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Chef by Convex builds real full-stack apps in one prompt—Notion, Slack, and more.
It works because Convex’s abstractions are simple enough for both humans and AI to use.
Built-in features and plug-and-play components let developers skip boilerplate and ship fast.
Building a language learning app meant I needed a backend that could handle realtime sync, multilingual support, and type-safe code. I didn’t start with Convex—I evaluated Firebase, PlanetScale, Supabase, Neon, and others first. Each had tradeoffs: Firebase felt disjointed and buggy; PlanetScale lacked international support; Supabase leaned too hard into SQL; and Neon made realtime too complicated.
What made Convex different was how little backend glue I needed to write. Realtime sync just worked. TypeScript felt native. My frontend felt alive without hacks. It felt like hiring a backend team on day one. A year later, I’m still shipping fast—and glad I made the switch.
This post breaks down what I found, what failed, and why Convex ended up being the best database for a modern TypeScript app like LanguageHopper.
Learn how to write better apps using AI app builders like Chef by Convex with these five expert tips from Jordan Hunt, prompt engineer at Convex. This guide covers how to build simple MVPs, keep prompts under 300 words, provide clear UI and design instructions, use AI tools like ChatGPT to refine your prompts, and recover quickly when things go off track. Includes real app examples like a habit tracker, to-do list, and finance tracker—all built with Chef. Perfect for developers building full-stack apps with AI.
Developers jumped into the Convex Chef Hackathon to vibe code and build real-time, AI code-gen apps fast. Winning projects like Lumenly, Collide, and StudySync combined multiplayer collaboration, instant feedback, and smart automation. From study tools to AI art platforms, these apps show how Convex Chef accelerates full-stack development.
Convex compared Claude 3.5 Sonnet, GPT-4.1, and Gemini 2.5 Pro to see which LLM works best for building full-stack apps with Convex Chef, the new AI Agent app developer tool. Claude stood out for its precise backend coding and function calling, while Gemini made impressive UIs, and GPT offered solid speed and value.
Featured videos
All videos
54:32
What You Missed in 2024 in the World of Databases, with Andy Pavlo
2.5K views
5 months ago
Chef
All Chef posts
Learn how to write better apps using AI app builders like Chef by Convex with these five expert tips from Jordan Hunt, prompt engineer at Convex. This guide covers how to build simple MVPs, keep prompts under 300 words, provide clear UI and design instructions, use AI tools like ChatGPT to refine your prompts, and recover quickly when things go off track. Includes real app examples like a habit tracker, to-do list, and finance tracker—all built with Chef. Perfect for developers building full-stack apps with AI.
Jordan Hunt
2 months ago
Developers jumped into the Convex Chef Hackathon to vibe code and build real-time, AI code-gen apps fast. Winning projects like Lumenly, Collide, and StudySync combined multiplayer collaboration, instant feedback, and smart automation. From study tools to AI art platforms, these apps show how Convex Chef accelerates full-stack development.
Wayne Sutton
2 months ago
Convex compared Claude 3.5 Sonnet, GPT-4.1, and Gemini 2.5 Pro to see which LLM works best for building full-stack apps with Convex Chef, the new AI Agent app developer tool. Claude stood out for its precise backend coding and function calling, while Gemini made impressive UIs, and GPT offered solid speed and value.
Jordan Hunt
2 months ago
Patterns
All Patterns posts
With this new backend component, augment Agents to automatically save and search message history per-thread, providing realtime results across multiple tabs and users. Use it with the Workflow component to run reliably with retries and durability across server restarts.
Ian Macartney
2 months ago
New convex-helpers are available now for fetching streams of documents, merging them together, filtering them them out, and paginating the results. With these helpers, you can replicate patterns you may know from SQL: UNION ALL, JOIN, DISTINCT, GROUP BY, and WHERE clauses where index fields are skipped.
Lee Danilek
3 months ago
Here’s a cheatsheet with examples of conversions between SQL queries and Convex queries. This article is geared towards developers (and LLMs) who have familiarity with SQL and want to translate those familiar patterns into Convex queries. You'll learn how to `UNION`, `JOIN`, `DISTINCT`, do `WHERE` clauses, and `SELECT` fields.
Lee Danilek
3 months ago
Explore techniques to improve transaction throughput and concurrency in ACID databases by reducing conflicts and optimizing database reads. This guide covers patterns like Queue, Hot and Cold Tables, and Predicate Locking with clear examples using Convex, providing developers with tools to handle high-throughput workflows effectively.
Lee Danilek
5 months ago
You can write a Convex query whose structure -- which index/order/filters to apply, if any -- depends on runtime factors. This article gives a recipe for building queries dynamically.
Lee Danilek
6 months ago
Convex's migrations component makes it easy and safe to run complex database migrations without causing any interruption to live traffic.
Jamie Turner
6 months ago
Learn about Automerge CRDTs for collaborative editing, syncing changes using Convex.
Ian Macartney
7 months ago
Convex Components enable an ecosystem of powerful building blocks to reduce the amount of code you have to write and maintain yourself. Geospatial search, Expo push notifications, LaunchDarkly feature flags, durable function workflows, and more.
Ian Macartney
8 months ago
Triggers automatically run code whenever data in a table changes. A library in the convex-helpers npm package allows you to attach trigger functions to your Convex database.
Lee Danilek
8 months ago
Local-First
All Local-First posts
Or how I learned to love BlockNote, Tiptap and ProseMirror OT sync.
Learn about Automerge CRDTs for collaborative editing, syncing changes using Convex.
Object sync engines manage a rich object graph across multiple clients and a centralized server and are a great fit for building local-first apps.
Walkthroughs
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Building an AI chat app? Convex’s Persistent Text Streaming keeps conversations flowing—even across page reloads or tab switches—by storing and syncing chat data in real time. This video shows how to stream responses live, reduce bandwidth waste, and boost performance using Convex’s serverless backend. Say goodbye to broken chat experiences and hello to seamless, reliable interactions.
Mike Cann
a month ago
14:50
Building a language learning app meant I needed a backend that could handle realtime sync, multilingual support, and type-safe code. I didn’t start with Convex—I evaluated Firebase, PlanetScale, Supabase, Neon, and others first. Each had tradeoffs: Firebase felt disjointed and buggy; PlanetScale lacked international support; Supabase leaned too hard into SQL; and Neon made realtime too complicated.
What made Convex different was how little backend glue I needed to write. Realtime sync just worked. TypeScript felt native. My frontend felt alive without hacks. It felt like hiring a backend team on day one. A year later, I’m still shipping fast—and glad I made the switch.
This post breaks down what I found, what failed, and why Convex ended up being the best database for a modern TypeScript app like LanguageHopper.
Matt Luo
a month ago
Choosing a backend? This video breaks down Firebase vs Convex with a clear developer lens. Whether you’re building your first app or optimizing for AI workflows, you’ll get a side-by-side view of how these two platforms really stack up.
You’ll see how Firebase’s flexible NoSQL setup compares to Convex’s structured, type-safe model—and why that matters for scaling, security, and speed. From real-time syncing and server-side queries to access control, authentication, and vendor lock-in, this video covers it all.
Ideal for developers who want a modern, AI-ready backend without sacrificing performance or control.
Mike Cann
a month ago
22:19
Looking for a backend that feels built for how modern developers actually code? Convex is quickly becoming a go-to choice in 2025 for full-stack devs shipping real-time, collaborative apps without the backend overhead.
This video breaks down what Convex is and how it works—from schema design to reactivity. You’ll see how Convex blends TypeScript safety, live queries, serverless functions, and a schema-flexible database into one cohesive developer experience.
Whether you’re building a multiplayer game, a live doc editor, or a chat app, this walkthrough helps you figure out if Convex is the right fit—and how it stacks up to Firebase, Supabase, or Lambda-based setups.
Mike Cann
a month ago
17:38
Learn how to integrate Bluefox—a modern developer-first email API built on AWS SES—with Convex, the reactive backend database. This guide covers everything from sending transactional and triggered emails to setting up real-time webhooks and preparing for production. You’ll walk away knowing how to configure your environment, build reusable email clients, handle errors safely, and manage multiple deployment environments with best practices for SES authentication, bounce handling, and email tracking.
Jamal Lyons
2 months ago
You can now use Convex with a single command without needing to set up a Convex account. This means it’s even easier to persuade your friends to check out Convex and to share an app that others can download and run for themselves.
Sarah Shader
2 months ago
With this new backend component, augment Agents to automatically save and search message history per-thread, providing realtime results across multiple tabs and users. Use it with the Workflow component to run reliably with retries and durability across server restarts.
Ian Macartney
2 months ago
Convex MCP Server is now generally available, enabling AI agents to query your data, run functions, and automate complex tasks. Here are two crafty use cases we've already uncovered...
Jamie Turner
3 months ago
Perspectives
All Perspectives posts
Learn how to write better apps using AI app builders like Chef by Convex with these five expert tips from Jordan Hunt, prompt engineer at Convex. This guide covers how to build simple MVPs, keep prompts under 300 words, provide clear UI and design instructions, use AI tools like ChatGPT to refine your prompts, and recover quickly when things go off track. Includes real app examples like a habit tracker, to-do list, and finance tracker—all built with Chef. Perfect for developers building full-stack apps with AI.
Convex compared Claude 3.5 Sonnet, GPT-4.1, and Gemini 2.5 Pro to see which LLM works best for building full-stack apps with Convex Chef, the new AI Agent app developer tool. Claude stood out for its precise backend coding and function calling, while Gemini made impressive UIs, and GPT offered solid speed and value.
Agents rely on long-lived workflows, but when happens when they fail midway through? Here are the tools you need to manage correctness and reliability: transactions, idempotency, retries, durable functions, journaling, and state machines. The missing abstraction layer for agentic is durable workflows, which bring them all together.
Chef by Convex builds real full-stack apps in one prompt—Notion, Slack, and more.
It works because Convex’s abstractions are simple enough for both humans and AI to use.
Built-in features and plug-and-play components let developers skip boilerplate and ship fast.
Emma Forman Ling
20 days ago
22:21
Claude 4 is here, and developers are putting it to the test. This video skips the benchmarks and dives into real-world builds—like an Instagram clone and a multiplayer Tic-Tac-Toe app—using Claude 4 with Convex and Chef. If you’re deciding between Claude 4 and 3.5 for agentic codegen, backend setup, or Convex-based workflows, this walkthrough shows the good, the bad, and the frustrating.
From schema generation to real-time uploads and env var debugging, you’ll see where Claude 4 outperforms—and where Claude 3.5 still holds its ground. Ideal for devs building modern fullstack apps who want to see Claude in action, not just theory.
Mike Cann
a month ago
Learn how to write better apps using AI app builders like Chef by Convex with these five expert tips from Jordan Hunt, prompt engineer at Convex. This guide covers how to build simple MVPs, keep prompts under 300 words, provide clear UI and design instructions, use AI tools like ChatGPT to refine your prompts, and recover quickly when things go off track. Includes real app examples like a habit tracker, to-do list, and finance tracker—all built with Chef. Perfect for developers building full-stack apps with AI.
Jordan Hunt
2 months ago
Convex compared Claude 3.5 Sonnet, GPT-4.1, and Gemini 2.5 Pro to see which LLM works best for building full-stack apps with Convex Chef, the new AI Agent app developer tool. Claude stood out for its precise backend coding and function calling, while Gemini made impressive UIs, and GPT offered solid speed and value.
Jordan Hunt
2 months ago
Agents rely on long-lived workflows, but when happens when they fail midway through? Here are the tools you need to manage correctness and reliability: transactions, idempotency, retries, durable functions, journaling, and state machines. The missing abstraction layer for agentic is durable workflows, which bring them all together.
Ian Macartney
2 months ago
With this new backend component, augment Agents to automatically save and search message history per-thread, providing realtime results across multiple tabs and users. Use it with the Workflow component to run reliably with retries and durability across server restarts.
Ian Macartney
2 months ago
I reimplemented Mastra’s agentic workflows with durable functions in Convex, and it was the wrong decision. Look at three common strategies (reimplementation, API wrapping, and “blessed” plugin paths), along with learnings along the way and reflections on what I’d do differently next time. TL;DR: Do less, do it smarter, and prototype faster.
Ian Macartney
3 months ago
AI coding is here: The most productive developers are leveraging AI to speed up their workflows. This ranges from asking models questions about system design to letting AI take the driver's seat with tools like Cursor Composer.
Jordan Hunt
3 months ago
Convex now supports a powerful MCP server that lets you introspect your deployment's state, run functions, and read and write data.
Sujay Jayakar
4 months ago