Deployment

You might say

I finished the site. How do I make it available at a URL that other people can open?

Build the project and make it available on a serverDeployment turns source code into a running website or service. It may install dependencies, build assets, set environment variables, start processes, and connect a domain. A repeatable deployment includes logs, health checks, and a way to return to a known working version.

Know first

Terminal npm Env Var Domain

Local files → build package → Hosting platform → my-app.vercel.app

This is an example of exposing a static front end; service deployment also requires running and access configuration

Quick checkChoose the best answer

Code is merged. How do you confirm users are actually receiving the new version?

Announce release when main has the new commitCount a working local page as production updatedConfirm build and deployment success, then check a version signal and key path on production

You can say this to an AI Agent

Deploy the current commit to the authorized test environment without touching production. Record the commit hash, target project, and environment. After successful build and deployment logs, open the test URL and verify its version signal plus the sign-in entry. Stop on any failure and report the stage and log evidence.

When to use it

Publish a website
📄 Source codenpm run build →📦 dist build output
Release a new application version
VercelNetlifyGitHub Pages
Run a backend service
git push☁️ Automatically redeploy
After repository, branch, and build rules are configured, only matching pushes trigger deployment.
Create preview environments for review
my-app-x8k2.vercel.appwww.mysite.comYou can replace the platform URL with your own domain.

When NOT to use it

Deploy unreviewed secrets or local-only settings
http://localhost:3000localhost is your own computer; no one else can open it.
Assume a successful build means the service is healthy
file:///Users/…/index.htmlfile:// points to a local file, not a deployed address others can access.
Change production manually with no record
⚙ Wrong build command / output directory→Failed
Release without knowing how to roll back
Image 404Without production verification, asset paths and environment variables may break the live page.

Anatomy

💻Source code → 📦Packaged product → ☁️Hosting platform → 🌐Public network URL

Source files written by you or generated by AI may not be directly run by the browser.

Static frontends often generate dist; service projects may also be built and started from source by the platform

The platform hosts static files, functions, or services based on its configuration and provides the runtime environment

Public websites usually have addresses assigned by the platform; internal services may only be accessible on private networks or between services

Variants

Vercel & Netlify

vercel --prod

A common choice for frontend projects; available features depend on the platform and plan

GitHub Pages

Settings → Pages

Host a static site directly from a repository; available controls and features depend on the plan

VPS

ssh user@1.2.3.4

Run a long-lived service when your team can maintain the server and manage deployments

Typical use cases

Production release

🎉

Congratulations!

my-first-page deployed successfully

Page preview

my-first-page.vercel.app

Preview deployment

zsh — my-first-page

$ npm run build vite v6.0.0 building for production… dist/index.html 0.5 kB dist/assets/index-8fk2.js 142 kB ✓ built in 3.2s dist is the output directory generated by this static front-end build

Backend service

Deployments

Home page build passed ✓

1 minute ago · Triggered by git push

Ready

Initialize project

3 days ago · Triggered by git push

Ready

Static website

🔒 https://my-first-page.vercel.app

Xiaoli's homepage

I like hiking and taking pictures.

View my photo album →

🌐 When deployed publicly, this URL can be accessed externally

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