How to build apps fast with hypermedia

In the age of generative AI it can feel like everything is moving too fast. There are so many fun generative models to play with, and new ones released every day. It’s hard to keep up.

Especially when combining different models, the workflows get complex and hard to manage. But you don’t want to spin up a new production app with frontend, backend, and GPU every time you try something new.

What if you could quickly glue a few models together to suit your workflow? What if you could do this without leaving your browser? Even… from your phone? We’re not talking about “no-code” interfaces here. What if you could build and deploy a custom AI app with just a few lines of code?

This guide will walk you through the basics of hypermedia and how to use it to build AI powered apps. We’ll combine several models to build a custom AI web app and deploy it to the web as a single serverless function. You can follow along in the browser and fork the app to create your own custom AI workflows.

Our example app is Movie Real, a face swapping app that puts you on the big screen:

This guide is for developers who want to rapidly prototype AI powered apps. You’re familiar with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and you’ve used AI models before.

Maybe you’ve heard about hypermedia and are curious to test it out. Or maybe you’re a full-stack veteran looking for a way to quickly iterate AI projects. Whatever your background, this guide will help you build AI apps fast. We’ll walk through everything step by step and you can follow along in the browser.