# Build overview

Build turns a short description or a template into a multi-page site you edit in the browser and publish to a uova.io address.

Build is the website half of UOVA. Every site starts one of two ways: you describe the business in a prompt and UOVA generates a site, or you pick a template and open your own copy of it. There is no blank-canvas start.

*Figure: A prompt becomes a draft site, which opens in the editor.*

## The path from idea to live site

1. **Start a site** Type a description in the prompt box on the homepage, or open a template from the template gallery and choose **Use Template**.
2. **Let UOVA build the draft** A generation writes the content, matches one template to the business and fills it in. A template copy needs no generation, so it opens in the editor straight away.
3. **Edit in the editor** Change text, images, colours, sections and pages with the icon rail on the left, the canvas in the middle and the inspector on the right.
4. **Publish** **Publish** puts the site on a uova.io address. Publishing is open to every plan. A custom domain is a separate step and needs a paid plan.

## What Build includes

- [Generate a site](https://www.uova.com/help/build/generate-a-site): What happens after you press Send, and what you get.
- [Write a prompt that works](https://www.uova.com/help/build/writing-a-good-prompt): What to put in a prompt, with sample prompts.
- [Templates](https://www.uova.com/help/build/templates): Browse the gallery and start from a template.
- [The editor](https://www.uova.com/help/build/editor): Every region and control of the desktop editor.

## Things to know first

- You cannot choose which template a prompt uses. UOVA matches one to your description from a fixed set of 12. To control the design, start from a template instead.
- Signed in, a generation takes 250 credits when it starts and refunds them if it fails. The Free plan has 250 credits each month, which covers one generation. See [Limits, sign-in and what a generation makes](https://www.uova.com/help/build/limits-and-signing-in).
- Signed out, either the build starts as a guest or a sign-up window opens first, depending on how the homepage is set up.
- Using a template copies the template's own pages into a new project. It is not an AI generation, and making the copy does not charge credits. It needs an account.
- A generated site is one language. Several languages on one site are not supported.
- You cannot import an existing site. If your prompt contains a website address, UOVA reads that page once for facts such as services and contact details. It does not copy the page's design.

> **Phones:** Below 860 pixels of screen width the editor switches to a phone layout with Chat and Preview tabs. This guide describes the desktop editor.

**Next steps**

- [Generate a site from a prompt](https://www.uova.com/help/build/generate-a-site)
- [Start from a template](https://www.uova.com/help/build/templates/use-a-template)
- [Publish your site](https://www.uova.com/help/build/publish/publish-your-site)

Source: https://www.uova.com/help/build/overview