ChaiBuilder is a live, agent-ready, white-label page and content engine for products that let their own customers build and publish pages. Underneath, it is a low-code, self-hosted visual website builder for React and Next.js, built for agents and humans, where you own all of your data and infrastructure. Pages are stored as JSON and rendered at runtime, so a published change is live without a rebuild or a redeploy. Editors build pages visually, developers extend the builder in code, and AI agents such as Claude, Cursor or VS Code edit and publish pages through a built-in MCP server, all on the same site and under the same permissions. Its open-source core (chaicore) is a basic Next.js website builder; chaipro adds a set of Pro extensions for the full product. It ships as an npm package that drops into a Next.js application, together with a publicly available starter (Next.js + Payload CMS) so you can deploy and start building in minutes.

Unlike hosted builders such as Webflow, Wix, or Squarespace - which run on the vendor's infrastructure and own everything you create - ChaiBuilder is delivered as code, not a hosted service. You bring your own database and hosting, so 100% of your content, your registered users, and your infrastructure stay under your control.

What "low-code" means here

ChaiBuilder is low-code, not no-code. It serves two audiences at once:

• Editors - non-technical team members build and publish pages visually through role-based access, with no code required.
• Developers - extend the builder with custom blocks and panels, override pages and routing, and plug in custom CMS collections and logic.

Structured content (blogs and similar) lives in Payload CMS, visual pages live in the builder, and the two are wired together so they understand each other's structure.

AI agents through MCP

From chaipro v0.4.0, your site can run an MCP server at /api/mcp. Point Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code or any other MCP client at it, and the agent can find pages, edit blocks, manage SEO, translate, upload images, manage redirects, browse revisions and publish:

• On your own site. The server is part of your deployment. The agent talks to your database and media storage, with no hosted service in between.
• As you. Each person connects with their own API key, and the agent gets exactly that person's permissions.
• Drafts first. Edits land in the page draft with a preview link, and the agent asks before it publishes. A page someone has open in the builder is never overwritten.

The server is opt-in: a developer turns it on once per project. See MCP Server Setup.

How it's delivered

• chaicore (open-source core) - a basic Next.js website builder: the visual builder, SQLite page storage, and page rendering. Open source and self-contained.
• chaipro npm package - the Pro product: the chaicore core plus a set of Pro extensions. This is the paid product, licensed per platform.
• Public starter template - a Next.js + Payload CMS starter with the builder pre-installed. Anyone can one-click deploy it (a built-in /setup wizard finishes the configuration in the browser) or download it and start building.

What you can build

ChaiBuilder is optimized for content-heavy, public-facing sites. Pages render with an SSG + ISR model - built on a visitor's first request, then cached, and automatically revalidated when you publish. Out of the box you get visual page building, custom blocks, design tokens and theming, data binding, multilingual content, a media manager and image editor, multi-user editing with page locking, revisions and restore, one-click publish with preview, role-based access control, an in-builder AI assistant, and an MCP server for AI agents.

Who it's for

• Platforms that run many sites: vertical SaaS and multi-site platforms that need a website module inside their own product, and agencies running many client sites under their own brand. Agents keep hundreds or thousands of sites current; people review and fix in the visual builder. This is who chaipro is licensed to.
• Developers and small teams building a site or two, for themselves or for clients, who want a builder they can extend and self-host rather than rent. The open-source core, chaicore, is free for them.
• Teams working in AI tools who want Claude, Cursor or VS Code to update and publish their site, with the same permissions and review steps as a person in the builder.
• Organizations with data-ownership, compliance, or infrastructure requirements that rule out hosted, vendor-owned builders.

Licensing at a glance

• Open source. chaicore is free under the BSD-3-Clause license. Use it for a site or two, for yourself or for clients. No license, no key.
• Platform license. chaipro is licensed to platforms: one yearly fee for your whole platform, unlimited sites, quoted to your scale, with build services (integration, custom blocks, migration) if you want them. Every license includes the full feature set and the MCP server: no tiers, no feature flags, no per-site fees. Book a demo to get a quote.
• Evaluate first. The starter runs chaipro in a 30-day free trial (no credit card, no email), so your developers can try it before or after the call: one-click deploy the starter and finish setup in the browser, or scaffold locally with npx chaibuilder-app create.

See Trial & Licensing for details.

Where to go next

• How It Works - the builder, the CMS, and your infrastructure at a glance.
• Quickstart - one-click deploy in the browser, or scaffold locally with the CLI, then build your first page.
• Architecture Overview - the client/server split and deployment shape.
• MCP Server Setup - connect Claude, Cursor or VS Code to your site.