Design
Refine in plain language
Ask questions and change the architecture by writing to Brunel. How answers, patches, redesigns and clarifications work, and what never goes through the AI.
Once the tiers exist, every message is either a question or a change. Brunel chooses the smallest correct result:
| Result | When | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Answer | You ask a question | An explanation citing the components and facts concerned |
| Patch | A local change ("add a read replica", "use a managed Redis") | A new version with the diff and the monthly cost delta |
| Redesign | The context changes enough to invalidate the tiers (providers, compliance, budget ×3 or ÷3, availability) | Four new tiers, as a new version |
| Clarify | The request is ambiguous | One precise question back |
What a change goes through
- The requested operations are applied to the blueprint by a pure function that refuses unknown components, duplicate ids, dangling connections or unsupported kinds.
- The result is mapped, priced and validated like a first design. A critical violation triggers one repair pass, and the summary says so.
- A new immutable version is saved, labelled with your message, with its parent, and files and documentation are regenerated.
Instant switches, no AI
Switching the provider (AWS ↔ Scaleway) or the currency (EUR ↔ USD) from the canvas is not a chat request: Brunel re-maps, re-prices, validates and regenerates deterministically, and records a version such as "Switched to Scaleway".
Good requests
- "Why is there a NAT gateway in Growth?"
- "Move the worker to scheduled functions."
- "We must keep all data in the EU."
- "Cut the monthly budget to €300 and keep backups."
- "Replace Elasticsearch with PostgreSQL full-text search."
Limits
Refinements use AI reasoning on plans that include it (fair use, counted as AI actions). The deterministic architect handles common changes without AI on the Free plan. Repository content is always passed to the AI as untrusted data: it cannot follow instructions found in your code.
Versions
Every version stays available: compare any two, regenerate an answer, or roll back. See Compare.