How to create a desktop app, step by step
From an idea to a program you can double-click, without writing any code. This is the whole process, with a real example: RadioDesk, an app to listen to internet radio.
Step 1
Create your free account
Sign up with an email you can open now and confirm it from the email we send you. The free plan needs no card.
- 1Use an email you can open right away: we send you a link to confirm it.
- 2Open the email and click "Confirm my email". If it has not arrived after a couple of minutes, look in Spam and Promotions.
- You can confirm from your phone: the page on your computer moves on by itself.
- The free plan is enough for your first app. Paid plans give you more apps, more AI usage each month and your own icon.
Step 2
Describe your app
In your Dashboard, click Create New Application, give the app a name and describe in your own words what it should do.
- 1The name appears in the title bar of the app and in the name of the file you download.
- 2In the Prompt box, explain what the app does, what it keeps (clients, tasks, songs…), which lists and screens it has, what its buttons do, what it exports (PDF, Excel…) and how it should look.
- Be specific: a detailed description gives a much better first version than a single line. You have up to 10,000 characters.
- Write in your own language: the app normally speaks it too.
- Describe what the app does, not how to program it. Every app is built the same way, so asking for C#, Python or Electron changes nothing.
- Each app is a program with one window for Windows or Linux, not a website or a phone app.
A real description: RadioDesk
See and download RadioDesk →An application to listen to internet radio stations. The stations must come from the public directory at radio-browser.info. I want to be able to search stations by name, by music style (jazz, rock, pop, news, classical...) and by country. See the results in a list with the station logo, the name, the country, the language and the sound quality. Click a station and have it start playing right away, with play/stop buttons and a volume control. Always see which station is playing and, if the station sends it, the title of the current song. Save stations as favourites and have them kept when I close the application, with a tab just for my favourites. Reorder my favourites and be able to delete them. A history of the last stations I listened to. Buttons to jump to the previous and the next station in the list. Remember the volume and the last station played when I open it again. If a station does not play or takes too long, show a clear message and let me try another one without freezing. Dark, elegant design, like a modern music app: the station list on the left and a fixed player bar at the bottom with the big logo of the station that is playing.
It says what the app is for, what it shows, what each button does, what it remembers and how it should look. A single line like “a radio app” also works, but leaves all of that to chance.
Step 3
Generate it
Click Generate Application. The AI writes the app, checks it and shows it in the preview, usually within one to a few minutes.
- 1Generating uses part of your monthly AI usage: the tokens shown next to the button.
- 2While it works, a sketch fills up in the preview and the Activity Log tells you what is going on.
- You can close the page: the app keeps being made and appears in your Dashboard.
- At busy moments it may wait in a queue for a little while first.
Step 4
Try it in the preview
The finished app opens in the preview. Use it as you would the real one: click its buttons, fill in its forms, go through its screens.
- 1The preview is the app itself, running in your browser.
- A few things only work in the downloaded app, such as printing, saving files on your computer, running commands or voice. In the preview they show a note saying so.
- Nothing you do in the preview is kept: it is a test run.
- If something does not work or does not look right, note it down for the next step.
Step 5
Ask for changes
Under Modifications, describe what you want changed and click Apply Modification. The preview updates with the new version.
- 1Write the change as you would to a person: "Add a sleep timer that stops the music after 30 minutes", or "When I click Save, nothing happens".
- 2Click Apply Modification. A change usually takes a minute or two and uses AI usage, like generating.
- 3Each change becomes a new version (v1, v2…). If you do not like the last one, Undo takes you back to the one before.
- One change at a time, with a few things per request: small, clear requests work best.
Step 6
Download it
When you like it, click Download Windows or Download Linux at the top. Your app is prepared in a few seconds and the download starts by itself.
- 1Download Windows gives you the .exe and Download Linux the Linux version. You can get both.
- Downloading is free: it uses none of your AI usage.
- 2You get a ZIP file with your app. You can also download it later from your Dashboard.
Step 7
Run it on your computer
Extract the ZIP into any folder and double-click the app. There is nothing to install.
- On Windows: right-click the ZIP, choose Extract All, open the new folder and double-click the .exe.
- 1The first time, Windows may say "Windows protected your PC". Click More info…
- 2…and then Run anyway. Windows does this with programs it has not seen before.
- Windows apps made on a paid plan are signed with a Windows publisher certificate.
- On Linux: extract the ZIP, open a terminal in the folder and run: bash run.sh
- Keep the folder and the files in it together: the app saves its data there. To take the app to another computer, copy the whole folder.
Step 8
Keep it up to date
Change your app whenever you like. When the version you downloaded is behind, the editor and the Dashboard tell you to download it again.
- 1You will see this note after a change, or when we improve the platform the apps are built on.
- 2Click Download, which is free, and you get the new ZIP.
- To update the app you already use, close it and copy the new files over the old ones in its folder. Do not delete the folder: your data is in it.
Apps with AI features
If your app chats, analyses images or has an AI agent, it uses Google Gemini. The first time, the app asks for a Gemini API key, which is free, and keeps it on that computer. Everything else in the app works without one.
How to get a Gemini API key →Ready to make yours?
Describe the program you need. Your first app is free.