EmDash Build

An open source AI site builder for editable EmDash sites, built on Cloudflare.

Try the demo · Self-host EmDash Build · Architecture · EmDash documentation

Important

EmDash Build is an alpha reference application for hosting providers, website builders, and platforms. The hosted demo has site publishing disabled.

Editable sites from a brief

EmDash Build turns a site brief into an editable EmDash website. The agent designs a content model, fills it through EmDash's Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, and writes the Astro pages and components that render it. The result includes server-rendered pages, structured content, media storage, and the EmDash admin interface.

The generated site remains useful after the first build. Editors can update content in EmDash, add and reorder page sections, schedule posts, and return to the agent for larger content or design changes.

Capabilities

• Structured clarification: Ask focused questions when a brief leaves important decisions open.
• Agent-designed content models: Create collections for reusable entities and structured blocks for editor-reorderable page sections.
• Editable Astro sites: Generate typed Astro components while keeping ordinary content in EmDash.
• Live preview and repair: Render the site in a private Builder preview, validate the generated project, inspect the result, and repair failures in the same agent loop.
• EmDash content workflows: Edit text and media, add or duplicate sections, reorder blocks, and manage content from the admin interface.
• Durable project history: Save source and local CMS state as Git commits in Cloudflare Artifacts and restore a project after its Sandbox sleeps.
• Provider-controlled publishing: Package validated, static site releases for Workers for Platforms when the operator explicitly enables and configures publishing.

Project architecture

Each project receives a Cloudflare Sandbox with a prepared EmDash, Astro, and Tailwind project. A BuilderAgent Durable Object owns the conversation and model-and-tool loop. The agent creates the schema and content through EmDash MCP tools, writes the public frontend in the Sandbox, and validates the rendered site before completing a turn.

Cloudflare Artifacts stores the project as Git history. If the Sandbox sleeps, EmDash Build restores the source and local CMS state into a new container and restarts the preview.

flowchart LR
    U[User] <--> B[Builder chat and preview]
    B <--> A[BuilderAgent Durable Object]
    A <--> M[Model through AI Gateway]
    A <--> S[Cloudflare Sandbox]
    S --> E[EmDash and Astro project]
    E --> P[Private live preview]
    S <--> R[Cloudflare Artifacts]

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Agent workflow

1. Understand: Read the brief and ask structured questions when a material decision is missing.
2. Model: Decide which content belongs in collections and which narrative pages need structured blocks.
3. Build: Create the EmDash schema, refresh generated types, and write typed Astro renderers.
4. Populate: Add representative content and media through EmDash MCP tools.
5. Verify: Type-check the project, render public routes, inspect the preview, and repair failures.
6. Save: Commit the coherent project state to Cloudflare Artifacts.

Run locally

Prerequisites

• Node.js 24 or later
• pnpm 11.9
• A Docker-compatible daemon
• Wrangler authenticated to a Cloudflare account
• Cloudflare Workers, Durable Objects, Sandbox, Workers AI, AI Gateway, Artifacts, and Workers for Platforms access

Install the dependencies first:

pnpm install --frozen-lockfile

Copy provider.config.example.json to the ignored provider.config.json, replace every example value, and create the Cloudflare resources described in the self-hosting guide. Then validate and render the provider configuration:

pnpm preflight
pnpm configure

Copy the local secrets template and add the AI Gateway credentials used by the builder. UNSPLASH_ACCESS_KEY is optional but enables stock-image search during generation:

cp .dev.vars.example .dev.vars

Start EmDash Build with the generated provider configuration:

EMDASH_WRANGLER_CONFIG=wrangler.provider.jsonc pnpm dev

Open http://localhost:5173. The UI-only development mode does not start Sandbox-backed generation:

pnpm dev:ui

Development commands

Command	Purpose
pnpm dev	Start EmDash Build with the default configuration
pnpm dev:ui	Start the interface without Cloudflare Sandbox containers
pnpm check	Type-check the application and Worker tests
pnpm test	Run the application test suite
pnpm test:worker	Run the Workers integration suite
pnpm build	Build EmDash Build with the default configuration
pnpm build:provider	Build with wrangler.provider.jsonc
pnpm format	Format the repository with oxfmt

Self-hosting and security

Read the self-hosting guide before deploying. Generate and inspect a provider-specific Wrangler configuration for the target Cloudflare account.

The threat model documents the trust boundaries around model tools, Sandbox execution, secrets, previews, persistence, and publishing. Operational checks are in operations.

Public publishing is server-owned and disabled by default. Generated projects do not receive provider credentials.

Repository structure

Path	Purpose
src/worker	Worker routes, BuilderAgent, prompts, tools, persistence, and publishing controls
src/client	React Builder interface, chat, activity, and live preview
prototype/builder-cloudflare	Prepared blank EmDash and Astro scaffold used for new projects
migrations	Authentication and provider-control database migrations
scripts	Provider configuration, smoke tests, and operational helpers
test	Application and Worker coverage
docs	Self-hosting, security, operations, and implementation notes

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Read AGENTS.md for repository conventions, keep changes focused, and run the relevant validation before opening a pull request:

pnpm format
pnpm check
pnpm test
pnpm test:worker
pnpm build

Use GitHub issues for reproducible bugs and scoped feature proposals.

Resources

• EmDash Build demo
• EmDash documentation
• Cloudflare Sandbox documentation
• Cloudflare Agents documentation
• Cloudflare Artifacts documentation
• Cloudflare Workers for Platforms documentation

License

EmDash Build is available under the MIT License.