Blog · August 25, 2026 · Rich Chetwynd
Introducing Croft Build
Croft Build is an AI chat built right into Croft - create and update apps where they live, with no assistant to connect. Bring your own AI over MCP for no AI fees, or use Build's optional credits.
Until now, building on Croft meant connecting an AI assistant - Claude, ChatGPT, Grok, or Cursor - to your croft over MCP. It’s a great setup, and if you already pay for an assistant it’s the cheapest way to build: your subscription covers the tokens, so there’s no AI fee to Croft at all. But it does mean a bit of setup, and it assumes you’ve got an assistant to connect in the first place.
Croft Build removes that step. It’s an AI chat built right into Croft. Open the Build tab, describe the app you want - or drop in a spreadsheet - and it creates, updates, and deploys it on your croft. Nothing to connect, nothing to configure.
The same platform, from the inside
Here’s the part worth knowing: Croft Build isn’t a separate, walled-off feature. It’s an AI chat that talks to your croft through the exact same MCP your own assistant uses - with no special treatment and no privileged access. Anything you can do with a connected assistant, you can do in Build. Anything you build in Build, you can pick up later with Claude. Same tools, same apps, same guardrails.
So you’re never locked into one path. Start in Build today because it’s quick; connect Cursor next month because you’d rather work in your editor. It’s the same croft underneath either way.
What it costs
Croft Build runs on credits - an optional add-on to any hosting plan, pay only if you use it:
- 200 credits per $1.
- Packs at $10 (2,000), $25 (5,000), and $50 (10,000) - or a custom top-up anywhere from $5 to $500.
- Your free trial includes 500 credits, enough to get your first app built.
And to be completely clear about the cheapest path: bringing your own AI over MCP has no AI fees at all. Your hosting plan is still a flat price with no usage meter. Credits are purely a convenience for building with the AI hosted inside Croft, for when you’d rather not connect an assistant of your own.
Which should you use?
- Already pay for Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor? Connect it over MCP. It’s the cheapest way to build, and nothing changes about the flat-price, no-meter deal.
- Don’t have an assistant, or just want to get going? Use Croft Build. Your trial credits are enough to build your first app, and you can top up from there.
Either way, you build by chatting, and the app lands on your own private server, behind your login. That’s the whole idea.
Stake out your croft.
Your team's first app could be live before lunch.
Get your croft7 days free, no card to start. From $24/month - cancel anytime and take everything with you.