Publish and grow
Publish your app
Put your app on the web at a free address, update it when you make changes, and take it offline when you need to.
Publishing puts your app on the internet so anyone with the address can use it. Buildliy runs a safety check, packages the latest version of your app, and puts it live at a free web address with a secure (HTTPS) connection. You can add your own domain later.
Your preview and your live site are separate. You keep building in the preview, and the live site's pages only change when you publish again, so visitors don't see half-finished changes. If your app saves data, though, the preview and the live site share one database, so data you add while testing in the preview is real data on the live site too.
Before you publish
You need four things in place. Buildliy tells you if one is missing.
- A finished build. If there's nothing to publish yet, the dialog says "Run a build first — there's nothing to publish yet."
- A confirmed email address. If you signed up with email, click the link in your confirmation email first. Accounts that sign in with Google or GitHub are already confirmed.
- At least 1 credit available. Publishing doesn't spend credits, but you need at least 1 available, not counting credits you keep aside for your live apps in Settings → Spending. See What publishing costs.
- A free live-app spot on your plan. See Live apps per plan.
Publish for the first time
Open the Publish dialog
Click Publish at the top right of your project. A dialog titled with your project's name opens: "A quick safety check, then choose where your app lives."
Review the safety check
The Safety check before publishing card lists anything Buildliy found. Serious problems must be fixed before you can publish. Most have a Fix button that asks the AI to fix them, and a button like Fix it and publish fixes the serious ones, then publishes once the check passes. Fixes are normal builds and use credits. Items marked "Worth fixing" are suggestions and never stop you. See Launch checklist.
Choose who can visit
Under Who can visit, leave Everyone selected for a public site, or pick Only people with the password to keep it private. See Password protection.
Publish to your free address
On the Free URL tab, click Publish. A progress bar moves through Packaging, Building and Going live. This usually takes about a minute, and you don't have to wait in the dialog.
Visit your live app
When it's ready, you see "Your app is live! Open Publish to visit or share it." Open the dialog again to click Visit site, or use the copy button next to the address to share it.
The Publish button's tooltip shows the current state at a glance: whether the app is live and where, whether a publish is running, or how many issues need fixing first.
Your free web address
Every published app gets a free address on buildliy.app, with HTTPS included. By default it's your project's name followed by a short code, for example recipe-box-3f9a1c.buildliy.app.
To choose a cleaner name, use Customize your URL on the Free URL tab (only the project's owner sees it):
- Type the name you want in front of
.buildliy.app. Buildliy checks right away whether it's available, and suggests alternatives if it's taken. - Click Use this name.
Names need 3 to 63 characters, must start with a letter, and can only use lowercase letters, numbers and single hyphens. Some names are reserved, such as well-known brands and words like admin or login.
If your app is already live, changing the name moves it to the new address and the old link stops working. The same happens if you click Reset to default. Share the new link after you change it.
On Pro, you can also use your own domain, like myapp.com. See Custom domains.
Update your live site
Your live site doesn't update on its own. When you change your app, the live site keeps showing the last version you published until you click Re-publish on the Free URL tab.
This also applies to changes you make outside the chat. Saved keys in Manage → Secrets, connectors switched on for the app, Site Info, the site password and the Buildliy badge all reach your live site the next time you publish.
While an update is building, your current version stays online and the status reads Live · updating…. If the update fails, nothing is lost: you see "Your live site is still up — the latest update didn't publish," and you can try again or ask the AI to fix the build.
You can publish up to 5 times per project in an hour.
Put an older version live
To roll your live site back without changing your preview, open Build history and click Publish this version on the version you want. Your site info, keys and database stay as they are. Until you publish the latest version again, the Free URL tab shows Publish the latest version instead of Re-publish. See Version history.
Take your app offline
You can switch a published app off without deleting anything.
Open the Free URL tab
Click Publish, then stay on the Free URL tab.
Click Take offline
Click Take offline and read the summary, then confirm with Take offline.
While your app is offline:
- Visitors see an "unavailable" page on every address, including custom domains.
- Your custom domains stay connected.
- Your project, code and data stay exactly as they are.
- The app stops counting toward your plan's live apps, so bringing it back needs a free spot.
The Publish button in your project now reads Offline. To bring the app back, open it and click Put back online. It returns with the same version that was live before.
Deleting a project also takes its published app offline. A domain you bought through Buildliy stays yours.
Live apps per plan
| Plan | Live apps at once |
|---|---|
| Free | 1 |
| Pro | Unlimited |
Re-publishing an app that's already live never counts against your limit, and apps you've taken offline don't count. If you're on Free and already have a live app, publishing a second one shows "Your Free plan includes 1 live app, and you already have one published." Take the other app offline or upgrade to Pro.
What publishing costs
| What | Cost |
|---|---|
| Publishing and re-publishing | No credits. You just need at least 1 credit available. |
| Running your live app | Paid from your credits as it's used: its database, its traffic, files kept in its storage and any AI inside it. Every plan includes free hosting credits each month. See Hosting. |
Your free buildliy.app address | Free |
| A domain you buy through Buildliy | Paid separately by card, not with credits. See Custom domains. |
If you run out of credits
No data is deleted. Your app's AI features pause first, then its database (on Pro, once you owe more than 10 credits). If credits still aren't added 2 days after that, your published pages pause too, and visitors see a short "paused" notice. Pages can pause sooner if your account owes more than a set limit. Add credits (enough to cover anything you owe) and everything comes back by itself. See Hosting for the details.
The "Built with Buildliy" badge
Published apps show a small Built with Buildliy badge in the corner. It also holds a Report link that visitors can use to tell us about a harmful app.
- On Free, the badge is always shown.
- On Pro, you can hide it per project. Go to Settings → Design, pick the project, and switch off the badge under Branding. Re-publish to apply the change. Hiding the badge also hides the Report link.
Who can publish
In a team workspace, the Owner, Admins and Members can publish and re-publish. Only the Owner or an Admin can take an app offline or put it back online, set a site password, or change visitor counting. Changing the free address name and Site Info is up to the project's owner. See Teams.
Buildliy checks every app for obvious phishing before it goes live, and apps that break Buildliy's rules can be taken down. A taken-down app can't be published again. If you think that's a mistake, email support@buildliy.com.
Related
Still stuck? Read the FAQ or contact us.
