A 90-second tour of Elements

A real-time chat app with accounts, live messages and Postgres, built by an AI agent and running on a small Linux server you control, with TLS and load balancing. In this tour: - the app itself: sign up, post, and the message shows on every other screen - the project server running in the background, so the app starts almost instantly - a TypeScript error appearing and clearing in milliseconds, in the editor and the build at once - your agent asking for build results with -json - tests as part of the build, updating as you edit them - Postgres migrations applied automatically, with SQL errors in the same build results - the reactive HTML language, type checked - a deploy in a few seconds For the full walkthrough, start with [Introducing Elements](https://elements.dev/learn/01a0fd2b-f0a8-7f1b-8e8e-2ce8ecf38900).

This is a real-time chat app. I can create a new user account, post messages, and they're instantly visible to other users. It's deployed to a cheap $6 per month Linux box on DigitalOcean. Claude Code built this with elements, a simple prompt, 10 minutes, zero mistakes.

Elements is a new way of building web applications. Our project server runs in the background, so our app starts almost instantly. The elements build command connects to that same server. When I introduce a TypeScript error, the editor shows the error immediately because it's connected too.

Save the file and the build client updates in milliseconds. Fix the syntax and just as quickly the error goes away in both the editor and the build client. Agents are just another client and use the JSON fly to get structured build results. It's already built by the time the agent asks, so results come back in microseconds.

Tests are part of the build and the test client connects the same way. Change a test and watch as the state updates in real time. Database migrations sync with the built-in Postres database automatically. SQL migration errors are in the same build results as everything else.

The app framework has a lot in it, including a brand new HTML language a decade in the making. It's fast. It's type checked It's reactive Deploy takes a few seconds. It uses a peer to peer protocol to do the minimum work possible.

When you build an app with elements, it'll work the first time and it'll work as the app grows larger. Install elements for yourself, go build and deploy something insanely great.