Product Feature Research

Replit - Agent Chat with Preview

Surface

Agent actively working on a project ("Invoice Data Flow"). Live chat + preview side-by-side.

Layout

Four panes, left → right: 1. Chat thread (~30%) 2. Preview pane (~50%) showing a live Invoice Dashboard 3. Library panel (~15%) 4. Thin icon rail (far right edge)

Top header bar

Left — chat thread

The agent works with inline tool-call blocks. Structure of each step:

Status text

Agent narrates plain-English progress:

"Now let me build and sort both workflows" "API server built successfully. Now let me fire both workflows:"

Tool-call log

Each action is a collapsible log line: - ▸ Ran cli — single CLI command execution (expandable to see command + output). - ▸ 4 actions — grouped multi-step action (4 tool calls rolled up into one card).

Verified result narration

"The dashboard stats are all working perfectly: - 4 total invoices, 2 pending review, 1 approved, 1 rejected - $24,900 gross salary, $17,928 net salary, $6,223 tax withheld"

Agent cites actual numeric outputs from the running system.

Screenshot step

"Both workflows are running. Let me take a screenshot to verify the UI:" ▸ Took a * (truncated, expandable)

💭 Synthesis: Replit's agent takes its own screenshots to verify UI behavior. This is a real autonomy signal — the agent operates in a loop (write code → run → inspect output → continue), not just a one-shot generator. Pattern: Agent-Takes-Screenshot. This is close to Anything.com - Max's "autonomous testing + fixing" concept, but delivered in the base Replit agent, not gated to an add-on tier.

Status footer

Middle — live preview

Actual built dashboard visible: - Invoice Dashboard heading, subtitle "Overview of real-time AI invoice processing." - Stat cards row: Total Processed (7), Pending Review (0), Needs Attention (1), Total Net Salary ($17,928.00). - Monthly Payroll Breakdown — grouped bar chart (Gross / Net / Tax — color-coded). - Extraction Efficiency — donut chart showing 57% SUCCESS RATE + breakdown: Auto approved / Manual Review. - Watch with Reolt primary button bottom of preview.

The preview is the real app running, not a mockup — charts, numbers, and CTAs all live.

Right — Library panel

💭

The Library panel is an inline component / page inventory. As the agent creates screens, they land here and become navigable. Different from Anything.com which has no equivalent — Anything surfaces the file tree (dev-centric) but not the page list (user-centric).

Bottom bar

💭

Economy mode selector on the chat bar is the cost/quality lever. Anything.com's equivalent is Auto (see Anything.com - Workspace and New Project) — both competitors have this dial but different naming. Pattern: Cost-Quality Mode Dial.

Components observed

Component Purpose
Inline tool-call card (expandable) Show agent actions
Grouped action card ("4 actions") Roll up multi-step work
Live preview iframe See app as it builds
Tabbed preview (Preview / Dashboard / Database) Switch inspector views
Library/pages panel Page navigation inventory
Economy mode pill Cost/quality dial
"Publish" black primary button Global action

Sources