# How builds run

> What happens in your business's first build, what the full site build does and costs, how later changes are built, and how long each takes.

Last updated: October 16, 2026

Source: https://www.willo.ai/docs/site/how-builds-run

Willo builds your site in three ways: the **first build** when a business is created, an optional **full site build** from a brief, and the everyday **rebuild** after each change.

## The first build

When you finish setting up a new business, Willo plans it with you in chat and then builds it. The planning and the site build run side by side, and the whole first run usually takes 5 to 15 minutes. What it produces depends on what you said you are building. [What the first build ships](https://www.willo.ai/docs/start-here/what-the-first-build-ships) lists each kind.

Two things happen in every case:

- **A live website** at your business's own `bywillo.ai` address.
- **A code repository** holding the site's source, which you can read on GitHub (see [Your code](https://www.willo.ai/docs/site/your-code)).

You'll get an email when it finishes. You don't need to keep the tab open.

## The full site build

When Willo plans a new business with you, the plan card can offer a **full site build**: up to 12 pages built from your brief and deployed in one run of about 10 minutes, instead of growing the site page by page in chat.

- It is on paid plans. A Free business sees the offer and can upgrade.
- It is charged for the work it actually does, and the card shows what you need available to start. A build that fails to finish costs nothing. If you stop it partway, you pay for the work done so far.
- Pages beyond the first 12 carry on in chat.

## Rebuilds after each change

Every change to the site, from chat, the edit tools, an AI agent or a published content item, rebuilds it. A rebuild usually takes two to five minutes. Small edits to a few files are quick. Larger jobs, such as a redesign or a new feature across many files, run as a longer coding session; Willo says when it starts one.

With drafting on, a rebuild updates the draft preview, and the live site rebuilds when you publish.

## Watching progress

The chat shows each step Willo takes as it happens, and documents it writes appear as cards you can open. The preview blurs while a rebuild runs and clears when it is done. **Business → Activity** keeps the full history.

## When a build seems stuck

The first build runs several steps in order, and the site build alone can take five minutes or more. Before deciding it is stuck:

1. Wait at least 15 minutes from the start.
2. Refresh the page. This reconnects the progress feed; it does not restart the build.
3. Ask Willo: "check my deploy status". It can see whether the site build succeeded, failed or is still running.
4. Ask Willo: "check my infrastructure and repair anything that's missing". It can retry the steps that set up your site.
5. Still nothing after 30 minutes? Contact support from the **?** menu with your business's name.

See [When a build or deploy fails](https://www.willo.ai/docs/troubleshooting/builds-and-deploys) for failed deploys.