Build Your First App
This tutorial builds a Task Manager from scratch. By the end you'll have a working multi-screen app on your phone, with data that persists and a design you shaped through chat.
What we're building
A simple but complete task manager:
- A home screen listing tasks grouped by category
- An add-task screen and a task-detail screen
- Completion tracking with strikethrough
- A clean, minimal design
Before you start
- An AppX account with at least 30 credits (the minimum to start a first build)
- A phone (iPhone or Android) with a camera
Step 1 — Describe the app
Log in to appx.uz. On the dashboard, type your app description in the box and press the arrow (Build app). AppX names the project from your prompt; rename it later in Settings.
Paste this prompt:
Create a task manager app with these screens:
1. Home screen - a list of tasks grouped by category (Work, Personal,
Shopping). Each task shows a title, a category badge, and a checkbox.
Completed tasks have strikethrough. A floating + button opens the
add-task screen.
2. Add Task screen - a form with: task title, category picker
(Work / Personal / Shopping), an optional notes field, and a Save button.
3. Task Detail screen - full task info with edit and delete options.
Use a clean white design with blue as the accent color.
Store tasks locally so they persist between sessions.
The more concrete your prompt, the closer the first result. Name the screens, the data, and the look you want — like you'd brief a teammate.
Step 2 — Review the plan and build
A plan card appears with the planned screens and "About N credits". Press Build first milestone to start, or Stop if the plan is not what you want.
AppX then writes and validates the code. A build is priced by the work it takes, not per screen, and if it fails you are not charged. Completion time varies with the screens and their complexity.
Step 3 — Open it on your phone
Click Open on phone in the top bar. Scan the QR with your phone's camera, then tap Open the app; the app opens in your phone's browser. On Android you can tap Open in Expo Go instead; see Device Testing for the Expo Go build that works.
Your task manager opens. Try it out:
- Tap + to add a task
- Check a task off to mark it complete
- Tap a task to see its details
Step 4 — Refine the design
Let's polish the home screen. Name the screen in your message:
On the Home screen I'd like:
- A greeting at the top like "Good morning 👋"
- A count of completed vs. total tasks for today
- A subtle shadow on the task cards
- Slightly larger task titles
AppX reads your current code and applies the edit, and the preview updates. On your phone, reload the page in the browser (in Expo Go on Android: shake → Reload) to see the change; it opens at the first screen.
Edits are metered, with a minimum of 1 credit per turn. Not what you wanted? Use Undo on the turn card, or ask again.
Step 5 — Add a feature
Now add due dates:
On the Add Task screen, add a due-date picker shown as a tappable field
that opens a date picker. On the Home screen, show the selected date
next to each task title, and show overdue dates in red.
This is a bigger change — it touches the picker, the date logic, and the styling across both screens.
Step 6 — Fix something
See a problem on your phone? Just describe it:
The + button is hidden behind the bottom of the screen on my iPhone.
Move it up so it's fully visible above the safe area.
Describing a bug in plain words is often faster than hunting for it yourself.
Step 7 — View and edit the code
Open Code in the project's side rail to browse your project. You'll see a real Expo project — screens under app/, reusable pieces under components/, shared values like colors in constants/.
Everything is real, inspectable React Native. You can read any file and edit it directly. When you outgrow the chat, the code is right there waiting for you.
Step 8 — Ship it
When you're happy with the app:
- Share a link — Share gives a link that opens the running app in a browser
- Download the code — get the full project as a ZIP, on every plan, and put it on GitHub if you want
- Get it into the stores — send a store request from your project and a person from AppX publishes it with you. See Publishing.
What you learned
- Writing a generation prompt that gets close on the first try
- Iterating on design and features through chat
- Fixing issues by describing them in plain English
- Viewing and owning the real code behind your app