Bolt.new Setup: How to Use Bolt

Open bolt.new in your browser. You get a clean screen with a large prompt box in the center and a Build Now button. That is the entire product surface until you type something.

No download page, no installation wizard, no dependency management. The full development environment, dev server included, runs inside the browser tab.

Sign in with Google, GitHub, or email. Signing up saves your projects and activates the free tier. What the free plan actually includes, per the live pricing data we track (verified August 20, 2026):

• 300K AI tokens per day, capped at 1M per month
• Public and private projects
• Website hosting on a free .bolt.host address
• Databases included, 10MB file uploads, Bolt branding on published sites

Pro is $25/mo: 10M tokens per month with no daily limit, unused tokens roll over for one month, custom domains, no branding, 100MB uploads. Teams is $30 per member. Full breakdown on our Bolt pricing page.

Type a detailed description of what you want and press Build Now. The more specific you are, the better the first build. 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 that with "Make a recipe app." The short version leaves everything to interpretation, and you will spend more tokens correcting the result than you saved by typing less.

Bolt starts generating immediately. You will see four things working at once:

• File tree: on the left, the project structure builds in real time.
• Code editor: in the center. Click any file to read what was written.
• Terminal: at the bottom, dependencies install and the dev server starts automatically.
• Preview: on the right, a live preview you can click around as soon as it loads.

A first build typically lands in one to a few minutes depending on complexity. Bolt handles package installation, bundler configuration, and server startup on its own.

Interact with the preview like a user would: click buttons, fill forms, navigate between pages. Use the device toggle at the top of the preview to check tablet and mobile layouts before you invest in more features.

Your first build will not be perfect, and that is the intended workflow. Iterate with specific follow-ups:

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 has full context of your existing app, and Bolt modifies only the files that need to change. When you want to discuss direction rather than change code, switch to Plan mode: it answers and designs without editing the project, and costs fewer tokens than Build mode.

When you are happy with the app, press Publish. Bolt hosts the app itself and gives you a live address on a free .bolt.host domain. Publishing is available on the free plan; no Netlify, Vercel, or hosting account is involved.

Publishing takes well under a minute, and the URL is shareable immediately. Remember it is a snapshot: later edits stay in the editor until you publish again.

Your app is live and the code is yours, for any purpose including commercial use. From here you can:

• Export to GitHub: push the 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.
• Keep iterating: reopen the project anytime and prompt for new features or fixes.