Live preview
Also called hot reload, hot module replacement, or HMR
A running copy of your app beside the code or chat that updates as soon as a file is saved, so you see each change without reloading.
Change the hero headline to "Plan your week in five minutes" and the primary button to green. Then check the result in the preview at phone and desktop widths, and fix anything that wraps badly or overflows.
Paste into Layerwise or any AI coding tool.
What is Live preview?
A live preview runs your app while you build it. When a file changes, the development server rebuilds just that part and swaps it into the open page, often keeping what you had on screen, such as text in a form. This is called hot module replacement, or hot reload.
When you build with AI, the preview is where you check the work. Click through the path you asked for, try it at phone width, and watch the console for errors before trusting a "done" message.
Layerwise places the conversation and a local preview side by side, and its agent can open pages, click, and read console errors in that preview to check its own work.
Often confused with
- Deploy
- A live preview runs on your computer while you build. A deploy publishes a version of the app to a public URL for everyone else.
Related terms
All termsVibe coding
A way of building software by describing what you want to an AI model and steering the result in conversation, without writing the code yourself.
Visual edit
Changing an app by pointing at an element in its preview and describing the change right there, so the AI knows exactly which part you mean.
Deploy
Building your app and publishing it to servers so anyone can use it at a public URL. Each deploy puts a new version live.
Prompt
The instruction you give an AI model. In AI coding tools, the prompt describes what to build or change, and its detail shapes the result.
Build it with Layerwise
Describe your app, watch it run in a live preview, and publish it with a database, storage, and sign-in built in.