Trying Out Anything (formerly Create): Prototyping a Home Life Management App in 30 Minutes with Natural Language
2025-08-12
Introduction
In recent years, there has been a rapid increase in AI development support tools that "generate a prototype from text instructions." Among them, Anything (formerly Create) is an all-in-one platform that generates a complete app, including frontend, backend, and hosting, from a short natural language prompt.
This article uses a home life management app (shared family tasks, calendar, shopping lists, etc.) as a case study to document the procedure, time required, and the benefits and caveats of creating a prototype with this tool.
What is Anything?
Anything is an AI app builder that aims to launch a complete application—including pages, features, UI, frontend, backend, authentication, database, and hosting—from a simple natural language description (about 1-3 sentences).
- Key Features: Natural language to UI/feature generation, integration of authentication, DB, payments, etc., and preview/publishing capabilities.
- Pricing Plans: Ranges from a Free plan (5k credits/month) to several Pro plans. It's recommended to start with the free tier.
- Cross-Platform Support: Capable of generating both web and mobile apps from the same project.
The official guide recommends starting with a "short summary prompt." For this test, I provided a detailed set of requirements. Reference: Official Documentation - Builder Overview
The Reality According to Reviews
- Positive Opinions: "Creates good-looking prototypes quickly," "Mobile preview is fast."
- Concerns: Generation quality can be inconsistent if the requirements are not specific enough. It struggles with complex business logic.
- Overall Assessment: Highly rated for speed and UI quality, but detailed customization requires manual work.
References:
Trying Out Anything
Target App: A home life management app (shared family tasks, shopping lists, schedule, reminders).
Input Requirements (Summary)
- Multi-user authentication (shared family account)
- Shared tasks (assignee, due date, completion check)
- Shared calendar (week/month view)
- Shopping list (categorized)
- Reminders (recurring, push notifications)
- Mobile + Web compatible
Details
1. App Overview
A web and mobile app to centralize home life management.
It integrates a calendar, task management, shopping lists, home maintenance records, trash day schedules, and a household budget, enabling real-time sharing among family members.
2. Users
All family members (with multiple accounts/permission settings).
Can also be shared with non-family members as needed (e.g., housekeepers, repair services for temporary access).
3. Functional Requirements
3.1 Calendar & Schedule Management
- Integrated display of all family members' schedules (color-coded).
- Toggle between personal and shared schedules.
- Set assignees/participants when creating events.
- Reminder notifications (push, email).
- Google Calendar/iCal synchronization.
3.2 Chores & To-Do Management
- Task registration (assignee, due date, priority).
- Recurring task settings (e.g., weekly cleaning).
- Checklist format for task progress.
- History of completed tasks (to visualize chore distribution).
3.3 Shopping List
- Categorized lists (groceries, daily necessities, etc.).
- Add items via voice input or barcode scanning.
- Collaborative editing (simultaneous updates by multiple users).
- Save shopping history by store.
- Automatic "out of stock" notifications (e.g., for milk).
3.4 Home Repair & Maintenance Management
- Record repair history (date, details, contractor, photos).
- Manage inspection schedules (e.g., AC cleaning, roof inspection).
- Attach and store quotes and receipts.
- Reminder notifications (semi-annually/annually).
3.5 Trash Day Schedule
- Register local collection calendar.
- Notifications on the day of or the day before (time-specific).
- Memo function for trash separation (e.g., burnables, recyclables).
3.6 Money Management
- Log income and expenses by category.
- Monthly and annual reports (with graphs).
- Visualize spending ratios by family member.
- Set household budgets and receive over-budget alerts.
- Import bank/credit card statements (CSV/OFX).
3.7 Common Features
- Account management (family unit, individual).
- Permission settings (e.g., children have view-only access).
- Data synchronization (cloud).
- Offline mode (syncs upon reconnection).
- Multilingual support (Japanese/English).
4. Non-Functional Requirements
Item | Requirement
--- | ---
Supported Devices | iOS / Android / Web Browser
UI | Simple, intuitive, usable by all family members.
Performance | Operation response within 0.5 seconds, supports over 10,000 data entries.
Security | User authentication (OAuth2/Password), communication encryption (HTTPS), data encryption (AES256).
Backup | Automatic backup (daily cloud storage).
Notifications | Push notifications (mobile), email notifications.
Data Sharing | Real-time synchronization for the family unit.
Scalability | API structure that supports new feature additions (REST/GraphQL).
Reliability | 99.9%+ uptime (cloud hosting).
5. Potential UI/UX Feature Ideas
- Dashboard: A summary view of today's schedule, tasks, trash day, and shopping list.
- Voice Assistant Integration (Google Home, Alexa): "What's on the schedule for tomorrow?" or "Add milk to the shopping list."
- Family Stamps/Comments: Make completing tasks and sharing schedules more fun.
- AI-Powered Auto-Categorization: Automatically log expenses from receipt photos.
- Bundled Push Notifications: Reduce notification fatigue.
Estimated Time
- Initial prototype generation: 30 minutes to 2 hours
Actual Screens Generated
- Login Screen (with family invite code support)
- Dashboard
- Calendar
Benefits
- Rapid Prototyping: Get a UI/feature set in a short amount of time.
- Full-Stack Generation: No need to build infrastructure.
- Cross-Platform Support: Deliver web and mobile simultaneously.
- Free Tier Available: Easy to conduct initial validation (generated code can be downloaded).
Points to Note
- Struggles to generate complex logic.
- Requires a plan for customization and future maintenance.
- Be mindful of credit consumption (check your plan).
- Privacy settings are essential when handling personal information.
- App Store submission requires a separate review process.
Overall Assessment
Anything is ideal for "quickly giving form to an idea." Features like those in a home life management app can be shaped in a short time, making it powerful for the initial stages of user testing and idea validation. However, for a production-level application, I felt that understanding the structure of the generated product and making manual adjustments are essential. I recommend starting with the Free plan to try it out.
References
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