---
title: "Get Started with a Demo"
author: "@chris"
author_url: https://elements.dev/u/chris
published: 2026-10-02T15:11:56.231Z
url: https://elements.dev/feed/01a0fd2b-f17e-710b-a55f-1570e0b9c3ec
kind: lesson
format: article
---

# Get Started with a Demo

by [@chris](https://elements.dev/u/chris) · 2026-10-02

## Description

Paste one prompt and a live chat app runs on your machine, yours to change.

One paste into an AI agent puts a finished Elements app on your machine, ready
to click through and change. We use
[Glowhollow](https://elements.dev/demos/01a0db1e-6bb5-7fe0-b637-9a1d9abcc6a6),
a community chat app with channels, reactions, photos, and who is online and
typing, all live.

## 1. Get an AI agent

Use the one you already have. If you need one:

- [Claude](https://claude.ai/download), with Claude Code
- [Codex](https://openai.com/codex)
- [Cursor](https://cursor.com/download)

In a desktop app, open the Code tab, not the general chat. The agent needs to
run commands on your machine.

## 2. Paste this prompt

```prompt scaffold=demo-glowhollow
```

It installs Elements, creates the app from the demo and starts it. The
installer needs no admin privileges. It writes to `~/elements`, adds a line to
your shell profile, and installs the extension for each editor it finds.

### Or use the terminal

Install Elements:

```terminal step=install
```

Create the app from the demo:

```terminal step=create scaffold=demo-glowhollow
```

Start your app:

```terminal step=start
```

`elements start` makes sure the project server is running, then starts your
app. The project server runs in the background while you work and holds your
project's build in memory. Each time you save a file, it brings the build up to
date in milliseconds: it compiles your code, applies migrations to the database and
runs the tests your change touched. Your terminal, your editor and your agent all
connect to the same server. All three see the same errors, and the server
runs their commands one after another, so a build, an install and a test run
never step on each other. Your app runs as its own program, and each save reloads it in place, without a restart.

## 3. Open the app

The app runs at `http://localhost:4000`. Where it opens depends on how you
started it. Claude's desktop app and the agent editors, such as Cursor, may
show it in a browser pane inside the app, and `elements start` in a terminal
opens your default browser. You can always open Chrome, or whichever browser
you use, and go to [localhost:4000](http://localhost:4000) yourself.

![Glowhollow at localhost:4000: a #general channel with messages, a photo with emoji reactions, an @mention, an unread badge on another channel, four members online, and a note that priya is typing](/learn/01a0fd2b-f0a8-7f1b-8e8e-2ce8ecf38900/01a0fd2b-f17e-710b-a55f-1570e0b9c3ec/images/01a0fd2b-f2a5-7bdf-ba03-3b6ce2ed8164)

An AI agent built Glowhollow in 22 minutes, with 24 tests passing. It is yours
now: the code is in `~/elements/projects/myapp`, and it runs against a
real Postgres database that Elements installed and started for you.

## 4. Watch the app update live

Sign in as `maya@glowhollow.test` with the password `glowhollow123`. Then open
a private window, go to `localhost:4000` again and sign in as
`priya@glowhollow.test` with the same password.

Put the two windows side by side. Type in one and the other shows that you are
typing. Send a message, add a reaction, post in another channel, and watch the
other window keep up: the message, the reaction and the unread badge arrive on
their own.

## 5. Ask for a change

Tell your agent what you want, in plain words:

```text Agent
Add threaded replies to messages, with a reply count under each message that has a thread.
```

Keep both windows open while it works. Every file the agent saves shows up on
the page, and the agent hears about any error the moment it saves, so it fixes
its own mistakes before it says it is done.

## Try another demo

Pick any app from [the demos](https://elements.dev/demos): live chess, a
podcast host, a coffee store, a paid newsletter. Each demo page has its own
prompt under "Run it yourself." Paste it the same way.

![The demos page on elements.dev, a grid of cards for demo apps such as a course platform, a class pass studio and an error tracker](/learn/01a0fd2b-f0a8-7f1b-8e8e-2ce8ecf38900/01a0fd2b-f17e-710b-a55f-1570e0b9c3ec/images/01a0fd2b-f430-7d14-a2f5-36f8b828f31e)

The manual: [start](/learn/man/start), [cli](/learn/man/cli),
[build](/learn/man/build), [editors](/learn/man/editors),
[database](/learn/man/database), [livetable](/learn/man/livetable).