# Deploy Preview

> Deploy a preview branch to the staging environment for review. Use when a feature branch is ready for visual review, when someone asks to "deploy this for review", or before opening a PR.

- Skill: `zakelfassi/deploy-preview` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add zakelfassi/deploy-preview`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/zakelfassi/deploy-preview/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: DevOps & Infra
- Author: zakelfassi (https://skillmd.com/u/zakelfassi)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/zakelfassi/deploy-preview

---


# Deploy Preview

Deploy the current branch to a preview URL for review before merging.

## Inputs
- Branch name (defaults to current branch)
- Environment (defaults to `staging`)

## Steps

1. **Verify branch is clean**
   ```bash
   git status --porcelain
   ```
   If dirty, commit or stash before proceeding.

2. **Run tests locally**
   ```bash
   npm test
   ```
   Do not deploy if tests fail.

3. **Push to remote**
   ```bash
   git push origin HEAD
   ```

4. **Trigger preview deploy**
   ```bash
   scripts/deploy-preview.sh
   ```
   This builds, uploads, and returns a preview URL.

5. **Verify the preview**
   - Open the preview URL
   - Check: page loads, no console errors, key feature works
   - If broken: fix locally, re-push, re-deploy

6. **Share the preview URL**
   - Post in the PR description
   - Or share in the team channel

## Conventions
- Preview URLs follow the pattern: `preview-{branch}.staging.example.com`
- Preview deploys expire after 7 days
- Only one preview per branch (re-deploying replaces the previous)

## Edge Cases
- **Branch name has slashes:** The deploy script sanitizes `/` to `-`
- **Large assets:** Preview deploys skip video files >50MB
- **Environment variables:** Preview uses staging env vars, not production