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layout default
title Chapter 4: AI Chat, Branching, and Iteration
nav_order 4
parent Onlook Tutorial

Chapter 4: AI Chat, Branching, and Iteration

Welcome to Chapter 4: AI Chat, Branching, and Iteration. In this part of Onlook Tutorial: Visual-First AI Coding for Next.js and Tailwind, you will build an intuitive mental model first, then move into concrete implementation details and practical production tradeoffs.

This chapter covers prompt-driven workflows and branch-first experimentation in Onlook.

Learning Goals

  • use AI chat prompts with bounded task scope
  • combine prompt edits with manual visual refinement
  • use branch/checkpoint workflows to limit risk
  • converge faster on production-ready UI outcomes

Prompt Strategy Baseline

  1. start with concise intent + explicit target page/component
  2. request one change class at a time (layout, typography, interaction)
  3. review generated code after each prompt batch
  4. checkpoint/branch before broad UI rewrites

Iteration Loop

  • prompt for draft changes
  • inspect visual output
  • correct with direct visual edits
  • validate code diff and behavior
  • commit to branch

Source References

Summary

You now have a practical pattern for controlled, high-speed AI-assisted UI iteration.

Next: Chapter 5: Local Development and Runtime Setup

Source Code Walkthrough

docs/next.config.ts

The next.config module in docs/next.config.ts handles a key part of this chapter's functionality:

/**
 * Run `build` or `dev` with `SKIP_ENV_VALIDATION` to skip env validation. This is especially useful
 * for Docker builds.
 */
import { createMDX } from 'fumadocs-mdx/next';
import { NextConfig } from 'next';
import path from 'node:path';

const withMDX = createMDX();

const nextConfig: NextConfig = {
    reactStrictMode: true,
};

if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development') {
    nextConfig.outputFileTracingRoot = path.join(__dirname, '../../..');
}

export default withMDX(nextConfig);

This module is important because it defines how Onlook Tutorial: Visual-First AI Coding for Next.js and Tailwind implements the patterns covered in this chapter.

docs/tsconfig.json

The tsconfig module in docs/tsconfig.json handles a key part of this chapter's functionality:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "baseUrl": ".",
    "target": "ESNext",
    "lib": [
      "dom",
      "dom.iterable",
      "esnext"
    ],
    "allowJs": true,
    "skipLibCheck": true,
    "strict": true,
    "forceConsistentCasingInFileNames": true,
    "noEmit": true,
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "module": "esnext",
    "moduleResolution": "bundler",
    "resolveJsonModule": true,
    "isolatedModules": true,
    "jsx": "react-jsx",
    "incremental": true,
    "paths": {
      "@/.source": [
        "./.source/index.ts"
      ],
      "@/*": [
        "./src/*"
      ]
    },
    "plugins": [
      {
        "name": "next"
      }
    ]
  },

This module is important because it defines how Onlook Tutorial: Visual-First AI Coding for Next.js and Tailwind implements the patterns covered in this chapter.

How These Components Connect

flowchart TD
    A[next.config]
    B[tsconfig]
    A --> B
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