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Understand builds and deploys

For the complete documentation index, see llms.txt

Two of the most important concepts on Netlify are builds and deploys. You don’t need to be a web developer to understand them — here’s what they mean in plain terms.

What is a deploy?

Section titled “What is a deploy?”

A deploy is a published version of your project that’s live on the web. Every time Netlify publishes your project — whether for the first time or as an update — it creates a new deploy.

Think of it like saving a version of a document: each deploy is a complete snapshot of your site at that moment. Netlify keeps every snapshot, so if something goes wrong you can instantly go back to an earlier version.

What is a build?

Section titled “What is a build?”

A build is an automatic preparation step that happens before your project is deployed. When you create a project with an AI tool like Bolt or v0, it generates code files that need to be processed into the final files a browser can display. That processing step is the build.

If you’re using Netlify Drop to drag and drop an already-finished folder of files, there’s no build step — your files go straight to a deploy.

How it works for AI-generated projects

Section titled “How it works for AI-generated projects”

If you built your project with an AI code generation tool and downloaded your files:

  1. Drag and drop your project folder onto Netlify — it’s immediately deployed and live with a shareable URL.
  2. When you make changes (with AI or manually), drag and drop the updated folder to publish a new deploy.

If you connected your project to a Git repository, Netlify handles the build and deploy automatically every time changes are pushed — no manual steps needed.

Types of deploys

Section titled “Types of deploys”

Your live site (production deploy)

Section titled “Your live site (production deploy)”

The production deploy is the version of your site that anyone can visit. It lives at your site’s main URL — either the free .netlify.app address or a custom domain you’ve set up.

Preview before you publish (Deploy Preview)

Section titled “Preview before you publish (Deploy Preview)”

Before you publish changes to your live site, Netlify can create a Deploy Preview — a temporary URL where you (and anyone you share it with) can see exactly what the updated site will look like. Nothing is live until you’re ready.

Going back in time (rollbacks)

Section titled “Going back in time (rollbacks)”

Because Netlify saves every deploy, you can instantly switch your live site back to any previous version from your Netlify dashboard. No rebuilding, no waiting — it’s immediate.

Learn more

Section titled “Learn more”