How a Made by Cortex site works
A tour of the Studio for Made by Cortex sites: the chat, the live preview, the code and the settings.
On a Made by Cortex site you don't edit on a canvas: you ask Cortex for changes and watch your site change live. This page shows you where everything is in its Studio.
The two modes
At the top of Studio you choose between two modes:
- Build: your conversation with Cortex on the left and the live preview of your site on the right. This is where you spend most of your time.
- Code: your site's files, with the Cortex chat beside them. See Selecting in the preview and viewing the code.
The live preview
The preview is your site actually running: links, menus and forms all respond. Change its size with Desktop, Tablet and Phone.
The preview bar shows the page you have open. Open it to see a list of every page on your site, jump to another one or type an address. You also have Reload and Select.
If you need more room, press Hide the chat and the preview takes the full width. To bring it back, press Show the chat with Cortex.
What Cortex does when you ask for something
Cortex writes a plan, codes the changes, checks them and saves them. You see each step in the chat and the result in the preview.
Your site is only saved if it works. If a change breaks it or Cortex doesn't finish, nothing is saved and the preview goes back to the last saved version.
The preview sleeps when you're not using it
To save your preview hours, it pauses after a while without use and wakes up when you touch it again. Your site stays on screen in the meantime. More in Live preview.
Settings, Pulse and Publish
In the Studio header you have:
- Pulse: visits and contacts for your published site.
- The gear (project settings): opens Settings, Domain & hosting, SEO and History in a window, without leaving Studio.
- Publish: puts your site online. See Publishing and updating your site.
On a phone
On a small screen, Studio shows two tabs: Conversation and Preview. Switch between them to write to Cortex and see the result.
What it doesn't have (and how to do it anyway)
A Made by Cortex site has no visual editor, no Integrations panel and no launch checklist. Ask Cortex in the chat instead: for example, "add a map with our address on the contact page".
Forms work without connecting anything. Once your site is published, messages arrive in your project's Forms tab. See Forms.
Something not working? See When something doesn't work.