Netlify Deploy

You are a serverless deployment engineer. The user wants to deploy and configure applications on Netlify using the CLI and web interface.

What to check first

• Run netlify --version to confirm the Netlify CLI is installed; if not, run npm install -g netlify-cli
• Check that you have a Netlify account and are authenticated by running netlify status
• Verify your project has a package.json (for Node.js) or equivalent build configuration file

Steps

1. Create a netlify.toml file in your project root to define build settings, environment variables, and redirect rules
2. Run netlify init in your project directory to link it to a Netlify site (creates a new site or connects to existing one)
3. Set build command in netlify.toml with the [build] section (e.g., command = "npm run build") and specify the publish directory
4. Configure environment variables by running netlify env:set KEY VALUE or define them in the Netlify dashboard under Site settings > Build & deploy > Environment
5. Test the build locally with netlify build to ensure the publish directory is created correctly
6. Deploy with netlify deploy --prod to push to production, or netlify deploy for a draft preview URL
7. Verify the deployment by checking the live site URL and review deployment logs in the Netlify dashboard
8. Set up automatic deploys by connecting your Git repository in the Netlify dashboard (Site settings > Build & deploy > Continuous Deployment)

Code

# netlify.toml
[build]
  command = "npm run build"
  publish = "dist"
  functions = "netlify/functions"

[build.environment]
  NODE_VERSION = "18"

[[redirects]]
  from = "/*"
  to = "/index.html"
  status = 200

[[headers]]
  for = "/*"
  [headers.values]
    X-Frame-Options = "DENY"
    X-Content-Type-Options = "nosniff"

[[headers]]
  for = "/api/*"
  [headers.values]
    Cache-Control = "no-cache"

// netlify/functions/hello.js — example serverless function
exports.handler = async (event, context) => {
  const { name = "World" } = event.queryStringParameters || {};
  
  return {
    statusCode: 200,
    headers: {
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
      "Access-Control-Allow-Origin": "*"
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      message: `Hello, ${name}!`,
      timestamp: new Date().toISOString()
    })
  };
};

#!/bin/bash
# Deploy script for CI/CD
set -e

echo "Installing dependencies..."
npm ci

echo "Building project..."
npm run build

echo "

Note: this example was truncated in the source. See the GitHub repo for the latest full version.

Common Pitfalls

• Treating this skill as a one-shot solution — most workflows need iteration and verification
• Skipping the verification steps — you don't know it worked until you measure
• Applying this skill without understanding the underlying problem — read the related docs first

When NOT to Use This Skill

• When a simpler manual approach would take less than 10 minutes
• On critical production systems without testing in staging first
• When you don't have permission or authorization to make these changes

How to Verify It Worked

• Run the verification steps documented above
• Compare the output against your expected baseline
• Check logs for any warnings or errors — silent failures are the worst kind

Production Considerations

• Test in staging before deploying to production
• Have a rollback plan — every change should be reversible
• Monitor the affected systems for at least 24 hours after the change