How to Use Bolt.new

Open bolt.new in your browser. You will see a clean interface with a large text prompt area in the center.

That is it — no download page, no installation wizard, no dependency management. The entire development environment runs in your browser through WebContainers technology.

Click Sign Up in the top right. You can register with Google, GitHub, or email. Signing up saves your projects and gives you access to the free tier.

Free tier: Includes a limited number of AI tokens per day — enough to build and iterate on small to medium projects. Paid plans start at $20/mo for more tokens and faster generation.

This is where the magic happens. Type a detailed description of what you want to build. The more specific you are, the better the result.

Here is an example of a good prompt:

Build a recipe management app with these features:
- A home page showing recipe cards in a responsive grid
- Each card shows the recipe image, name, prep time, and difficulty
- Clicking a card opens a detail page with ingredients and steps
- A form to add new recipes with image upload
- Search and filter by cuisine type
- Use React with Vite, Tailwind CSS, and React Router
- Store data in localStorage for now
- Modern, clean design with warm colors

Compare this with a bad prompt: "Make a recipe app." The second one leaves too much to interpretation and you will spend more tokens fixing the result than you saved by being brief.

After you submit your prompt, Bolt starts generating immediately. You will see:

• File tree — on the left, the project structure builds in real time. You can see each file as it is created.
• Code editor — in the center, you can watch the code being written. Click any file in the tree to read it.
• Terminal — at the bottom, Bolt installs dependencies and starts the dev server automatically.
• Preview — on the right, a live preview updates as the app builds. You can interact with it as soon as it loads.

The whole process takes 30-90 seconds depending on app complexity. Bolt handles package installation, bundler configuration, and dev server startup automatically.

Once Bolt finishes building, the preview panel shows your running app. Interact with it — click buttons, fill forms, navigate between pages.

Use the device toggle at the top of the preview to test different screen sizes:

• Desktop — default view
• Tablet — check your responsive breakpoints
• Mobile — make sure touch targets are usable

Your first build will not be perfect — and that is the intended workflow. Use follow-up prompts to refine:

Make the header sticky with a blur backdrop effect.
Add a loading spinner while recipes are being filtered.
Change the color scheme to use indigo instead of blue.

Each follow-up prompt has the full context of your existing app. Bolt modifies only the files that need to change, preserving everything else.

When you are happy with your app, click the Deploy button. Bolt deploys your app to a live URL — no Vercel, Netlify, or hosting configuration needed.

Deployment takes about 30 seconds. You get a URL like your-app-name.bolt.new that you can share immediately.

Copy your deployment URL and share it. Your app is live and accessible to anyone with the link.

You can also:

• Export to GitHub — push your project to a repository for version control and further development in other editors.
• Download the source — get a zip of the complete project to run locally or deploy elsewhere.
• Continue iterating — come back to your project anytime and send more prompts to add features or fix issues.