Build an MVP with AI: show the core flow first, add the backend second
An MVP is the smallest thing that tests whether people want your product. Anticode can build the part people see, the core flow with realistic demo data, as a working single-device prototype. It can't build the multi-user product itself: real sign-up, shared data and payments need a backend. Here's how to split the work so the prototype answers the right question before you pay for the rest.
What "minimum" should mean
Founders often define an MVP as version one with fewer features. A more useful definition is the cheapest artefact that answers your riskiest question. For most products that question is one of three:
- Will anyone want it? Answered by a landing page with a clear promise and a sign-up, before any app exists. See validating an idea with a landing page.
- Can people use it? Answered by a working prototype of the core flow, tested with five to ten target users.
- Will they keep using it, or pay? Answered only by a real product with real accounts, over weeks.
Anticode covers the first two well. The third needs infrastructure the sandbox deliberately doesn't have.
What the prototype can show
Describe the one job your product does, the screens involved and the sample data. For a SaaS product that might be: "An MVP prototype of a tool that turns a freelancer's calendar into invoices. Screens: connect calendar (simulated), a list of billable events with sample clients, an invoice preview, and a settings page for rates. Label all data as demo data."
The model writes this as one app that runs in the browser. Every screen works: you can edit a rate and watch the invoice change, delete an event, try an empty state. Anything that would need a server, such as the calendar connection or sending an invoice, is simulated inside the page with sample data and labelled so testers know. Changes a tester makes are saved in their own browser, so a second session picks up where they left off.
| Feature | In the prototype | In a real product |
|---|---|---|
| Sign-up and login | A screen that accepts anything, labelled as a demo | Real accounts, password reset, sessions |
| Your data | Saved in the tester's browser only | A database shared across devices |
| Other users | Sample people with fixed behaviour | Real people, permissions, invitations |
| Integrations | Simulated responses | Live API calls with credentials |
| Payments | A fake plan picker | A payment provider with webhooks |
| AI features | Canned example outputs | Calls to a model API |
Testing it
Publish the prototype and send the link to target users. Give each one a task tied to your riskiest assumption and watch them do it, on a call or in person. Change the build between sessions in plain words, and use version history to compare rounds. If you need investors or a co-founder to review it, a client review link lets them comment on sections without an account.
To measure demand alongside usability, put a real form in the prototype: "Want early access? Leave your email." Contact and newsletter forms in an app really reach you, through Anticode's form pipeline, even though the rest is simulated.
From prototype to product
When testing says the flow works, you need real infrastructure. You have two broad routes.
The Next.js export
Anticode can export the project, app builds included, as a standard Next.js App Router project in TypeScript, with Postgres through Prisma and Zod, email sign-in, customer and staff roles, an audit log, row-level security in Postgres, and an admin area with two-factor sign-in. Email goes through Resend, and the README covers hosting on Neon, Supabase, Docker and Vercel. You can push it straight to a GitHub repository you choose. There's no Anticode runtime in it, so a developer owns it from then on.
Be realistic about what that is: a well-organised foundation, not your finished MVP. The simulated parts of your prototype (the calendar connection, invoice sending, billing) still have to be written against real services. The export guide lists what's included.
A different tool
If nobody on the team will maintain code, a no-code platform with a hosted database and built-in auth may be a better home for the real version. Your tested prototype is still useful there: it's a precise specification of the screens and behaviour you've already validated.
Limits, plainly
- A sandboxed app has no network, so it can't call your API, a third-party API or an AI model.
- There are no real users, sessions or shared data inside it, and nothing syncs between devices.
- It can't take payments. Payment links to your own provider can be placed on a page, but they don't create accounts or subscriptions in your product.
- Usage numbers beyond page views and form submissions aren't collected.
Questions people ask
Can I build an MVP with AI and launch it to paying users from Anticode?
Not directly. You can launch a landing page and a prototype, and take payment through a payment link, but paying users need accounts and data that the sandbox can't hold. The Next.js export is the starting point for that version.
How long does the prototype stage take?
The build itself streams while you watch; most of the time goes into testing with users and deciding what to change, which is the point of the stage.
Will my developer be able to work with the export?
It's a standard Next.js project with TypeScript, Prisma and Zod and no proprietary runtime, so any developer who knows that stack can pick it up.