Knowledge Base

Guides and articles to help you get the most out of the Netlify platform.

36 articles

Comparison

What makes a good AI app deployment platform? 6 things to check before you commit

October 9, 2026

Deployment platforms all demo identically, because the demo is one deploy of a simple app. Six properties that decide how the fortieth deploy goes, and the single test that covers half of them.

Reference

AI app hosting explained: what happens after the AI finishes generating your code

October 8, 2026

A beginner-level account of what hosting actually is, told as the sequence that starts the moment generation stops: what a build is, what a deploy is, where the app physically runs, and what keeps it working afterwards.

Agent Guide

How to run AI agent tasks remotely with Netlify Agent Runners

September 15, 2026

Delegate coding work to Claude, Codex, or Gemini running on Netlify against your repo. How tasks work, the five ways they differ from a local agent, and how to poll for results.

Tutorial

How to call OpenAI, Claude, or Gemini without API keys

September 14, 2026

Netlify AI Gateway injects provider credentials into your Functions, so official SDKs work with no config. Setup, the four supported providers, and what it costs.

Agent Guide

How to build and deploy an MCP server on Netlify

September 12, 2026

A remote MCP server is one Netlify Function speaking the protocol over HTTP. The complete server, bearer auth, rate limiting, and the state trap that only breaks in production.

Reference

Netlify auth: site protection, app login, or team SSO?

September 10, 2026

Three unrelated things get called auth on Netlify. Which one you need, how to tell them apart, and why their sessions can't be bridged.

Tutorial

How to password-protect a Netlify site or deploy previews

September 8, 2026

Set project visibility to Password or Private, or use Password Protection on legacy plans. The dashboard paths, the plan gating, and why there's no API for any of it.

Tutorial

How to add user login to a Netlify site with Identity

September 6, 2026

Netlify Identity handles signup, login, OAuth social login, and role-based access. Setup, the server-side API, and the five footguns including why auth won't work locally.

Tutorial

How to add a Postgres database to a Netlify app

September 4, 2026

Netlify Database is managed Postgres, built in. Install the package, write a migration, deploy. Includes the Drizzle setup and the migration rules that reject a bad deploy.

Reference

Why your deploy preview can delete Netlify Blobs data

September 2, 2026

getStore() is site-scoped and shared across every deploy context, so preview code writes to production. Here's the blast radius and the one-line fix.

Tutorial

How to store files and objects with Netlify Blobs

August 31, 2026

Netlify Blobs is key-value storage for uploads, generated files, and cache-like state. How to use it, which store type to pick, and what belongs in a database instead.

Tutorial

How to resize and optimize images with Netlify Image CDN

August 29, 2026

Request /.netlify/images with query parameters to resize, crop, and reformat on demand. The parameters, remote-domain allowlisting, and why fm=blurhash renders nothing.

Tutorial

How to handle form submissions on Netlify without a backend

August 27, 2026

Add data-netlify="true" to a form and Netlify stores submissions, filters spam, and sends notifications. Plus the static skeleton file that framework forms need.

Tutorial

How to run code at the edge with Netlify Edge Functions

August 25, 2026

Edge Functions run on Deno at the network edge for auth checks, geo redirects, and A/B tests. The handler shape, routing, and why an unrouted function silently never runs.

Tutorial

How to control CDN caching on Netlify

August 23, 2026

Dynamic responses aren't cached by default. Set Netlify-CDN-Cache-Control to opt in, vary the cache key deliberately, purge by tag, and read Cache-Status to debug.

Reference

How to configure redirects, headers, and env vars in netlify.toml

August 21, 2026

netlify.toml controls builds, redirects, headers, and environment variables. The rules, the precedence order, and the six footguns that cost people an afternoon.

Reference

How to configure netlify.toml redirects, headers, and env vars

August 19, 2026

netlify.toml controls builds, redirects, headers, and environment variables. The rules, the precedence order, and the six footguns that cost people an afternoon.

Tutorial

How to add a backend API endpoint with Netlify Functions

August 17, 2026

Write a Netlify Function in one file, route it where you want, and pick the right execution mode. Includes the limits and the bundling trap that only shows up in production.

Deploy Guide

How to deploy Next.js, Astro, Nuxt, or SvelteKit to Netlify

August 15, 2026

Build settings and SSR adapters for every major framework, the env-var rules that need a redeploy, and the leftover SPA redirect that silently breaks server rendering.

Deploy Guide

How to deploy a site to Netlify

August 13, 2026

Four ways to deploy to Netlify, when each one fits, and the deploy-context config that makes it repeatable. Plus the four footguns worth knowing first.

Comparison

TanStack Start vs Next.js

August 11, 2026

A balanced comparison of TanStack Start and Next.js across architecture, type safety, rendering, data fetching, and ecosystem, plus how each deploys to Netlify.

Agent Guide

Publishing and Updating Live Sites with the Netlify CLI: A Guide for Coding Agents

August 9, 2026

How a coding agent can use the Netlify CLI to publish a built site or artifact to a live URL non-interactively, capture that URL, and push later revisions to the same address.

Comparison

Netlify vs Render

August 7, 2026

A fair, technical comparison of Netlify and Render, covering platform architecture, static sites, backend services and databases, cold starts, deploys, pricing, and developer experience.

Comparison

Netlify vs AWS Amplify

August 5, 2026

A fair, technical comparison of Netlify and AWS Amplify Hosting, covering platform scope, framework support, backend services, pricing models, AWS integration, and developer experience.

Reference

Netlify’s Full-Stack Primitives: A 2026 Platform Map

August 3, 2026

A reference table mapping the primitives a modern web app needs (compute, data, storage, cache, queues, identity, AI, and more) to the first-party Netlify product that provides each, with third-party options noted.

Reference

Netlify for Coding Agents: Build and Ship a Full App

August 1, 2026

A reference for AI coding agents building on Netlify: how to publish and update a live site with the CLI, add a database and background jobs, call models through the AI Gateway, and connect the Netlify MCP server, all non-interactively.

Comparison

Netlify Drop vs Vercel Drop

July 30, 2026

A fair comparison of Netlify Drop and Vercel Drop, two drag-and-drop deploy tools, covering account requirements, build handling, file support, and updates.

Comparison

Netlify Blobs vs Vercel Blob

July 28, 2026

A fair, technical comparison of Netlify Blobs and Vercel Blob, covering data model, consistency, metadata, size limits, browser uploads, and pricing, with code for both.

Migration

Migrate to Netlify from Vercel

July 26, 2026

A step-by-step guide to moving a site from Vercel to Netlify, covering build settings, environment variables, redirects, headers, functions, and DNS cutover with zero downtime.

Deploy Guide

Deploy Your v0 App to Netlify

July 24, 2026

Publish an app you built with v0 (Vercel’s AI app builder) to Netlify, either by syncing to GitHub for continuous deploys or by exporting the code and deploying with the Netlify CLI.

Deploy Guide

Deploy Your Lovable App to Netlify

July 22, 2026

Publish an app built in Lovable to Netlify through GitHub for continuous deploys, or drag the built files to Netlify Drop, including how to carry over Supabase keys.

Deploy Guide

Deploy Your Google Stitch App to Netlify

July 20, 2026

Export a UI from Google Stitch and publish it to Netlify by dragging the static HTML into Netlify Drop, with a path to graduate to a Git-connected project.

Deploy Guide

Deploy Your Claude Artifacts or Design to Netlify

July 18, 2026

Publish a Claude artifact or Claude Design project to Netlify, whether it is a static HTML page you drag into Netlify Drop or a React component you scaffold and build.

Deploy Guide

Deploy Your Bolt App to Netlify

July 16, 2026

Publish an app you built in Bolt.new to Netlify, either with Bolt’s one-click Netlify integration or by connecting your repository for continuous deploys.

Tutorial

Build a RAG Chatbot on Netlify with AI Gateway and Netlify Database

July 14, 2026

A step-by-step guide to building a retrieval-augmented chatbot using only Netlify primitives: vector storage in Netlify Database with pgvector, embeddings and chat through the AI Gateway, and no external API keys or vector service to manage.

Tutorial

Background Jobs and Durable Workflows with Netlify Async Workloads

July 12, 2026

How to run background jobs, event-driven tasks, and multi-step durable workflows on Netlify with Async Workloads, including retryable steps, delays, retries with backoff, and event chaining.