Getting started

Create the application

In “Applications”, fill in “New application”: a name in lowercase letters, digits and hyphens (40 characters at most). The name becomes the application's address: keep it short and meaningful, for example certificates. Click “Create application”.

The creation conversation opens at once. Within a minute or two, the application is “Live” at its address, shown next to its name: it already handles accounts, sign-in and administration, nothing more.

Describe what you need

In the message box, write what the application is for, who will use it and what it must manage, then click “Send”. The assistant sums up what it understood and asks its questions, one at a time; answer them in plain words. For a description that hits the mark the first time, read Asking well.

Request the plan, then execute it

Once the assistant has understood, click “Request the plan”. The plan arrives within a few minutes: what the application will do, what is left for later, and “How to check”. If it suits you, click “Execute the plan”.

The assistant then builds the application and tries it out itself; it reports in a few lines where it stands. For a first version, allow about ten minutes. You can close the page: the work goes on, and the result waits for you. The last message sums up what was done, followed by “Change saved, not deployed yet”: nothing has changed for the users yet.

Try it in the preview

Click “Preview”: the built application shows next to the conversation. It runs there with test data and a test account, not those of your live application, and opens already signed in with that account, an administrator. The “Sign-in details” button gives its login and password, which the copy buttons pick up for you: to sign in again after signing out, or in an older application, which opens on its sign-in page. Signing in with your Kedalia account is not available in the preview.

Above the preview, two icons, named when you hover them: “Reload” refreshes it, “Open in a tab” shows it full size. “Point” picks out an element: click it in the preview, it goes into your message as a label, where the cursor was; write what should change right after it. Its cross, or Backspace, removes it. For a small touch-up, then click “Apply as a correction”.

Deploy

When the result suits you, click “Deploy”. The number in brackets counts the saved changes waiting. Kedalia asks for confirmation: “Update the live application?”.

The deployment goes through “Preparing”, “Testing”, “Deploying” and then “Live”, in about two minutes; meanwhile, the site stays online on the previous version. If the checks fail, nothing changes online, and “Fix the failed checks” asks the assistant to repair them.

Sign in to your application

Open the application's address, shown next to its name, then click “Sign in with Kedalia”: you are signed in with your Kedalia account, with no other password. The live application starts with empty data: the preview's data is not there.

Also choose a password of the application's own, on your account page: it is the one you will need if you ever export the application, since an exported copy has no sign-in with Kedalia. Your colleagues get their accounts from the application's user administration page.

The application's emails (welcome, forgotten password…) go out under its name, which also shows at the top of its pages and in the browser tab. For a clearer name, click the pencil on its card in “Applications” and fill in “Display name”; left empty, the application's name is used. The sending address does not change.

What next

After a deployment, any change deployed from this conversation is visible to the users: a banner says so. To try things safely, use “Create a test version”. For each new change, start with “New conversation”: the assistant starts afresh from the updated application.