Get It Live
Right now your app only works on your computer. This guide gets it onto the internet — with a real web address you can send to people — in under an hour.
Why This Comes Before Everything Else
You've validated your idea (step 1). Now get your prototype on the internet as fast as possible. Not perfect — just live. A real link you can text to someone. That changes everything: suddenly it's not an idea on your laptop, it's a thing on the internet.
Don't worry about user accounts or payments yet. That's the next step. Right now: just get it online.
What You Need
| What | Tool | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A place to store your code | GitHub | Free. Like a backup drive for your project that also connects to everything else. |
| A place to host your app | Vercel | Free to start. You connect it to GitHub. Every time you save your code, it updates your live site automatically. |
| A web address (optional for now) | Any domain registrar | $10-15/year. Vercel gives you a free one (yourapp.vercel.app) to start with. |
The Steps
- Push your code to GitHub. Tell your AI: "Help me create a GitHub repository and push my project to it." The AI will walk you through it. This takes about 5 minutes.
- Connect GitHub to Vercel. Go to vercel.com, sign up with your GitHub account, and click "Import Project." Select your repository. Vercel will detect your project type and configure itself.
- Click Deploy. Vercel builds your project and gives you a URL. That's it — your app is on the internet.
- Test it. Open the URL on your phone. Open it in a private/incognito browser window. Does it work? Can you see what you expected?
If Your App Uses a Database
If your prototype already stores data (user-generated content, form submissions, etc.), you'll need the database online too — not just the app.
- Go to supabase.com and create a free project. It gives you a database in the cloud.
- Tell your AI: "Move my local database to Supabase. Here's my current data structure: [describe your tables]." It'll generate the setup for you.
- Add your Supabase connection info to Vercel. In Vercel's dashboard, go to Settings → Environment Variables. Add the values Supabase gave you. This is how your live app connects to the live database.
If your prototype doesn't use a database yet (it's just pages with content), skip this — you'll add it when you need user accounts.
Common Problems
| What's Happening | What to Do |
|---|---|
| "Build failed" on Vercel | Click "View Build Logs," copy the error, paste it to your AI. |
| Works locally but blank online | Usually a missing environment variable. Check Vercel Settings → Environment Variables. |
| Looks different on phone vs computer | Tell your AI: "Make this page responsive so it looks good on mobile." |
| Changes aren't showing up | Make sure you saved and pushed to GitHub. Vercel auto-deploys from GitHub. |
What You Should Have Now
- A real URL you can share with anyone
- Your app works in a browser on any device
- Changes you make update the live site automatically
No user accounts yet. No payments. That's next.