# Core Concepts

Glaze turns a plain-language description into a real desktop app. Knowing the core concepts behind it, what each part does and how it fits with the rest, makes everything else easier to follow. Each one links to a dedicated page in the Glaze Manual for the full detail.

## Projects and Apps

A **project** is something you build in Glaze. It lives in the **My Projects** tab, and it's where you go to create a new project, edit existing ones, or publish them.

The **app** is what a project produces: a real desktop app that runs on your Mac, in its own window, and looks and feels like it belongs. Apps are **local-first**, so most keep working without an internet connection. When you publish an app to the Public Store or Team Store, the app is what you're sharing.

In short, you work on a **project**, and the result is an **app**. See [Managing Your Projects](/basics/managing-projects) and [What Glaze Can Build](/basics/what-glaze-can-build).

## The Agent

You build with Glaze by talking to the **agent** in **Agent Chat**. You describe what you want, and the agent plans the work, writes the code, installs what it needs, and opens the app, showing each step as it runs.

You don't have to write any code yourself, though the code is yours. You direct the agent in plain language and it does the building. See [Agent Chat](/prompting/agent-chat).

## Prompts

A **prompt** is a message you send the agent: a description of the app you want, or a change you want made. Prompts are how you steer everything, from the first build to the smallest tweak. The clearer your prompt, the closer the agent gets on the first try. See [Writing Effective Prompts](/prompting/writing-effective-prompts).

## Plan and Build

The agent works in two modes:

- **Build mode** makes changes directly. It's the default and the fastest way to iterate.
- **Plan mode** settles on an approach with you before any code is written, which helps with bigger or riskier changes.

Moving between them lets you go quickly on small things and think first on large ones. See [Plan & Build Modes](/prompting/plan-and-build-modes).

## Versions

Every build is saved as a **version** iteration. You can look back at what changed and, if a change breaks something or heads the wrong way, **revert** to a version that worked. Nothing you build is lost, so you're free to experiment. See [Version History](/prompting/version-history).

## Credits

**Credits** are what the agent spends to build and edit your apps. They're metered by how much work a request takes, so a quick tweak costs little and a build from scratch costs more. A few things never cost credits, including generating an app icon, reporting an issue, and running the `/upgrade` command. See [Credits](/account/credits).

## Sharing and the Store

An app is yours privately in the **My Projects** tab until you decide to share it. When publishing, you choose how visible it is:

- **Public Store**: Shared publicly with all Glaze users to discover and install.
- **Team Store**: Available only to team members in the same Team.
- **Unlisted**: Anyone with the link can install it, but it isn't listed on the Public Store.

The **Store** is where you discover and install apps other people have built in Glaze. See [Visibility Levels](/share/visibility-levels) and [Publish Apps](/share/publish-apps).

## Integrations

Apps can **connect to external services** like GitHub, Linear, and Slack, or any provider you set up yourself, so they can work with your real data. Connections are made securely, and access tokens are stored encrypted on your Mac, protected by the Keychain, never in plain text. See [Integrations Overview](/integrations/overview).

## How It Fits Together

Put together, the flow looks like this:

1. You describe an app to the **agent** with a **prompt**.
2. The agent builds it, saving each step as a **version** and spending **credits** as it works.
3. Your **app** opens and runs locally on your Mac.
4. You refine it with more prompts, reaching for **Plan mode** on bigger changes and rolling back a **version** if you need to.
5. When it's ready, you **share** it through the Public Store, your Team Store, or a private link.