Add new project

There are many ways to create a new site or app on Netlify, including through the Netlify UI, API, CLI, or through an AI site or app builder.

Overview

Add a new project to Netlify from your preferred workflow and starting point, whether you are starting from scratch with no code or bringing existing code.

Start new project with AI agent

Build a new project from scratch with the help of an AI agent directly from your Netlify dashboard.

To use this feature, you need a Credit-based pricing plan and must have enabled AI features.

To start a new project with an AI agent:

1. Go to your Netlify team dashboard and select Add new project or log in to your Netlify account and go directly to https://app.netlify.com/start.
2. Enter your own prompt or select a starter prompt to use or edit. You can also dictate a prompt.
3. Optionally, choose your AI agent and add any additional images or files.
4. Start building with Build now.

Next, you can continue building out your project using Agent Runners.

Bring existing code to Netlify

There are many ways to bring existing code to Netlify:

• Drag and drop your site’s output folder
• Import from an existing repository with continuous deployment
• Deploy local files manually without Git
• Use Netlify CLI to create or deploy projects
• Use Netlify API to create and deploy programmatically

Use Drag and drop

Publish your site or app to the web by dragging and dropping your project’s folder with your site files. Note this folder may be called your project’s public folder.

1. If you haven’t already, log in to your Netlify account at https://app.netlify.com/login. Make sure you’re signed in to the Netlify team where you want to manage your project.

2. Go to https://app.netlify.com/drop or scroll to the bottom of your team dashboard where all your team-owned projects will be listed.

3. Drag and drop your folder to the Drop zone in the Netlify UI.

4. Find your site published at the Preview URL ending in netlify.app. Your site should now be published on the web so you can share it with others. 🎉

   

   Tip

   If your site is not publishing or not in working order, you can investigate based on your error message or what you’re finding in our troubleshooting docs.

5. To customize your preview URL with a project name and to give your project an official name, select Customize under your Preview URL.

If you need to update a site that you created using drag and drop, update and rebuild your project locally. Then, drag the project’s updated output folder to the deploy dropzone at the bottom of the site’s Deploys page. This will start a new site deploy with the updated files. You can also use this functionality to manually update any site that is not connected to a Git repository.

FAQ for using the Drag and Drop publisher

1. What if I have a zip file?

Unzip your project zip file first. Make sure your project files are in a folder. Move your project files to a new folder if necessary.

2. Which folder?

You can drag your project’s build or output folder. This folder usually contains your project’s HTML, CSS, JS, and related built files and may also be called dist, build, or public. Drag this folder into the Deploy zone.

3. What if my project isn’t working?

• Make sure your project folder isn’t too large. Deploys under 50MB work best, and individual files over 10MB may cause your deploy to get stuck. For larger projects, use the Netlify CLI.
• Make sure your project folder contains an index.html file at its root level.
• Check that you have a reliable network connection — any network hiccups can cause a deploy to stall.
• Use the latest version of a Chromium-based browser.
• Make sure your computer has sufficient free memory — roughly 4x your uncompressed project size is a good baseline.
• Ask an AI assistant to help troubleshoot. We recommend sharing Netlify AI context files with your AI tool or connecting the Netlify MCP server to help it understand how to build and deploy your project. You can also search errors using Ask Netlify or the Netlify CLI.
• Try running your project locally to confirm it works and to generate the build output folder.

4. What if I update my project?

You can drag and drop your updated project folder into the Deploy zone to deploy your updated web project.

Learn more about iterating on projects published with Netlify Drop using Agent Runners in our Agent Runners docs.

Import from an existing repository

You can import an existing project from a Git repository and deploy it on Netlify. When you import your existing project repository to Netlify, our continuous deployment will automatically update your site each time you push changes.

To import an existing project:

1. Go to your team’s Projects page, open the Add new project menu, and select Import an existing project.

2. Select the Git provider where your project is hosted.

3. Select your project’s existing repository.

4. Adjust site and build settings if necessary.

   If your site uses a framework that Netlify is able to identify, Netlify will automatically populate the Build command and Publish directory with suggested values. If these starting values are incorrect, you can update them. Visit the Frameworks page for more information on commonly used build settings for frameworks.

   Similarly, if Netlify detects that your site is a monorepo, you can select from one of the automatically detected sites and Netlify will automatically configure the Build command and Publish directory based on that selection. Learn more about configuring monorepos.

5. Select Deploy site.

Deploy local files

If you have an existing project on your local machine that isn’t linked to a Git repository, you can manually deploy your site by using Netlify’s deploy dropzone.

Go to your team’s Projects page, open the Add new project menu, and select Deploy manually. Drag and drop your site’s output folder to the deploy dropzone to deploy your project. For guided help, check out the drag and drop publisher.

Use Netlify CLI

With Netlify CLI, you can:

• Use netlify create to generate a new project from a prompt using AI, deploy it, and download the code locally.
• Use netlify init to create a new project on Netlify connected to an existing Git repository.
• Create a site from a template.
• Use netlify deploy to manually deploy a project without continuous deployment.
• Use netlify deploy --allow-anonymous to deploy without an account and claim ownership later.

Use Netlify API

Use the Netlify API to create a new project.

With Netlify API, you can:

• Create a new project with the API configured for continuous deployment.
• Manually deploy a project.

Use Drag and drop

Learn more about using the drag and drop publisher in the drag and drop publisher docs.

Publish your site or app to the web by dragging and dropping your project’s folder with your site files. Note this folder may be called your project’s public folder.

1. If you haven’t already, log in to your Netlify account at https://app.netlify.com/login. Make sure you’re signed in to the Netlify team where you want to manage your project.

2. Go to https://app.netlify.com/drop or scroll to the bottom of your team dashboard where all your team-owned projects will be listed.

3. Drag and drop your folder to the Drop zone in the Netlify UI.

4. Find your site published at the Preview URL ending in netlify.app. Your site should now be published on the web so you can share it with others. 🎉

   

   Tip

   If your site is not publishing or not in working order, you can investigate based on your error message or what you’re finding in our troubleshooting docs.

5. To customize your preview URL with a project name and to give your project an official name, select Customize under your Preview URL.

If you need to update a site that you created using drag and drop, update and rebuild your project locally. Then, drag the project’s updated output folder to the deploy dropzone at the bottom of the site’s Deploys page. This will start a new site deploy with the updated files. You can also use this functionality to manually update any site that is not connected to a Git repository.

FAQ for using the Drag and Drop publisher

1. What if I have a zip file?

Unzip your project zip file first. Make sure your project files are in a folder. Move your project files to a new folder if necessary.

2. Which folder?

You can drag your project’s build or output folder. This folder usually contains your project’s HTML, CSS, JS, and related built files and may also be called dist, build, or public. Drag this folder into the Deploy zone.

3. What if my project isn’t working?

• Make sure your project folder isn’t too large. Deploys under 50MB work best, and individual files over 10MB may cause your deploy to get stuck. For larger projects, use the Netlify CLI.
• Make sure your project folder contains an index.html file at its root level.
• Check that you have a reliable network connection — any network hiccups can cause a deploy to stall.
• Use the latest version of a Chromium-based browser.
• Make sure your computer has sufficient free memory — roughly 4x your uncompressed project size is a good baseline.
• Ask an AI assistant to help troubleshoot. We recommend sharing Netlify AI context files with your AI tool or connecting the Netlify MCP server to help it understand how to build and deploy your project. You can also search errors using Ask Netlify or the Netlify CLI.
• Try running your project locally to confirm it works and to generate the build output folder.

4. What if I update my project?

You can drag and drop your updated project folder into the Deploy zone to deploy your updated web project.

Learn more about iterating on projects published with Netlify Drop using Agent Runners in our video below or in the Agent Runners docs.

Next steps

Get started with Netlify

Deploy a demo project on Netlify to make it available on the web. Get to know some key features including Deploy Previews, rollbacks, Netlify Functions, environment variables, redirects, and Netlify Forms.

• Demo repo
• Demo site