Guide · 7 minute read · 21 October 2026
How to put an app your AI tool built online
Your AI tool built something and it works on your computer. Now you want to send someone a link. Here is what stands between the two, in the order you'll meet it.
What “online” means
Right now your app is a folder of files on your computer. When you open it, your computer does all the work. Putting it online means copying it to a computer that is always on and connected, and giving that computer an address people can type. That always-on computer is called a host.
Everything below is about doing that copy well: the right files, in the right place, with nothing secret in them.
The one question that decides how it goes online
Does your app need a server running behind it? There are two kinds of app, and they go online in different ways.
- A website or a single-page app is pages, scripts and pictures that the visitor's own browser runs. Most apps made with React, Vue or Svelte are this kind. The host only has to hand the files over.
- An app with a server has a part that keeps running on the host: it signs people in, saves to a database, sends email, or uses a secret key the visitor must never see. The host has to run that part all day.
If you're not sure, ask your AI tool, word for word: “Does this app need a server running, or can it be exported as static files?” Clues it needs one: a folder called server or api, Python files, or a Next.js app that doesn't export to plain files. Our guide to telling the two apart has the rest.
Get the right files out
Download or export the whole project from your AI tool, as a zip or a folder. Leave it as it is.
Many projects have a build step that turns your code into the files a browser opens, usually into a folder called dist or build. Some hosts run that step for you. If yours doesn't, the built folder is what goes online, not the project around it.
Keep secrets out of the files
If your app uses a key for a payment, email or AI service, it is probably in a file called .env. That file should not be uploaded as part of the app. Instead, the key is typed into the host as a setting, where the app can read it and nobody else can.
One catch: anything in a website, keys included, can be read by any visitor who looks. If the app has to keep a key secret, it needs a server. Which keys can be public, and which can't.
Choosing where it lives
There are hosts that only hand out files, platforms that also run servers, and rented computers you look after yourself. Whichever you look at, ask four things:
- Will it build the project for me, or do I have to?
- Does it give me an address with the padlock (HTTPS) straight away?
- If an update breaks something, can I go back to the version that worked?
- When something is wrong, will it tell me in words I understand?
Give it an address
Most hosts give you a free address straight away, a name followed by their own domain. It's a fine place to start and to share. Your own name, like yourname.com, can come later, and it's a separate step with its own guide.