| name | deploy-preview |
| description | 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. |
| metadata | {"forged-by":"codex-agent","forged-from":"session-2026-02-10","forged-reason":"Deployed 3 preview branches manually in one session — same steps each time","usage-count":"11","last-used":"2026-02-28"} |
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
-
Verify branch is clean
git status --porcelain
If dirty, commit or stash before proceeding.
-
Run tests locally
npm test
Do not deploy if tests fail.
-
Push to remote
git push origin HEAD
-
Trigger preview deploy
scripts/deploy-preview.sh
This builds, uploads, and returns a preview URL.
-
Verify the preview
- Open the preview URL
- Check: page loads, no console errors, key feature works
- If broken: fix locally, re-push, re-deploy
-
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