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Writing good requests

Highwind’s agent understands everyday language: you don’t need technical vocabulary. But the more specific your request, the closer the first result is to what you have in mind, and the fewer credits you spend going back and forth. This page gathers what works best, with requests you can copy.

The recipe for a good first request

Section titled “The recipe for a good first request”

The first request lays the foundations: the type of app, its pages and its style. Think about these six points.

What

The type of app: showcase site, landing page, dashboard, booking tool, online store, blog…

Who for

The audience: a restaurant’s customers, an internal team, students. Tone and content follow from it.

Pages or sections

Home, pricing, contact, detail page… or the sections of a single page, in order.

Real content

The name, the offer, prices, opening hours, contact details. Without them, the agent makes up realistic content.

What people can do

Book, filter, sign up, send you a message by email, sign in to an account…

Style

A mood (“calm and editorial”, “colorful and playful”), colors, fonts, a reference site.

You don’t have to specify everything: whatever you leave out, the agent decides sensibly. For each new app, it starts from an art direction that suits the topic, but your style instructions always come first.

Compare:

Make me a website for my bakery.

The agent will build a decent site, but with a made-up name, products and opening hours, and a style it picked on its own.

Iterating: one change at a time

Section titled “Iterating: one change at a time”

Once the app is built, you improve it in small steps. A few simple rules:

  • One request, one change. “Add a pricing page” then “change the primary color” works better than a list of ten changes in a single message. A request is also capped at 12 credits: beyond that the agent stops, keeping the work done so far.
  • Say where. “In the testimonials section”, “on the Contact page”, “in the header”. Better still, point at the element with + → Select an element (see Select an element).
  • Say what should stay. “Keep the layout, only change the copy.”
  • For a bug, describe what happens. What you did, what you expected, what happened: “When I click Book without picking a date, nothing happens. There should be an error message under the field.”
  • For an error shown in the preview, simply click Fix in the red banner: the agent receives the error details.
  • For a text, a color or a font, no request needed: Design mode lets you do it yourself, for free.

Iteration examples:

Make the header stick to the top of the page when scrolling.
In the projects grid, add category filters: All, Web, Print, Photo.
The orders table should be sortable by date and by amount.
Add a "Legal notice" page linked from the footer.
On mobile, the menu should collapse into a burger button.
Add a dark mode that follows the device setting.

Planning with Discussion mode

Section titled “Planning with Discussion mode”

For a big change or when you’re unsure, switch to Discussion mode before building: the agent reads your project, answers your questions or proposes a numbered plan, without changing anything.

  1. In the text box, open the mode picker and choose Discussion (or press Alt + P).

  2. Ask your question: “How could I add a members area to my site? Which pages would it need?”

  3. Refine the plan by chatting, then click Apply this plan: the agent switches back to building and carries it out.

Discussion mode also works for the very first request, from the home page: the agent asks its questions and proposes a plan before building anything. See Discussion mode.

Attaching images

Section titled “Attaching images”

An image is often worth more than a long description. Open the + menu of the text box, then Attach:

Option What it’s for
Reference image A screenshot, a mockup or an inspiration. The agent looks at it, it isn’t added to the site.
Upload an image to the project Your logo, your photos: saved in the project for the agent to put in the site.
Use a project image Pick from the images already uploaded to the project.
Image for the site On the home page, before the project exists: added to the project as soon as it’s created.

You can also paste an image or drop it on the text box: it’s attached as a reference image. Up to 4 images per message.

Reproduce the layout of this screenshot for my home page,
but with my colors and my copy.
Put my logo (attached image) in the header, on the left, and in the footer.

Mentioning a connector with @

Section titled “Mentioning a connector with @”

To wire up an outside service (emails, payments, Google Sheets, AI…), type @ in the text box (or open + → Connectors), search for the service and pick it. A pill is inserted in your message: the agent then knows exactly which service to use.

When someone fills in the contact form, email me the message with @Resend.
Add payment for the order with @Stripe.

In these examples, @Resend and @Stripe stand for the pill inserted by typing @ and picking the service from the list.

If the service needs a key, the agent shows a card so you can add it: never paste a key into the chat text. See Connectors.

Context sources are mentioned the same way. Once your account is connected (Connectors page), the agent can read what you refer to:

Build the app described in my Notion page "Carpooling app spec".
Reproduce this Figma frame: https://www.figma.com/design/…

See Context sources.

Giving the project standing instructions

Section titled “Giving the project standing instructions”

If you keep repeating yourself (“always formal”, “no stock photos”), write it once and for all in Project settings → General → Instructions for the agent (at most 4,000 characters). The agent follows them on every message in this project, starting with the next one.

Calm colors: forest green and cream. Formal tone, warm but professional.
The site is in English. No emojis. Prices always include VAT.

See Project settings.

When the agent asks you questions

Section titled “When the agent asks you questions”

If a few answers really change what it will build and it can’t guess them (brand name, colors or logo, real offers and prices, contact details), the agent shows a Questions from the agent form instead of a list of questions in text. The fields are already filled in with its guesses: fix what’s wrong, upload an image if asked, then Send my answers. If you’d rather it decides, click Let the agent decide. It asks at most one form per request, and only when it’s useful.

See Agent questions.

Requests to copy

Section titled “Requests to copy”
A landing page for "Focus", a mobile app that helps students revise with the
Pomodoro technique. Sections: hero with an app mockup, the problem
(procrastination), three key features, how it works in three steps,
student testimonials, pricing (free and Premium at $3.99/month), FAQ, final call to action
with App Store and Google Play buttons. Bold, energetic style, bright orange on a cream background.

More starting ideas:

  • “A wedding photographer’s portfolio: gallery filterable by venue, About page, package prices and a quote request form sent by email.”
  • “The page for the ‘Nantes Tech Day’ event on June 12: countdown, hour-by-hour schedule, speakers with photo and bio, map and registration.”
  • “A mortgage calculator: amount, duration, rate; shows the monthly payment, the total cost and a year-by-year amortization table.”
  • “A 10-question quiz about Italian cooking, with a final score, answers and a button to share your result.”
  • “A kanban board to track my job applications: columns To apply, Sent, Interview, Offer, Rejected; drag and drop, notes and a follow-up date on each card.”

What to avoid

Section titled “What to avoid”

See also

Section titled “See also”
The chatSending, stopping, suggestions, feedback.
Discussion modePlan without changing the app.
How the agent worksWhat it does with your request, step by step.
Design and themesArt directions, role-based theme, fonts.