Build Full-Stack Apps with a Single Prompt Using Convex Chef

Ever tried one of those AI app builders that spit out beautiful frontend code, only to hit a wall when you need a backend? You're left manually wiring up APIs, databases, and auth. It feels like you've been given a sports car with no engine.

That's the gap Convex Chef aims to fill. It's an open-source tool that generates not just a UI, but a complete, full-stack application with a functional backend, all from a simple description.

What It Does

Convex Chef is a CLI tool that takes your natural language prompt—like "a todo list app" or "a markdown editor with user accounts"—and generates a full-stack React application for you. The key differentiator is that it's built on top of Convex, a reactive backend platform. This means the generated app doesn't just have placeholder functions; it comes with a real database, mutations, queries, and server functions that are already wired up and ready to go.

Why It's Cool

The magic here is in the backend awareness. Instead of getting a static UI component, you get a living, breathing app. You can add a new item to your generated todo list, and it will persist. Create a new user, and they'll be saved to the database. The boilerplate is completely eliminated.

It's not just a frontend codegen tool. It understands the full stack. It generates the necessary backend schema for your data models, the API endpoints (in the form of Convex mutations and queries), and the React hooks that bind the frontend to that backend reactively. This turns a simple prompt into a genuinely functional prototype in seconds, which is a fantastic head start for any project.

How to Try It

Getting started is straightforward. You'll need Node.js and the Convex CLI installed. Then, just run the convex-chef command with your idea.

First, install the package:

npm install -g convex-chef

Then, run it with your app idea:

convex-chef "a personal blog with posts and comments"

The tool will create a new directory, initialize a Convex project, generate all the necessary code, and even set up the database schema for you. Follow the on-screen instructions to cd into the new directory, run npm install, and start the dev server. You'll have a local version of your app running with a real backend instantly.

You can also check out the Convex Chef GitHub repository to see how it works, contribute, or fork it for your own purposes.

Final Thoughts

Convex Chef feels less like a magic trick and more like a genuinely useful productivity booster. It’s perfect for hacking together a prototype, testing a concept, or just avoiding the tedium of initial project setup. It gives you a foundation that is actually built upon, not something you have to throw away and redo properly once you need real data. For developers looking to accelerate their workflow, this is a tool worth having in your arsenal.

— Follow @githubprojects for more cool projects.