> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.hiveku.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Create a New Website > Start a new site from a template or an empty canvas, with your brand applied and a first version made by the AI Each website in Hiveku has its own pages, address and publishing. You start one from a designed template or from an empty canvas, tell the AI what the site is for, and it makes the first version for you. This guide makes another site for Northwind: a café in Portland's Pearl District, started from a template with Northwind's brand. ## Start a new site Click **Websites** in the left rail, then **New Site** at the top right. ![The top of All Sites with the Memory, Settings and New Site buttons, with New Site outlined](https://mintcdn.com/locusdigital/wnvs-fJmAs0r3n91/images/how-tos/websites/site-01-new-site-closeup.webp?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=wnvs-fJmAs0r3n91\&q=85\&s=78a44a02a3cb7ddb965f2fa597f86ea5) Keep **Create** selected: a site Hiveku builds, hosts and publishes for you. **External** is for a site that already lives somewhere else. ![Create New Site with the Create choice outlined and External beside it](https://mintcdn.com/locusdigital/wnvs-fJmAs0r3n91/images/how-tos/websites/site-02-create-closeup.webp?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=wnvs-fJmAs0r3n91\&q=85\&s=8eeb3cb8574d2ad3c60b14fa916cc1e2) ## Pick a starting point **1. Find a template** Type a word for the look you want into the search box, or narrow the gallery with **Category** or **My favorites only**. **Sort by** changes the order. The search matches words in template names and descriptions, so if one word finds nothing, try another. Click a card to pick it. To start blank instead, pick **Empty canvas**: the AI designs the site from your prompt. **2. Click Next: Configure** The bar at the bottom shows the template you picked. Click **Next: Configure**. ![The template gallery: roast in the search box, the Northline Roasters card selected and the Next: Configure button, all outlined](https://mintcdn.com/locusdigital/wnvs-fJmAs0r3n91/images/how-tos/websites/site-03-pick-template-closeup.webp?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=wnvs-fJmAs0r3n91\&q=85\&s=2b3e5755c6833125f6f3c4cad203e8c7) Already have a site somewhere? **Other ways to start**, above the gallery, has **Import a URL** to copy an existing site and **From GitHub** to bring in a code repository. ## Tell the AI what to make **1. Check your brand** If your account has a brand set up, it is already picked: the row reads **Using your brand** and your brand's name, with its main color, logo and font. **Change** picks another saved brand or brings one in from a website address, and **Remove** starts without it. With no brand yet, click **Import my brand** to bring in your colors, logo and key images before the editor opens. ![The chosen template Northline Roasters with Change template, and below it Using your brand: Northwind Coffee Roasters, #c4622a, logo, Playfair Display, with Change and Remove, outlined](https://mintcdn.com/locusdigital/wnvs-fJmAs0r3n91/images/how-tos/websites/site-04-brand-closeup.webp?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=wnvs-fJmAs0r3n91\&q=85\&s=254d27b66b06dff0add30a8eb6822036) **2. Say what the site is for** Under **Tell the AI what you want**, pick a starting prompt or click **Write your own** and describe the site in your own words: what it is for, what it must show and what to leave out. This is the first thing the AI reads. ![Tell the AI what you want, with Write your own and the prompt outlined: a café site with the menu and prices, the opening hours and a note that every coffee is roasted on Alberta Street, and no online shop](https://mintcdn.com/locusdigital/wnvs-fJmAs0r3n91/images/how-tos/websites/site-05-prompt-closeup.webp?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=wnvs-fJmAs0r3n91\&q=85\&s=3c16f74cb62c5aeabf0a45893679cf2c) **3. Name it and create it** Type a **Site Name** (up to 40 characters) and click **Create Template Starter**. With **Empty canvas**, the button reads **Create Site**. ![Site Name Northwind Pearl District and the Create Template Starter button, both outlined, with Description (optional) between them](https://mintcdn.com/locusdigital/wnvs-fJmAs0r3n91/images/how-tos/websites/site-06-name-and-create-closeup.webp?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=wnvs-fJmAs0r3n91\&q=85\&s=9d21b9ae90aee4204fafee74ffbf7811) ## Watch the first version arrive The builder opens and the AI starts on the first version. While it applies your brand, a progress screen shows what it is doing. Click **Skip ahead and watch in the chat** to follow each step in the chat instead. ![Bringing your brand to life: Setting your brand colors done, Placing your logo and imagery in progress, then Tuning typography to match and Polishing the final composition, with Skip ahead and watch in the chat at the bottom](https://mintcdn.com/locusdigital/wnvs-fJmAs0r3n91/images/how-tos/websites/site-07-brand-overlay-closeup.webp?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=wnvs-fJmAs0r3n91\&q=85\&s=6c20e1eb5eff3b0443365d0618863c4f) When it is done, the AI says in the chat what it made, and the preview on the right shows the new site. For Northwind it made a café homepage with the menu and prices, the opening hours and the Alberta Street note, and it put the menu in the CMS so it can be edited later. ![The builder: the AI's summary in the chat on the left and the preview of the Northwind Pearl District café homepage on the right, with the Deploy button outlined](https://mintcdn.com/locusdigital/wnvs-fJmAs0r3n91/images/how-tos/websites/site-08-first-version-closeup.webp?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=wnvs-fJmAs0r3n91\&q=85\&s=b559aacab85dc3ea438bb8ca3307b39c) The site is saved, but it is not published yet. Keep asking the AI for changes in the chat (see [Make a Change with the AI Chat](/how-tos/site-builder/change-with-ai)), and when you are happy with it, click **Deploy** to publish it (see [Publish Your Changes](/how-tos/site-builder/publish)). Back on **Websites**, the new site has its own card, marked **Draft** until its first publish. ![All Sites with the Northwind Pearl District card outlined: Draft, Deploy your site, Updated 10/21/2026, next to the live Northwind Coffee Roasters site](https://mintcdn.com/locusdigital/wnvs-fJmAs0r3n91/images/how-tos/websites/site-09-new-site-card-closeup.webp?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=wnvs-fJmAs0r3n91\&q=85\&s=7f6970c1b0088180c56d6a36e7fa2c94) ## Good to know * **The first version can take a while.** The AI reads the template, applies your brand and writes each page, and the chat shows every step. Turning Northwind's shop template into a café site took about half an hour; a template close to what you want is quicker. It uses AI credits, like any other chat with the AI. * **Check what the AI filled in.** Northwind's prompt had no prices, so the AI used suggested prices and asked for the real ones. Read the first version before you publish it. * **How many sites you can have.** The Free plan includes one site, so **New Site** is grayed out once you have it. Upgrade to add more. * **Each new site comes with a task board.** It gets its own project in **PM Projects**, named after the site, so the work on it has one place. * **More:** [Projects](/projects) covers every site setting, and [Open Your Site in the Builder](/how-tos/site-builder/open-your-site) shows your way around the builder. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.