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

Hosting Comparison for Solo Founders

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:

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

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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

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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