deploy

Deployment & Going Live

The gap between "it works on my screen" and "anyone can use it" feels enormous. It's not. This skill walks you through choosing a host, deploying, connecting a domain, and setting up backups — step by step.

This skill is for deployment and hosting. For pre-launch quality checks, use go-live. For monitoring after deploy, use monitor. For database setup, use database. For security hardening, use secure.

Core Principles

• The best hosting platform is the one that matches how you built. Don't migrate unless you have to.
• Managed beats self-managed every time for solo founders. Pay more, worry less.
• Your first deployment should take under 30 minutes. If it's taking hours, you're overcomplicating it.
• Custom domains are not optional for a real business. yourapp.vercel.app is not professional.
• Backups are not optional. If you don't have them, you don't have a business.

Don't Do Yet

• Don't set up Kubernetes, Docker Swarm, or "infrastructure as code." Managed platforms handle this. You're shipping a product, not building a data center.
• Don't set up a staging environment until you have paying users. Deploy straight to production. You can add staging later.
• Don't optimize for scale before you have traffic. A $5/month Railway plan handles thousands of users. Worry about scaling when it becomes a real problem.
• Don't self-host your database. Use a managed service (Supabase, Railway Postgres, PlanetScale). Self-hosting means you're on call for backups, upgrades, and outages.

Choose Your Hosting

If You Built With These Tools

Built With	Deploy To	Why
Lovable	Lovable's built-in hosting	Already deployed. Just connect your domain.
Replit	Replit Deployments	One-click deploy from your Repl. Built in.
Bolt / Stackblitz	Netlify or Vercel	Export code, connect git repo, auto-deploys.
Claude Code (Next.js, React)	Vercel	Built for Next.js. Git push = deploy.
Claude Code (any framework)	Railway	Supports everything. Simple dashboard.
Claude Code (static site)	Netlify or Cloudflare Pages	Free tier is generous. Fast global CDN.
Claude Code (Python/Django/Flask)	Railway or Render	Good Python support with managed databases.

Hosting Comparison for Solo Founders

Platform	Free Tier	Ease	Database	Custom Domain	Best For
Vercel	Generous	Very easy	No (use Supabase)	Yes	Next.js, React apps
Railway	$5 credit/mo	Easy	Yes (Postgres)	Yes	Full-stack apps, any framework
Netlify	Generous	Very easy	No	Yes	Static sites, JAMstack
Render	Free tier	Easy	Yes (Postgres)	Yes	Full-stack, background jobs
Fly.io	Limited free	Moderate	Yes (Postgres)	Yes	Global distribution, Docker
Cloudflare Pages	Very generous	Easy	No (use D1 or Supabase)	Yes	Static sites, edge functions
Replit	Included	Easiest	Yes (built-in)	Yes	Apps built in Replit
Lovable	Included	Easiest	Yes (Supabase)	Yes	Apps built in Lovable

Recommendation for most solo founders: Vercel (for Next.js) or Railway (for everything else).

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Deployment: Step by Step

Path 1: Lovable / Replit (Already Deployed)

Your app is already running. You just need a custom domain:

1. Buy a domain (Namecheap, Cloudflare, or Google Domains)
2. In your Lovable/Replit dashboard, go to Settings → Custom Domain
3. Add your domain name
4. Update DNS records at your domain registrar (they'll tell you what to add)
5. Wait 5-30 minutes for DNS propagation
6. SSL certificate is automatic — your site will be HTTPS

Path 2: Vercel (Next.js / React)

Deployment Checklist — Vercel:
- [ ] Push your code to a GitHub repository
- [ ] Go to vercel.com → "Add New Project"
- [ ] Connect your GitHub repo
- [ ] Vercel auto-detects framework and configures build settings
- [ ] Add environment variables (Settings → Environment Variables)
- [ ] Click "Deploy"
- [ ] Connect custom domain (Settings → Domains)
- [ ] Update DNS (Vercel gives you the records)
- [ ] Verify HTTPS is working

Tell AI:

Help me deploy my Next.js app to Vercel. My app uses:
- Framework: [Next.js version]
- Database: [Supabase/PlanetScale/etc.]
- Environment variables I need: [list them]
Walk me through the steps and tell me what environment variables
to set in the Vercel dashboard.

Path 3: Railway (Any Framework)

Deployment Checklist — Railway:
- [ ] Push code to GitHub repository
- [ ] Go to railway.app → "New Project"
- [ ] Choose "Deploy from GitHub Repo"
- [ ] Select your repo
- [ ] Add environment variables in the Railway dashboard
- [ ] If you need a database: click "New" → "Database" → "PostgreSQL"
- [ ] Railway gives you a DATABASE_URL — add it to your app's env vars
- [ ] Click "Deploy"
- [ ] Connect custom domain (Settings → Networking → Custom Domain)
- [ ] Update DNS records

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Environment Variables

Environment variables store secrets (API keys, database passwords) that should never be in your code.

What Goes in Environment Variables

Common Environment Variables:
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@host:5432/dbname
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_live_...
STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=pk_live_...
STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET=whsec_...
NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL=https://xxx.supabase.co
SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY=eyJ...
EMAIL_API_KEY=re_...
NEXTAUTH_SECRET=random-string-here
NEXTAUTH_URL=https://yourdomain.com
NODE_ENV=production

Rules

• Never commit secrets to git. Add .env and .env.local to .gitignore.
• Each environment (dev/staging/prod) has its own variables. Don't share them.
• Use your hosting platform's dashboard to set production variables. Not a file on a server.
• Rotate keys if you accidentally commit them. Immediately. Git history preserves secrets even if you delete the file.

Tell AI:

List all the environment variables my app needs for production deployment.
My app uses: [list your services — Supabase, Stripe, email provider, etc.]
Show me which ones are public (safe for client-side) and which are secret
(server-only).

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Custom Domains

Buying a Domain

• Namecheap or Cloudflare Registrar — cheapest, no markup
• Get a .com if possible. .io and .co are fine for SaaS
• Avoid hyphens, numbers, and hard-to-spell names
• Budget: $10-15/year for a .com

DNS Setup

Your hosting platform will tell you exactly which DNS records to add. Typical setup:

Record Type	Name	Value	Purpose
A	@	76.76.21.21 (example)	Points root domain to host
CNAME	www	cname.vercel-dns.com (example)	Points www to host

Where to add DNS records: Log in to wherever you bought your domain (Namecheap, Cloudflare, etc.) → DNS Settings → Add the records your hosting platform gives you.

DNS propagation takes 5 minutes to 48 hours (usually under 30 minutes). Be patient.

Tell AI:

I bought a domain on [Namecheap/Cloudflare/Google Domains] and I'm hosting on [Vercel/Railway/Netlify].
Walk me through connecting the domain step by step. Tell me exactly which DNS records
to add and where.

SSL / HTTPS

• Every modern hosting platform provides free SSL certificates automatically
• If your site shows "Not Secure" after connecting a domain, wait 30 minutes for SSL to provision
• If it still doesn't work after an hour, check that your DNS records are correct

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Database in Production

If You're Using Supabase

Supabase is already hosted. Your production app connects to the same Supabase project (or a separate one for production):

Production Database Checklist — Supabase:
- [ ] Create a separate Supabase project for production (don't share with dev)
- [ ] Run your migrations on the production database
- [ ] Enable Row Level Security (RLS) on all tables
- [ ] Set up database backups (Supabase Pro plan includes daily backups)
- [ ] Use the production URL and keys in your production env vars

If You Need a Hosted Database

Service	Free Tier	Best For
Supabase	500MB, 2 projects	Postgres + auth + storage
Railway Postgres	Included with $5 credit	Apps already on Railway
PlanetScale	1 billion row reads/mo	MySQL, branching workflow
Neon	512MB	Serverless Postgres
Render Postgres	1GB, 90-day limit	Apps already on Render

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Backups

If you don't have backups, a single mistake can destroy your business.

Backup Checklist:
- [ ] Database backups enabled (daily minimum)
- [ ] Verified you can restore from a backup (test this!)
- [ ] Code is in a git repository (GitHub/GitLab)
- [ ] Environment variables documented (not in code, but you know what they all are)
- [ ] File uploads stored in cloud storage (S3, Supabase Storage, Cloudflare R2)

Database backups by platform:

• Supabase: Daily backups on Pro plan. Point-in-time recovery on Team plan.
• Railway: Daily backups included. One-click restore.
• Render: Daily backups. 7-day retention on paid plans.
• PlanetScale: Automatic backups with branching.

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Monitoring Your Live App

Once deployed, set up basic monitoring (see monitor skill for full guidance):

Minimum Viable Monitoring:
- [ ] Uptime check — Use BetterUptime, UptimeRobot (free), or Checkly
- [ ] Error tracking — Use Sentry (free tier) to catch production errors
- [ ] Alerts — Get notified by email or Slack when your site goes down
- [ ] Check your app once daily — log in and use it like a customer

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When Things Go Wrong

"My site is down"

1. Check your hosting dashboard for deploy errors or resource limits
2. Check your database — is it running? Is it full?
3. Check environment variables — did any API keys expire?
4. Check Stripe/Supabase/other service status pages
5. If you can't figure it out within 30 minutes, check your hosting platform's logs

Tell AI:

My app at [URL] is showing [error]. I'm hosted on [platform] with
[database]. Here are the error logs: [paste logs]. Help me figure out
what's wrong and how to fix it.

"I deployed but it looks broken"

• Blank page: Check browser console (F12) for JavaScript errors. Usually a missing environment variable.
• API errors: Environment variables are probably not set in production.
• Works locally but not in production: 99% of the time it's environment variables.
• Styling looks wrong: Check that your CSS/Tailwind build step is running in the deploy.

"I need to roll back"

• Vercel: Dashboard → Deployments → click on previous deployment → "Promote to Production"
• Railway: Dashboard → Deployments → click on previous deployment → "Rollback"
• Netlify: Dashboard → Deploys → click on previous deploy → "Publish deploy"

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Common Mistakes

Mistake	Fix
Committing API keys to GitHub	Add .env to .gitignore. Rotate any leaked keys immediately
Using the same database for dev and production	Create separate environments. One bad query shouldn't break production
No backups	Enable database backups today. Not tomorrow. Today
Skipping custom domain	Buy one. $10/year. yourapp.com builds trust
Overcomplicating deployment	Use the platform that matches your build tool. Don't migrate unnecessarily
Not testing after deploy	Always click through your app after every deployment
Ignoring deploy logs	When something breaks, logs tell you why. Learn to read them

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Success Looks Like

• Your app is live at your custom domain with HTTPS
• Deploys happen automatically when you push code (or click a button)
• Environment variables are set in the hosting dashboard, not in code
• Database is backed up daily
• You get an alert within 5 minutes if your site goes down
• You can roll back to a previous version in under 2 minutes

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Related Skills

• compliance — Check hosting requirements for regulated industries before choosing a provider
• monitor — Set up error tracking, uptime checks, and alerts after deploying
• database — Set up your production database and backups
• secure — Security checklist before going live
• debug — When something breaks after deploy