# Generate a site from a prompt

Describe your business in the homepage prompt box and UOVA builds a multi-page site you can edit, using only the facts you give it.

The website generator is the prompt box on the UOVA homepage. It asks no required questions. A description is enough, and the **Add** button lets you attach photos or video.

*Figure: From prompt to a draft site in the editor.*

## Before you start

- Signed in, a generation takes 250 credits before the build starts and refunds them if it fails. See [Limits, sign-in and what a generation makes](https://www.uova.com/help/build/limits-and-signing-in).
- If you are signed out, what happens depends on how the homepage is set up. Either the build starts as a guest, or a sign-up window opens and keeps your prompt until you finish signing up.

## Generate a site

1. **Open the homepage prompt box** The box reads "Describe what you want to create…" until you type. From the dashboard, **Create website** opens the same box.
2. **Write your description** Name the business, where it works and what it offers. See [Write a prompt that works](https://www.uova.com/help/build/writing-a-good-prompt).
3. **Add photos or video (optional)** Press **Add** to pick images or video, or paste an image into the box. The button then lists what is attached, for example "3 images · 1 video".
4. **Send the prompt** Press Enter, or press **Send**. Shift+Enter starts a new line.
5. **Watch the build** A progress screen shows a gallery of templates and then your live draft. If nothing has arrived after 45 seconds, a **Try again** button appears.
6. **Open the draft in the editor** When the build finishes you can edit everything. Changes autosave.

Signed in, UOVA creates the project before the build starts. If it cannot, the box shows a message that begins "We couldn't save your new project" and tells you nothing was lost and to check your connection.

## Photos, video and a website address

- You can attach up to 20 files per prompt in total, images and video together. **Add** is disabled once 20 are attached.
- An image can be up to 10 MB and a video up to 50 MB. A larger file is marked "Over 10 MB" or "Over 50 MB" and is not used.
- HEIC photos are rejected with "HEIC isn't supported yet. Export as JPG". Export them as JPG first.
- Pasting into the box accepts images only. Use **Add** for video.
- Signed in, photos upload as you attach them. When you press Send, UOVA waits up to 30 seconds for uploads still running and drops any that failed. Photos are analysed while the build runs.
- Signed out, when guest builds are on, up to 8 photos go into a guest build. More than 8 opens the sign-up window instead, and the photos are kept for after you sign up. Photo analysis runs only for signed-in builds.
- A website address written in the prompt, such as northlineplumbing.co.uk, is read once for facts such as services and contact details. The read stops after 8 seconds, and if it fails the build carries on without it.
- Only common business address endings such as .com and .co.uk are recognised. Google, social media, email provider and uova addresses are not read, and Google Maps pages are never fetched. The read never copies the other site's design.

## Dictation

The microphone button, labelled **Start recording** and **Stop recording**, takes dictation through your browser's speech recognition. It needs a browser that has speech recognition, and it is set to English (en-US) only. Type the prompt if you need another language.

## What you get

A multi-page site on one template, with a navigation bar, footer and pages written from your description. Facts you did not provide are left out or turned into "Add your ..." prompts that only you see in the editor. The page count depends on the template. For the full list of what a generation produces, see [Limits, sign-in and what a generation makes](https://www.uova.com/help/build/limits-and-signing-in).

> **A style, not a choice:** A template page's **Create your own** button sends you to the homepage with a "Generating in <name> style" chip in the prompt box. The chip adds the template's style notes to your prompt. It does not copy the template or choose it. Its x button removes the chip.

## If a build fails

A build that fails after the charge is refunded. Errors that happen before the charge take no credits. The screen shows one of these messages, with the button named in the right column. A **Get help** link to the [Help Center](https://www.uova.com/help) sits beside every error.

| What happened | What the screen says | Button |
| --- | --- | --- |
| The build failed with a known error | `Generation hit a snag on our side — nothing was built. Your credits were refunded. One-click retry below.` | **Retry build** |
| The build failed with no specific cause | "We couldn't finish building your site, so we stopped and refunded your credits. Please try again." | **Retry build** |
| The build ran past its time limit | "Your site took too long to build, so we stopped it and refunded your credits. Please try again." | **Retry build** |
| The prompt was blocked | "We couldn't build this request as written. Try rephrasing it and building again." | None. Edit the prompt and send it again. |
| You are out of credits | `You're out of credits — upgrade to keep building.` | **Upgrade plan** |
| Your session expired | `Your session expired — sign in again to continue.` | **Sign in to continue** |
| The same site is already building | `This site is still being generated. Please wait a moment, then refresh the page — your gen will be ready.` | **Retry build** |
| Too many requests from your address | "Too many builds right now. Try again …", followed by how long to wait | **Retry build** |

## Common questions

**Can I generate a blank site?**

No. Every site starts from a prompt or a template.

**Can I generate an app?**

No. The App option is hidden. Every submission builds a website.

**Can I start a second build for the same site while one is running?**

No. A second request for the same site while one is building is refused with the "still being generated" message above.

**Does leaving the page cancel the build?**

Signed in, no. The server saves the project itself, so the build survives you leaving the page. A guest build is not saved on the server.

**Is there a prompt length limit?**

The box has no length limit, but the server keeps the first 6,000 characters of a prompt.

**Can I add a logo or choose colours before I build?**

The homepage prompt box has no logo, colour or font control. Describe the look in the prompt, then change colours and fonts in [Site styles](https://www.uova.com/help/build/editor/site-styles).

Source: https://www.uova.com/help/build/generate-a-site