Publish a site to Netlify

Ask a bot to build a site or a small web app and publish it, for example "build a booking page for my studio and put it online". The bot builds it in its working folder, publishes it to your own Netlify account, checks that the link answers, and replies with the link. Ask for a change later and the same link shows the new version.

There is nothing to turn on. The bot follows its built-in Publish to Netlify guide whenever you ask it to deploy, host or publish a site or app. A free Netlify account is enough for a static site. The account, its limits and its bill are yours: Brainwrite's plans don't include this hosting.

A page, or a site

• A page, report or dashboard to look at or share: the bot shows it in the chat and can publish it to a Brainwrite link of its own. See Published pages.
• A site or app for people outside, something bigger, or anything that needs forms that save, an API, a database or a backend: the bot uses Netlify.

The token

The first time, the bot shows a secure card asking for a Netlify personal access token. Create one in Netlify under User settings → Applications → Personal access tokens → New access token (open that page) and paste it into the card, never into the chat.

Brainwrite keeps the token in its Vault for that bot, so later publishes need no new card. The bot never sees the token: it gets a private file that only its publish command reads. The token is not printed, not written into the site and not kept with the project. If you reset your Netlify password, Netlify cancels the token and the bot asks for a new one.

What gets published

• A published link is public. Anyone who has it can open it, and visitors cannot sign in.
• On a new Netlify account, Netlify keeps every site visible to your Netlify team only: the link asks for a Netlify login. The bot tells you when that is the case and opens the site to everyone only after you say so. You can change it yourself in Netlify, in the site's access settings.
• The bot publishes the built site only. Hidden files and folders, env files, keys, certificates and installed packages are never uploaded, and publishing stops if a file contains the token.
• The bot asks first when the content looks personal or internal.
• The project folder keeps a small .netlify-site.json with the site's id, address, title and when it was published, so the next publish goes to the same link. Delete it and the next publish makes a new site.
• A new site's first publish can take Netlify a few minutes. The bot waits for it, and if Netlify is still working it says so and checks again rather than calling the link broken.

To take a site down, ask the bot to delete it by name. It says which site it is and that the link will stop working for everyone, and deletes it from your Netlify account only after you confirm.

The sites live in your Netlify account: rename, remove or give them a domain there. Netlify's own limits apply (through its API, 3 deploys a minute and 100 a day).

The sites a bot published

Published apps, in the account menu at the bottom of the sidebar, lists the sites and apps your bots have put online. Each one can be previewed, opened on Netlify, changed by asking its bot, or deleted (its link then stops working for everyone).

Bigger builds

A plain site builds in seconds. A framework app with a large install may be too much for a small Brainwrite Cloud. When your plan has a cloud computer, the bot can build there and bring back only the finished files; it tells you first, because a cloud computer uses your plan's hours while it is on. The publish itself always runs where the token was delivered, never on the cloud computer.

Functions, a database, a backend

The bot can also publish Netlify Functions, use Netlify Database, or run a Netlify Server backend, with Netlify's own command line. Two things to know:

• Netlify Database needs a credit-based Netlify plan and uses credits while it is active.
• Netlify Server is in Early Access at Netlify: it may change, it stops after 5 minutes without requests and takes a moment to start again, and Free plans run one copy. Don't count on it being always on.