Overview

• Edward was built as a place to actually make software, not just chat about it. A user can describe an app in plain language, generate code, inspect and edit files, run it in an isolated environment, publish a live preview, and sync the result back to GitHub without leaving the product.

• The system is made up of a Next.js web app for chat and UI, an Express API for managing runs and previews, shared packages for auth and data access, and Docker-based environments for running generated apps.

• Behind the scenes, it uses Postgres for product data, Redis queues for long-running work, Docker for isolated runs, and AWS plus Cloudflare for shareable previews. That makes the output something you can actually use and build on, not just model text in a chat window.

How It Was Built

The main technical choices behind the product, from system design to the parts that make it work day to day.

• Split the product into a web app, an API, background workers, and Docker-based run environments so each part has a clear job.

• Built the full flow from prompt to files to running app. Users can inspect code, edit it, see logs, preview the result, and sync it to GitHub.

• Used Redis queues for slower work like builds, sandbox startup, and preview setup so the main product stays responsive.

• Set up preview publishing through AWS and Cloudflare so users get stable preview links instead of a temporary local run.

Can read more here

Impact

• Turned prompt-to-application into a single workflow: generate, edit, run, preview, and sync back without switching tools.

• Removed blocking build and preview steps from the chat loop by handling them asynchronously, so the conversation stays responsive.

• Kept the output as a real repo with shareable preview links, so generated work can be reviewed and continued in normal engineering workflows.

Highlights

• Built around execution, not just generation.

• Combines product design with the backend systems needed to actually run apps.

• Hands off cleanly into normal code review and engineering workflows.

Tech Stack

• Next.js 16

• Express.js

• BullMQ

• Docker Sandboxes

• OpenAI & Gemini

• PostgreSQL

• Redis

• GitHub Sync

• AWS S3 + CloudFront

• Cloudflare Preview Routing