Made with ChaiBuilder
Common first-run questions. For deeper topics, follow the links to the relevant docs.
No. The 30-day free trial requires no credit card and no email. Run
npx chaibuilder-app create, deploy, and the trial starts on deploy. See
Trial & Licensing.
The moment you deploy the starter to your server — not on download and not on signup.
The entire feature set. There are no tiers or feature flags — a paid license unlocks the same features you tried.
Add a purchased license key to your environment to keep the product unlocked. See Adding the license key.
A flat per-year license. Plans (Solo / Studio / Agency) differ by licenses/domains, branding, and support — not by features. See the pricing table.
Your existing deployment keeps working. You just become ineligible for chaipro versions
released after your window — the builder prompts you to renew or downgrade to the last
eligible version.
No. The trial exists so you can confirm fit before buying. See Refunds.
Custom Branding is a flag on the Agency license (your logo & colors inside the builder). White Label is a separate multi-tenant product. Details in Trial & Licensing.
In your database, on your infrastructure. ChaiBuilder is shipped as code and has no access to your content, users, or hosting. See How It Works.
SQLite. None to set up to start — the scaffolder creates a local file database
(file:./local.db) for you. You can instead point it at a remote libSQL / Turso database
(URL + auth token). A local file database can move to Turso (or another libSQL service)
later — import the file and switch your env URL. Exact versions are in
Requirements.
With the admin email and password you set during scaffolding — the wizard creates that account for you, so there's no separate signup.
A ChaiBuilder site is a standard Next.js + Payload app — it deploys anywhere Next.js + Payload runs (Vercel, Cloudflare, self-managed Node), to hosting you own. Start at Hosting Overview, then follow the page for your target.
You need object storage configured — e.g. S3 via Payload's S3 plugin. Uploads and images won't persist without it. See Storage Configuration.
Run npx chaibuilder-app create. The scaffolder asks the required questions and generates a
fully functional project — there's no manual clone or setup. See
Quickstart.
Both. It's low-code, not no-code: editors build pages visually with role-based access; developers extend it with custom blocks, panels, routing overrides, and CMS logic.
No. Payload ships with the starter and is the default, but the CMS is swappable — the builder doesn't require it. See How It Works.
On a visitor's first visit (SSG + ISR), then cached. Publishing a page automatically invalidates and revalidates it — no full rebuild. See Rendering Model.
The client-side builder component is open source (bring your own server). The paid
chaipro package adds the server layer — page storage, page types, and the AI assistant.
No — the builder works without one. The AI assistant is optional and activates when you add credentials for a provider. See AI — Setup.
Vercel AI Gateway (fallback), OpenRouter, any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, and Cloudflare Workers AI — each activated by environment variables. See AI — Setup.
