--- title: "Preview and production | Briks" url: https://briks.dev/docs/preview-and-production description: "How a Briks site moves from a preview at its briks.live address, kept out of search, to production, where search engines can list it and forms email you." last_updated: 2026-10-08 --- # Preview and production Every Briks site is in one of two stages. A preview is the working copy you check and share, and production is the version you launch to the public. This page explains what changes between the two and how to decide when to move. 5 minute read Checked against the studio on 8 October 2026 From preview to production: the preview at crumb.briks.live stays out of search, the launch check runs when you press Publish, and production opens the site to search engines on its own domain. ## The two stages When a new site's first build finishes, Briks publishes it straight away as a **preview** at its own address, `.briks.live` (see [Your site's address](https://briks.dev/docs/site-address)). A preview is a real, working website. Anyone with the address can open it, use its menu and send its forms. Two things are held back: search engines are asked to leave it out of their results, and messages sent through its forms are kept in the studio without being emailed to anyone. **Production** is the launched site. Search engines may list it, and every form message is emailed to you as well as kept. A site reaches production only when someone presses **Publish** in the studio and the launch check finds nothing that needs fixing. [Publish to production](https://briks.dev/docs/publish-to-production) walks through that step. ## Preview and production side by side | | Preview | Production | | --- | --- | --- | | Address | `.briks.live`, and your own domain too if you have connected one | Your own domain once it shows **Live**, otherwise `.briks.live` | | Search engines | Asked to stay away: the site's robots file and every page say not to list it | Allowed to list it and pointed to its sitemap, unless you switch that off | | Form messages | Kept in the studio under **Settings**, **Forms**, never emailed | Kept in the studio and emailed to you | | Analytics | Counted, when analytics is on | Counted, when analytics is on | | Made with Briks gallery | Not shown, even if you chose to list the site | Shown, if you chose to list the site | | Who it is for | You, your team and anyone you send the link to | Everyone | | How a site gets there | The first publish of every new site | **Publish**, then the launch check | What differs between the two stages. The design, pages and words are the same in both. Form emails go to the person who created the project. If that person has left the workspace, they go to its first Owner instead. You can read every message, from either stage, in the project's **Forms** section (see [Forms](https://briks.dev/docs/forms)). Analytics is on unless you turned it off, and it counts visits in both stages. While a site is a preview, the numbers include everyone you shared the link with, so treat them as a rehearsal rather than real traffic (see [Analytics](https://briks.dev/docs/analytics)). ## What stays the same Moving between the stages does not redesign or rebuild anything by AI. Briks publishes the same version of your site again with different settings: open to search engines and emailing forms, or closed to search engines and keeping forms in the studio. Your pages, words, pictures, version history and connected domains carry over untouched. A preview is not private A preview is kept out of search results, but anyone who has its address can open it. Do not put anything on it you would not want a stranger to read. ## How to tell which stage a site is in 1. Open the project Where: Projects Click **Projects** in the sidebar, then your project. Its studio opens, with the conversation on one side and the site beside it. 2. Look at the top bar Where: Studio top bar At the right end of the bar you see either a grey **Preview** tag with a **Publish** button, or an **In production** button with a green dot. Nothing shows there until the site's first build has been published. 3. Or check the Domain section Where: Settings, Domain Under **Settings**, **Domain**, the **Site address** row shows the address with a **Preview** or **In production** tag, and when the site was last published. Where 1. Projects 2. Your project 3. Settings 4. Domain ## When to stay in preview - The words still include anything you have not checked: prices, opening hours, names, numbers. If Briks drafted your brief and filled gaps with details of its own, it lists them for you when you publish. - You are testing the forms. Test messages land under **Settings**, **Forms** without emailing anyone, so you can send as many as you like. - A client, partner or colleague still has to approve the site. Send them the preview address (see [Sharing a preview](https://briks.dev/docs/sharing-a-preview)). - You plan to use your own domain and it is not connected yet. Connecting it first means the address search engines learn from day one is yours (see [Connect your domain](https://briks.dev/docs/custom-domains)). ## When to move to production Move when the site says what you want it to say, its forms reach the right inbox, and your domain shows **Live** or you are happy to launch on the briks.live address. Production is open on every plan, including Free. Only a domain of your own needs a paid plan, starting with Starter (see [Credits and plans](https://briks.dev/docs/credits-and-plans)). Example A bakery launching in two steps > Crumb & Co, a bakery in York, had its site built in an afternoon. For a week it stayed a preview at `crumb.briks.live` while the owner checked prices with her suppliers and sent a dozen test orders through the enquiry form. The test messages sat under **Forms** and nobody's inbox filled up. Meanwhile she connected `crumbandco.com`, and once it showed **Live** she pressed **Publish**. The launch check passed, the site went to production on crumbandco.com, and the next enquiry arrived in her inbox as well as in the studio. ## Going back to preview You can take a production site back to preview at any time. Press **In production** in the top bar, then **Back to preview**. Form messages stop being emailed at once, and the site is published again asking search engines to leave it out. Pages a search engine has already listed can take a while to drop out of its results, because that part is up to the search engine. Owners, Admins and Editors can move a site in either direction. Viewers can see which stage it is in but cannot change it (see [Members and roles](https://briks.dev/docs/members-and-roles)). ### Does moving to production cost credits? No. The launch check and the publish that follows run no AI, so they hold and charge nothing. Fixes you ask for in the studio are changes, and those are charged like any other change. ### Do changes I make after launch go to a preview first? No. Once a site is in production, every change you ask for publishes straight to the production site. If one goes wrong, undo it from [Versions](https://briks.dev/docs/versions). ### Can a project have a preview and a production copy at the same time? No. A project has one live site, and it is either a preview or in production. ### Does connecting a domain move my site to production? No. A domain can show a preview. The site moves to production only when you press **Publish** and the launch check passes. ## Read next - [Publishing and domains **Publish to production** Take a Briks site from preview to production: what the launch check reads, what blocks a launch, how to fix each finding and how to go back to preview.](https://briks.dev/docs/publish-to-production) - [Publishing and domains **Connect your domain** Connect a domain you own to a Briks site: the three DNS records to add, how providers name them, what each status means and how to remove a domain.](https://briks.dev/docs/custom-domains) - [Working on a project **Sharing a preview** Send someone your site's preview address, invite teammates to follow the work, or share a read-only analytics link with no sign-in, and take it back later.](https://briks.dev/docs/sharing-a-preview) - [Your site's features **Forms** Add a form to your Briks site, test it in preview, find every entry in the studio, get each one by email in production and pass them on with a webhook.](https://briks.dev/docs/forms) Still stuck? Write to [hello@briks.dev](mailto:hello@briks.dev) with your project's name and what you expected to see. A screenshot helps.