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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://archie.com/docs/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

The chat is the primary way to edit your app after the build. You describe a change. Archie reads the relevant files, plans the edit, applies it across components, and shows you the diff.

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When to use the chat

The chat is the default. Reach for it first when you want to make a change. Cases where the chat shines:
  • Cross-file changes — “Add a search field to the orders page and wire it to filter the list” (touches the page, the form component, and the data hook)
  • Refactors — “Pull the order summary into a shared component and use it on both the cart and the checkout pages”
  • Pattern matching — “Match the styling of the dashboard cards on the settings page”
  • Logic — “When the cart is empty, show the empty state instead of the items grid”
  • Data shape changes — “Show only the user’s own orders, not all orders”
For small visual tweaks, use the Visual editor. For structural changes (adding a module, changing a user type), edit the Blueprint.

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How chat edits work

When you describe a change, Archie:
  1. Reads the project structure and finds files relevant to your change
  2. Plans the edit — files to touch, code to add, code to modify
  3. Generates the changes
  4. Shows a diff for review
  5. Applies the changes when you accept
If the change is large, Archie may break it into steps and let you confirm each one. For ambiguous requests, the chat asks a clarifying question before generating code.

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Writing good chat prompts

The chat works well with concrete, scoped requests. Compare:
  • “Make it look better” → vague, hard to interpret
  • “Add more spacing between the order rows in the orders table” → concrete, scoped
Mention the surface (page, component, modal) when you can. Reference specific elements by what they show (“the cancel button on the order detail page”). If you have a precedent, point to it (“match the styling of the user profile page”).

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Multi-turn conversations

The chat keeps context across turns. Once you have steered to the right area, follow-up turns can be brief: “Now do the same for the products list” or “Make the spacing tighter.” When the context drifts (you switch features), start a new chat thread to keep things clean. Old threads remain in your project history.

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What the chat cannot do

  • Change the blueprint — restructuring (adding modules, changing user types) lives in the Blueprint, not the chat.
  • Run code or migrations — the chat generates code; running it (deploys, migrations) happens through dedicated surfaces.
  • Access third-party services not in your blueprint — to add a new integration, edit the blueprint and rebuild. See Editing integrations.

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Cost

Chat edits consume AI credits weighted by the size and complexity of the change. The chat shows the estimated cost before generating. Manual edits in the IDE or visual editor are free — the chat is for AI-assisted edits specifically.

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Chat and other surfaces together

The chat coexists with the Visual editor, the IDE, and the Backend surfaces. You can be in the chat and click into the IDE to read the code Archie just generated. You can be in the visual editor and ask the chat to apply a change you cannot express through clicks. The modalities reinforce each other.