Build to Keep: Build Fast with AI, Keep Everything You Make
Build fast with AI, keep everything you make.
Build to Keep is a free, live workshop about building with AI while keeping the code you make, instead of leaving it locked inside a platform. We'll build something live, show exactly how to move a project off a tool that tries to trap you, and kick off a build challenge you can win.
The agenda
Why what you build should still be yours tomorrow.
Nine AI build tools, the exact same two prompts, and which ones let you keep the code you make.
I build something live, then move it. Start in one tool, finish in another.
Jon Tuite, Solution Engineer at OpenRouter, on swapping the model out and setting up a harness.
Your turn. A build challenge you can win.
Giveaways run the whole way through, including OpenRouter credits for people watching live.
A bit more on what you'll see
I ran the same two prompts through nine AI build tools to find out which ones actually let you keep what you make. You'll see the full scoreboard, including the one that flatly refused to do what I asked and the one that hides your code behind a paid plan.
Then I build something live and move it: start it in one tool, finish it in another, put it on hosting I control, and connect it to a repo I own. Start to finish, in front of you.
The challenge
Build something and prove you own it by moving it across at least two tools. Start in one platform and continue in another, like Lovable then Cursor, or Google Antigravity then Netlify Agent Runners. Free tiers only, so it costs nothing to enter.
Submit three things: a live URL, a public repo link, and one line saying "built in ___, finished in ___." Link will be revealed during the webinar.
How it's scored, out of 10
Every line is a yes or no a judge can check in about a minute, so you can score your own entry before you submit it:
You own the code, in a public repo you control (2)
You moved tools, started in one and finished in another (2)
Your host lets you use a custom domain for free (2)
No forced vendor badge (1)
It's actually live at a working URL (2)
Framework freedom, you're not locked to one vendor's stack (1)
Three things worth knowing before you build:
You don't need to own a domain. That line scores whether your host would allow one on its free tier, not whether you bought one. An unpointed .netlify.app or .pages.dev URL still scores the full 2.
Hosting with a sponsor earns no extra credit. Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, GitHub Pages, Vercel, or your own server all score identically.
Polish breaks ties, it never wins. Scope isn't scored either, so a one page site can score a perfect 10.
Deadline: August 4, 10am PT / 1pm ET. A panel of guest judges from the builder community picks the winner.
What the winner gets
10,000 Netlify credits, plus a free ERA Audit from lilAgents. ERA is our review program for AI-built code. We read your codebase and hand you an honest written report on what's insecure, what won't scale, and what a buyer's technical team would find, with an action plan to fix it. It's the same audit we sell, and it's allowed to tell you the truth.
Awarded about a week after the deadline, once the judges have been through the entries.
Full prize details, eligibility, and rules, a link will be posted later.
Ownership first, portability as the backup, so what you make actually lasts.
Sponsored by Netlify and OpenRouter.
Runs about 90 minutes. Free. Bring an idea you want to build.
July 28, 10am PT / 1pm ET.