How to Use Specode to Quickly Launch a Health App

Here’s the deal: launching a health app quickly isn’t about “AI magic”—it’s about ruthless focus and doing things in the right order. Specode gives you a clean starting point and a built-in HIPAA-ready foundation for the core hosting/data layer, so you can focus on building the product instead of negotiating infrastructure from day one.

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We’ll take a first-timer’s path: get oriented, make a few non-negotiable setup moves, then shape the app to match your care flow. Along the way, I’ll share the pro-tips that actually save time: keep prompts small and specific, change one thing at a time, and follow the AI’s instructions like you would a real (HIPAA-wise) dev team. Early on, your preview may look underwhelming—and that’s fine. The AI often builds the backend foundation first: data models, rules, and the plumbing that makes the app real.

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By the end, you’ll have a demo-ready foundation you understand and can evolve confidently—without building an impressive-looking prototype that collapses the moment real users (and real compliance constraints) show up.

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Key Takeaways:

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1. Small prompts beat mega-prompts — every time.
Break your build into tiny, focused requests (one role, one screen, one behavior). You’ll get cleaner code, fewer errors, and faster iteration than dumping your entire requirements doc into the first prompt.

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2. Build → preview → adjust — that’s the whole rhythm.
Make a single change, test it immediately in the preview, and only then move on. Specode works best when you treat it like a conversation, not a monologue.

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3. Don’t “set up the backend.” Ask for it. Early.
Instead of wiring databases and poking around in settings, tell the AI what data you need (entities, relationships, rules), and let it implement the model and flows. You’ll stop decorating a mockup and start building a working app.

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4. HIPAA rails for the core stack are built in.
If you stay within Specode’s hosted foundation, you’re starting from a HIPAA-ready baseline for the core hosting/data layer. The moment you add external services (messaging, video, analytics, etc.), you may need separate BAAs and extra compliance decisions.

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5. Blank canvas is the point — don’t judge the preview too early.

You start lean on purpose. Let the AI lay the foundation first, then shape screens and workflows once the core behaviors and data are in place.

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1. Create a Specode Account

Sign up for a free account at app.specode.ai — no credit card required.

Enter your email, set a password, and you’re in.

You’ll land on the dashboard with a prompt field to start a new project.

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Every project starts from a blank canvas with a small amount of starter scaffolding (you’ll typically see basic sign-up / login fields in the preview). That’s just the starting point — the app becomes “real” once you tell the AI what users, roles, and workflows you need and it implements them in code.

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Not sure how to phrase your first request? Use the button inside the prompt field that generates a sample prompt. It’s a quick way to see what an “efficient” Specode prompt looks like before you write your own.

This is also where you’ll find and manage all your projects later:

‍2. Start Your First Project

Type a plain-English prompt into the field and click the arrow to create your project. Don’t try to describe the entire product in one shot. Your first prompt should do three things:

• name the care flow you’re building (intake, scheduling, messaging, RPM, etc.)
• name the roles involved (patient, provider, admin — or whatever you need)
• specify the minimum “real app” facts the system needs to store (the core data and rules)

Specode will start building the foundation first — data model, role rules, and the basic flow — and then you’ll iterate on screens and details in small steps.

If you’re not sure where to begin, start simple and concrete. Here are a few examples of prompts our users often start with:

• Build a patient intake flow with profile registration and a consent checkbox.
• Create a provider dashboard showing today’s appointments and unread messages.
• Set up a patient portal with appointments, secure chat, and a simple symptom-check questionnaire.‍

Each of these can be expanded later. The goal at this stage is to get a working foundation you can see and refine — not a perfect UI on day one.

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3. Get Familiar with Specode’s Interface

After you create a project, Specode opens the AI Assistant—the place you’ll spend most of your time. Setup takes under a minute; you’ll see messages in the chat on the left and a live app preview on the right.

Once the preview finishes loading, you can begin making changes.

Layout at a glance:

• AI chat (left): talk to the AI Assistant to modify your project or ask how things work.
• App preview (right): see changes immediately as you build.

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Chat Basics

Type a request or question and send:

While the Assistant is responding, the send arrow becomes a stop button—press it to stop the reply.

During major updates, the button is temporarily disabled to prevent interruptions.

A progress indicator in the chat shows when work is happening.

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Preview Basics

Use the preview to click around and test your app.

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Top Navigation Bar

The top bar gives you quick access to:

• Main Menu
• Change Log (you can roll back to previous states here)
• Terminal (for those who want to see the coding changes in the background)
• Preview Controls (desktop, tablet, and mobile views)
• The address bar
• Refresh button
• Preview (to generate a shareable link)
• Help
• Publish

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Main Menu

Opens when you click the project name and lets you:

• Check your remaining AI Assistant credits
• Go to the main dashboard to start a new project or switch to another one
• Open Project Settings

‍Change Log

Opens a dialog in the chat view listing recent changes and lets you revert to a previous project state.

Preview Controls

Lets you quickly toggle between desktop, tablet, and mobile views. You can also generate a shareable link to view the app in a separate tab (the way others will see it), or refresh the preview to apply minor changes from the AI Assistant.

Publish

Starts a security and operational review with our team to ensure your app is ready to go live.

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4. Follow the Assistant’s First Steps (Don’t Overthink the Starter Screens)

When you create a new project, Specode starts you with a simple scaffold: a home page, plus registration and sign-in screens. If you register and sign in right away, you’ll land in a mostly empty dashboard — usually with little more than a sign-out option.

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That’s normal. At this point, the “auth screens” are mostly a shell. They don’t mean much until you tell the Assistant what kinds of users you actually have (patient, provider, admin, etc.), what each role is allowed to do, and what features should appear in the dashboard once someone signs in.

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Right after project creation, the AI will suggest first steps. In most cases, the fastest path is:

• Read the suggested steps first (don’t start freestyle-building yet).
• Ask a couple of clarifying questions to make sure the plan matches your real requirements (roles, workflows, and what “done” looks like).
• Proceed with the suggested steps in order — that sequence is designed to get the backend foundation in place before you start polishing UI.

If the Assistant mentions backend terms (like schemas, tables, queries, or “Convex”), don’t let that throw you. You don’t need to learn the stack — just confirm the outcomes you want (what data exists, what each role can do, and what “done” looks like) and let the Assistant implement the details.

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A good follow-up question before you say “yes, start” is:

“Before you implement, summarize what data you’ll create and what each role will be able to do after Step 1.”

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Think of this as your project’s setup checklist. Once roles and access rules are in place, the dashboard stops being empty — it becomes the place where your actual features start to appear.

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5. Build the Foundation First — Then Make the UI Pretty‍

Early on, Specode often works “under the hood” first. That’s not a bug — it’s how you avoid building a beautiful demo that falls apart the moment you add real users, roles, and data.

Here’s the sequence that keeps you moving fast:

• Lock in roles + access rules

Tell the Assistant who uses the app (patient/provider/admin, or your custom roles) and what each role is allowed to see and do. This prevents you from redesigning screens later because the permissions model changed.

• Define the “real app” data

Ask the Assistant to confirm the core records your workflow needs (e.g., patient profiles, appointments, messages, notes) and what fields matter. If the data model is wrong, everything above it becomes rework.

• Build one workflow end-to-end

Pick a single loop you can test in 2–3 minutes (e.g., patient requests an appointment → provider confirms → patient sees it). Get that working before you add five more features.

• Only then: refine screens and layout

Once the workflow works and the data persists, you can safely spend time on UI: dashboards, navigation, labels, and “make it feel like our product.”

How you’ll know it’s time to shift from foundation to frontend:

• you can sign in as each role and see different navigation or content
• you can create/update real records (not just click a static screen)
• the same data shows up in the right place for both sides of the workflow (patient + provider)
  

If your preview still looks empty or generic, don’t fight it with styling prompts. Instead ask:

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“What’s missing in the foundation that prevents real features from appearing in the dashboard yet?”

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6. Consider Enabling Other Critical Features

Once your core foundation and first workflow are working, you can decide whether to connect third-party services.

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You might add payments, messaging, video visits, e-prescribing, or wearable integrations—depending on your product. The rule is simple:

• If you don’t need it for your first end-to-end workflow, don’t add it yet.
• Integrations are easiest when your roles, screens, and data model already exist.
  

When you do need an integration, create an account with the provider and add the credentials in your project settings. If you’re unsure what’s required, ask the Assistant what credentials you’ll need and where to place them.

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Compliance note: Specode can give you a HIPAA-ready baseline for the core hosted stack, but external services are separate vendors. If you add third-party tools (video, messaging, analytics, etc.), you may need separate BAAs and vendor due diligence before any PHI is involved (the Specode team will make sure these are in place before you can ship it as PHI-ready).

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7. Build Features the Specode Way (Small Steps, Real Workflows)

Specode works best when you treat the AI Assistant like a practical dev team: give it a clear outcome, keep scope tight, and iterate fast. The goal isn’t to “describe your whole app.” The goal is to get one real workflow working end-to-end, then stack the next one on top.

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The rhythm that wins

• One request = one change.
• One role, one screen, one behavior.
• Always name the context.
• “Patient portal → intake form” beats “add an intake form.”
• Define ‘done’ in plain English.
• What should you be able to click, see, or submit in the preview?
• Test immediately.
• Build → preview → adjust.

Build one workflow end-to-end before starting the next

Pick a loop you can test in 2–3 minutes and finish it before you expand scope. Examples:

• intake → consent → profile created
• appointment request → provider confirms → patient sees it
• message sent → provider replies → patient sees the response

If you try to build five workflows at once, you’ll spend your time debugging “almost” instead of shipping “done.”

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When the dashboard looks empty, it’s usually a foundation issue

If you’re signed in and still seeing a blank dashboard, don’t ask for styling or layout tweaks yet.

Ask:

“What foundation is missing that prevents features from appearing for each role?”

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That usually surfaces the real blocker (roles, access rules, or missing data).

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Use the Change Log aggressively

When something breaks or feels off, revert and re-apply the change in smaller steps. It’s faster than arguing with a messy state.

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Prompts you can copy

• Add something:
• “For [role] on [screen], add [feature] so the user can [action]. Done when [observable result].”
• Modify something:
• “In [feature], it currently [behavior]. Change it to [new behavior], including [rules/edge cases].”
• Fix a bug:
• “In [feature], when [steps], it does [actual]; it should do [expected].”
• Keep it safe:
• “Before you implement, summarize what you’ll change and what might break. Then do the smallest version first.”

Two examples

• “Provider dashboard → add a ‘Today’s Visits’ card with start times + patient initials. Done when it shows today’s scheduled appointments for that provider.”
• “Intake flow → add ‘Preferred Pharmacy’ (name, address, phone), make it required, and show a warning if missing.”

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8. Test Your Health App

Golden rules:

• Test as each role you’ve defined (patient/provider/admin or your custom roles) — features are role-scoped.
• Use only synthetic data in preview (and in any shareable demo links).
• Send the demo link to a teammate and have them try the checklist too (still with synthetic data).

Scenario checklist (hit these in order):

1. Auth → Dashboards: sign up/sign in, then confirm each role sees the right navigation and landing screen.
2. Core workflow loop: run your main loop end-to-end (e.g., intake → submission → appears for provider; or appointment request → confirmation → shows up on both sides).
3. Data persistence: create a record, refresh, and confirm it’s still there and visible to the right role.
4. Edge cases: try one “break it” pass (missing required field, unauthorized access, cancel/reschedule, empty states).

Known gotchas (and fixes):

• Change “applied” but not visible? Refresh the preview/browser tab (or redeploy if you’re viewing via a shareable link).
• Something seems off but no error shows? Ask Specode to run a quick health check and point out where it’s failing.
• The Assistant gets too technical? Say: “Explain this like I’m not a coder. Give me the smallest next step.”

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9. Change Design

Do branding after your core flows are stable — you’ll avoid rework.

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Step 1 — Upload your brand assets to the Coder (or share a link).

Upload your logo and any brand assets directly to the Coder, then reference them in prompts (“Apply the logo I uploaded to the header and login page”). If you’re not uploading, share the assets via a link the Assistant can access.

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Step 2 — Tweak theme variables before polishing individual screens.

Adjust --primary, --background, and --foreground first, then refine buttons, inputs, and typography. Small variable changes ripple across the entire app.

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Prompts that work:

• “Set primary to #007AFF, secondary to #5856D6; keep neutral grays.”
• “Increase input height to 48px, add a brand-color focus ring, and radius-md on all forms.”
• “Apply our logo to header + auth screens; update email templates to match our colors.”
  

Design sanity checks: test desktop/tablet/mobile; readability; accessible contrast; avoid color soup. If you’re using a shareable demo link, open it there too — it’s the closest thing to how others will experience the UI.

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10. Launch

Preview ≠ production. Treat preview (and any shareable demo link) as pre-PHI only. Use synthetic/sample data while you build and test.

Before you go live, clear the deployment gate

Publishing requires three things:

• HIPAA-compliant infrastructure
• BAAs with every service that will touch PHI
• Security review‍
  

If your app stays within Specode’s core hosted foundation, you’re starting from HIPAA-ready rails for the core stack. The moment you add third-party services—video, chat, SMS/email, payments, labs, wearables, analytics—you’re expanding the compliance surface area. That usually means separate vendor due diligence and, often, separate BAAs.

Shareable demo links (useful, with one rule)

Share demo links to get feedback from teammates or partners only while the app is pre-PHI—and tell reviewers not to enter real patient info.

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One practical gotcha: after you make changes in Specode, redeploy so the shared demo reflects the latest version.

When you’re ready, press Publish

Once your core flows pass your test checklist and branding is in place, hit Publish and follow the prompts. Specode reviews your app before it goes live and notifies you when it’s deployed.

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Understanding Specode Plans

Most teams start on Free to explore and build an early draft. Move to Intermediate ($250/mo) when you want more credits and API integrations. When you’re ready to publish a production app with deployment help, go Pro ($500/mo). If you want a hands-off build and ongoing help, Custom starts at $5k/mo.

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Use Free to experiment, Intermediate to keep iterating with more credits and integrations, Pro to launch quickly with production deployment, or Custom when you want our team to take over development and maintenance.

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You can switch tiers anytime as your project grows.

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