Good questions. Less platform puzzling.
Who owns the files? Can you choose your AI? What happens when a draft needs another try? Fair questions, especially if you've met a 'simple' builder with complicated strings attached. These answers cover what Laizie Builder does, what LaizieRouter adds, and the limits worth knowing before your first build. The small print gets a chair at the table, too.
Start with ownership
A self-hosted PHP app that sits beside your website. It helps you build and edit pages, manage media, configure AI roles, and review proposed changes. Your site remains a normal hosted website, separate from the editing app.
No. You choose compatible hosting, including Linux or Windows IIS, and install Builder alongside the website. Your hosting still needs the required PHP features and appropriate permissions; 'self-hosted' doesn't mean every server is ready without checking.
Its approved output is ordinary website files, so the site keeps working without the Builder running. You aren't relying on an open editing session to serve your pages. Keep your own copies and backups as part of normal site ownership.
Choose your level of Laizie
Both routes work through the same Builder. Choose the one that suits how you want to manage AI today.
Router provides the managed route for your AI roles. Choose one quality level across them: Low, Medium, High, xHigh, or Max. High is the default starting point. Your Laizie license manages access, and the service meters usage. This suits people who want to describe the work rather than configure a provider account for each role. You still review normal AI proposals; managed routing doesn't remove your approval step.
Yes. Direct Provider mode lets you connect supported provider accounts and configure Web Designer, Developer, Content, and Graphic Designer roles. You fund those accounts yourself, and image work needs an image-capable model. Your direct settings remain saved when you switch routes. Tier 1 plugin access included with Router ends when you switch to direct AI, but purchased plugins continue in either mode within their license terms.
Free Builder. Clear expectations.
Standard is free and includes one Builder installation and one connected WordPress site. AI usage is paid, whether through Router or your provider accounts. Pro adds capacity, and Enterprise arrangements are available through the team. Optional plugin purchases are separate. A rejected AI result can still have incurred generation costs, so 'I didn't publish it' doesn't mean 'the AI did no billable work.' Check the account portal for current plan details and charges.
The useful details
No. Builder uses PHP 8.1 or newer with PDO SQLite and sodium. Live AI calls use cURL; fileinfo and GD support stronger media checks, thumbnails, and cropping. On Windows IIS, PHP routing, HTTPS trust, permissions, and request timeouts need proper host configuration. The installer checks prerequisites instead of pretending missing server features are your imagination.
Your website's server folder path, a strong administrator password of at least 10 characters, your license key, and a real administrator email address you can access. Setup checks private storage outside the public web root. It doesn't build pages or ask for provider keys; choose your AI route afterward.
Keep the delivered name and don't move it after activation. Its location participates in verified private storage ownership. The random address makes the dashboard less obvious, but a strong password, HTTPS, and appropriate access controls still matter.
Yes. Use the Website Editor to target pages or tagged sections. Read the target summary, explain what to change and what to preserve, then review the normal AI proposal. Use Add a Page for a new page. Create Site is a separate whole-site workflow, not a shortcut for an ordinary edit.
In Add a Page, choose an existing page as the template or use Custom URL for a page on your own site. You can also copy the home page's navigation and footer. Describe the new content and the differences you want, rather than rebuilding your visual identity with every new page.
Don't assume a URL pasted into instructions will be fetched. For outside inspiration, describe the colors, layout, and mood you like. The Custom URL template is for a page on the same site, where styles, images, and links can remain compatible.
Up to five total pages: Home plus zero to four interiors. Review and revise Home privately first. Approving Home freezes the design for the remaining pages but doesn't publish. Keep the tab open while interiors build, inspect the whole-site proposal, then give a separate final approval to publish.
Name the outcome, page and section, exact facts, and what should stay unchanged. Try: 'On about.html, replace the local hero headline with Our Story. Keep the navigation, footer, and body copy unchanged.' For a new page, add the audience, section order, and action visitors should take. Clear beats mysterious.
High is the default everyday starting point. Low favors speed and cost; xHigh and Max are there for more demanding work. Quality settings affect the resources used, not a guaranteed business outcome. Raising the setting isn't a substitute for telling the AI what you want.
Yes. Direct-provider settings are preserved when you switch. Provider keys are encrypted in storage, and a blank key field keeps the existing key. Use protected settings for credentials, never page instructions or support chats. Remember that included plugin access changes when you leave Router mode.
No. Actual cost depends on the prompt, quality, model work, and current pricing. Illustrative savings and sample site costs aren't a quote. Router records metered usage, including token and cost information, but the account portal is the place for actual charges and invoices.
The AI already did the generation work before you decided whether to publish. Review protects your website from unwanted changes; it doesn't reverse provider usage. The same distinction applies when you reject an image or stop after a request has already been sent.
Tier 1 plugins are included while Router mode is on, rather than permanently owned for free. Switching to direct providers ends included access immediately. Buy the relevant plugin if you want to use it independently of Router. Your Plugins badges and account portal show what your license covers.
Purchased plugins work in either AI mode and offline within their license period. Switching back to Router doesn't erase the purchase. Included plugins have different rules: a temporary Router outage can have an offline grace period, but switching modes is not an outage and does not preserve included access.
The documented difference is capacity: Standard allows one Builder install and one connected WordPress site; Pro allows five of each. An upgrade changes the existing license in place, keeping settings and installations. Enterprise capacity is arranged with the team. Confirm current prices in the portal before purchasing.
The license has no capacity for another installation or connected site. Use the account portal to disconnect an old seat or choose a plan with more capacity. Creating more copies doesn't bypass the limit, and nothing is automatically evicted just to make room.
Yes. Media combines uploads, image generation, and a library. Validated images, audio, and video uploads go to your site's /media/ folder. For AI images, describe the subject, purpose, and style. Generated results wait for Approve, Crop, or Reject before being saved publicly.
Use a source image from the library, one direct HTTPS image URL, or both. The URL must point to an image, not a web page. Explain what you want to borrow, such as lighting or palette, and what should differ. Review the outcome; models don't all handle references identically.
Normal AI editing uses proposals and explicit approval. Advanced skip-review settings, manual source saves, supplied-HTML create-only page submissions, and privileged plugin tools can write directly. Choose those routes deliberately. In Add a Page, the direct create-only route refuses to replace an existing filename.
Shared Laizie Tags link matching regions across pages. An approved shared navigation or footer edit produces one consistent result across the pages carrying that shared section. Page-local content stays local. Selecting one page doesn't make its shared footer independent, so check the target and scope before approving.
No universal undo button is promised. Backups can restore a page or recover a site snapshot, and every restore first creates a safety snapshot. Restoring one page doesn't roll back other pages or shared changes elsewhere. Whole-site recovery can remove files missing from the snapshot. Keep independent backups before major work.
Whole-site rebuilding, whole-site recovery, and deleting media. A completed Create Site publication has no simple one-click restore in the normal Backups catalog. Media deletion has no trash. Safe Delete checks recognized page references and blocks on use or scan failure, but your own retained copy is still worth having.
Check progress and saved proposals first. A connection timeout doesn't prove the build stopped. Recover review or Retry loading proposal can bring back finished work without generating it again. Try again starts a fresh attempt, so check the original job before paying for an accidental encore. Host behavior can vary, especially on IIS.
No. Stop discards a waiting proposal or requests a running batch to stop at a safe checkpoint; an in-flight call may finish. It isn't a rollback or a refund. Use Backups for already-published files and inspect what actually completed before taking another action.
No. It protects the dashboard; published pages remain public by design. Laizie stores its real database, keys, and backups outside the public web root and offers optional administrator IP restrictions. Use your host's access controls for visitor-private files. Site Access exclusions limit Laizie's work, not web access.
Use Site Access to exclude folders from scanning, listing, targeting, previews, and editing. Excluding a parent also excludes its contents. This is useful for directories belonging to another application, but it doesn't replace server permissions or turn a public folder into a private one.
The WordPress Bridge connects WordPress sites through a plugin installed and activated on the WordPress side. Download it from your Builder's Plugins page, complete registration, and use Test Connection. Registration and a verified working connection are separate checks. Plugin entitlement and site-seat limits still apply.
Choose Contact form (processed) in Add a Page. It uses a fixed processor with validation, same-site checks, spam controls, rate limits, and approved recipients. Configure the email route in Admin and send a real test email before relying on delivery. The dashboard Contact page is feedback to Laizie, not your visitors' form.
No. Static checks reject risky constructs, but they don't prove generated code compiled, ran correctly, or resists every attack. The host still needs the appropriate runtime. Stage-test high-impact features and keep requests narrowly scoped. Enabled language support is permission to generate, not installation of that language on the server.
Use the sign-in recovery options for a forgotten password or the denial page's access-link option for an IP restriction. Follow the mailbox guidance shown there; the two problems have different recovery paths. Contact the Laizie team with the tool, steps, and exact error text. Never send passwords, license keys, or recovery links.
Enough homework. Time for the useful part.
Choose your AI route, make one clear request, and review the result. You don't have to solve your whole website in the first sitting. That's a lot of effort for something called Laizie.
Do it the Laizie way. One good decision at a time.