Publish to production
Publishing to production is the moment a preview becomes your public site. Briks runs a launch check first and goes ahead only when nothing needs fixing. Here is what happens when you press the button, what the check looks for and how to clear each finding.
Before you start
- The site has been built and published at least once. The Publish button appears only after the first publish.
- Nothing is running on the project. While a build or change is under way the button is greyed out, with the hint “Wait for the current build to finish”.
- No A/B test is running. If one is, the dialog answers “An A/B test is running on this site. End it by keeping one version first.” (see A/B tests).
- You are an Owner, Admin or Editor of the workspace. Viewers can see the stage but cannot change it.
- If you have a domain of your own, it is connected and shows Live. You can launch without one; the check only reminds you.
Publish, step by step
Open the studio
Where: Projects
Click Projects, then your project. The studio opens with the conversation and your site side by side.
Press Publish
Where: Studio top bar
At the right end of the top bar, next to the grey Preview tag, press Publish.
Read the dialog
Where: Publish to production
The dialog names the address the site will go live at and says what changes: search engines can list it, and form messages are emailed to you. It also tells you that nothing changes if something needs fixing.
Confirm made-up details, if asked
Where: Made up for the draft
If Briks drafted your brief and invented details to fill gaps (a founding year, a number of clients, a quote), they are listed under Made up for the draft. Replace them through the studio first, or, if they happen to be right, switch on I have replaced these with my own, or they are right. The button stays greyed out until you do.
Start the check
Where: Publish to production
Press Publish to production. The dialog closes and the studio shows the step “Checking the site before it goes to production.”
Read the result
Where: Studio conversation
A message arrives in the conversation. Either it says “Your site is in production. Search engines can list it now, and messages sent through its forms are emailed to you.” and the top bar shows In production with a green dot, or it starts “Not in production yet. Fix these first, then publish again:” followed by a list.
Publish by asking
You can also write publish in the studio conversation, or send /publish to the Briks bot in Telegram. Briks treats a message that only asks to publish as a press of the button: the launch check runs the same way and the result arrives in the conversation. Asking in words counts as confirming any made-up details, so the success message lists them again as something to replace when you are ready. A message with a picture attached is read as a change, not a publish. If the site is already in production, the answer says so: “Every change is published there as soon as it is made.”
What the launch check looks at
The check reads your site's own files and its live pages, looking for the things that would embarrass a business on launch day. It runs no AI and costs no credits. Five kinds of finding block a launch; the rest are only warnings.
| Check | What it looks for | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Made-up details | Details Briks invented while drafting your brief (figures, people, quotes, dates, names) that you have not confirmed | Blocks until you replace or confirm them. Once confirmed, they are repeated as a warning |
| Placeholder text | Words left to fill in, such as lorem ipsum, TODO, FIXME, John Doe, Jane Doe, your company name, your business name or an email address at example.com, and copy labelled as made up, such as “(illustrative)”, “(fictional)” or “not from real clients” | Blocks |
| Page titles | Every page other than the home page has its own title and description for search results and shared links | Blocks, and names the pages |
| Dead links | Links between your own pages that lead to a page that does not exist | Blocks, and names each link and the page it is on |
| Not-found page | A page for addresses that do not exist | Blocks |
| Confirmed details | Made-up details you confirmed in the dialog or by asking in words | Warning only |
| Kept out of search | Whether Keep this site out of search results is switched on | Warning only |
| Own domain | Whether a domain of your own is live for the site | Warning only |
A hint shown inside an empty form field, such as an example email address, does not count as placeholder text. The dead link check starts at the home page and the pages in your sitemap, reads up to 12 pages and tries up to 80 links. It tests links to your own pages only; links to other websites are not checked. If it finds more than eight dead links, it lists eight and says how many more there are.
Blockers and warnings
A blocker stops the launch, and nothing about your live site changes: it stays a preview exactly as it was. A warning is told to you and let through. When the launch succeeds, warnings are added to the success message. When something blocks, they are listed after the blockers under “Also worth knowing:”.
Fixing what the check finds
Fix findings the way you make any change: describe what you want in the studio conversation (see Making changes). Each fix is a change, so it holds and charges credits like one. Once it has published, press Publish again and the check runs from the start.
The check said: “Some text is still a placeholder or marked as made up. Ask for it to be replaced with your own words.” The owner of a physiotherapy clinic in Cork wrote: “On the About page, replace Jane Doe with our lead physio, Niamh Kelly. Her bio: twelve years treating sports injuries, and five seasons as physio to a county hurling team.”
The page was updated and published to the preview. The next launch check passed and the site went to production.
A design agency in Glasgow saw: “These links lead to pages that do not exist: /careers (linked from /).” Its founder replied in the studio: “Remove the Careers link from the footer. We are not hiring this year.”
The link was removed from every page's footer, and the next check found no dead links.
- Pages without titles. Ask for them by name: “Give the Menu and Visit pages their own titles and descriptions for search results.” Add the words you want if you have them.
- Made-up details. Ask for each to be replaced (“We opened in 2016, not 2009”), or confirm them in the dialog if they are right.
- Not-found page. Every site starts with one, so this appears only if it was removed. Ask: “Add a page for addresses that do not exist, with a link back to the home page.”
- Warnings. Switch Keep this site out of search results off under Settings, Preferences, or connect your domain. Neither stops a launch.
After launch
Once a site is in production it stays there. Every change you ask for in the studio publishes straight to the production site, and so does every publish started by a deploy hook. The launch check does not run again for those, so look at each change on the live site once it has published, and undo it from Versions if it is wrong.
To publish the site again without asking for a change, for example after changing a setting, open Settings, Preferences and press Apply to the live site. It builds the live version again with your settings as they stand, runs no AI and keeps the site in production. The conversation then says “Your settings are live: the site was built and published again, and nothing else about it changed.”
If you have hired the Security agent, it checks the site after every publish as well as each week, and every fix it suggests waits for your approval (see Approvals and budgets). Search engines and AI assistants can start reading the site from launch day; Search engines covers what to do next.
Going back to preview
Open the dialog
Where: Studio top bar
Press In production. The dialog Your site is in production says where the site is live.
Go back
Where: Your site is in production
It explains that going back “asks search engines to leave the site out, and keeps form messages here without emailing them”. Press Back to preview, or Close to leave things as they are.
Wait for the message
Where: Studio conversation
Form emails stop at once. When the site has been published again, the conversation says “Your site is a preview again: search engines are asked to leave it out, and form messages are kept here without being emailed.”
To launch again later, press Publish. The launch check runs again, as it does every time.
Does the launch check cost anything?
No. It reads files and pages without any AI, so it holds and charges no credits, whether it passes or not.
Can I skip the check?
No. Every move to production runs it. Warnings never stop you, and made-up details can be confirmed in the dialog if they are right.
The check names a dead link I cannot find.
The message gives the link and the page it is on, such as /team (linked from /about). Open that page and look in the menu, the footer and the buttons. Then ask for the link to be removed or pointed at a page that exists.
Can I publish to production on the Free plan?
Yes. The site goes to production at its briks.live address. A domain of your own needs Starter or above.