds for you
When you give your own copy, it asks the AI to use it and to mark anything it writes itself as a placeholder, so invented text is easy to find and replace before the site goes live.