Managed Hosting

As part of the provisioning process when you create a new project, Stackbit automatically deploys a live website based on the initial content of the project.

Both this live website and the preview you work with in Stackbit look exactly the same. However, the live website is optimized for production, and its URL is public.

If you've created your Stackbit project by importing an existing repository, managed hosting is turned off by default.

Public URL#

This public URL is auto-generated based on your project name, plus a random string to make unique and difficult to guess. The site is not indexed by search engines, nor is it publicly shared. It is your choice when to start sharing this URL or link to it, or whether to do so at all.

The live site URL is available on the publish menu. This site is publicly available and can be shared as needed.

Using a Custom Domain#

If you want to take your site public, you would probably want to first connect your own domain to it instead of sharing the auto-generated name.

Hosting Provider#

Our managed hosting is provided through Netlify. We do not offer features that are proprietary to the hosting vendor we work with.

Needed Configuration#

For us to host your site, your code repository should include the needed Netlify configuration in the form of a netlify.toml file.

When managed hosting is enabled, Stackbit will verify that this file exists. Our starters and code examples all provide this file (e.g. see this project).

Benefits and Limitations#

Managed hosting is a convenient feature, but you should be aware of the limitations when choosing to use the feature.

Hosting Benefits#

Using the managed hosting is simple and convenient. You begin a new Stackbit project with a live website without additional configuration.

In addition, the Publish button in the visual editor will update its state to notify you when the publishing of new changes is complete, and if there are any issues you have access to the deployment logs within the UI.

Publishing panel while actively publishing the project

Hosting Limitations#

Note that when using Stackbit's managed hosting, you do not have access to the hosting vendor's dashboard or value-added features.

For example, you cannot set up environment variables that have a different value for the live website than those used in the visual editor environment.

Disabling Managed Hosting#

You can opt out of managed hosting at any time.

When managed hosting is disabled, the publish action will not trigger new builds for your site. Stackbit will also not be able to provide deployment logs or a custom domain.

To opt in or out of Stackbit's managed hosting solution, open the settings for your project.