---
title: "Deploy a static site over MCP with while.sh"
url: https://while.sh/en/guides/deploy-static-site/
author: "Aloïs Oddon, co-founder of Nextmap"
updated: 2026-11-02
---

# Deploy an Astro, Vite or HTML static site from your AI agent, over MCP

Is your site ready? Connected to while over MCP, your AI agent builds it and deploys it, over HTTPS, on your own domain if you want.

## Prerequisites

- An Astro, Vite or HTML site.
- An AI agent that works in a terminal: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or Gemini CLI.

## Step 1: Give your agent these instructions

Open your agent in your site's folder, and paste these instructions into it:

```text titre="Instructions"
Connect to while with my account (while.sh/agents), then deploy my app.
```

Without an account, your agent deploys your site as a trial, in one request. To keep it, open the link it gives you and create your account.

With your account, your agent adds while's MCP server itself. If it asks you to, restart it. On the first call to while, a page opens in your browser. In Claude Code, if it doesn't open, type /mcp, choose while, then Authenticate. On that page, choose your app, or "A new app", then click Authorize.

## Step 2: Open your site

Your agent gives you your site's address, for example `https://mon-site.while.cloud`, over HTTPS.

## What your agent does

It writes while.yaml at the root of your site:

```yaml titre="while.yaml"
apiVersion: while/v1
project: mon-site
services:
  - name: site
    type: static
    root: dist
```

Your site is built at every deployment, then the `dist` folder is served with HTTP caching.

## Deploy a single-page app

> You, to your agent: Deploy our React app.

Every path in your app falls back to index.html, and routing happens in the browser.

## Move to your own domain

> You, to your agent: Put the site on www.acme.com.

Your agent declares the domain, you add the DNS records it gives you, and the HTTPS certificate follows.

## Restrict your site to your colleagues

> You, to your agent: Restrict the site to people in the company.

Your agent adds two lines to the service:

```yaml titre="while.yaml"
    access: internal
    email_domains: [acme.com]
```

Once your Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 is linked to while, on the Pro plan, your colleagues open the site with their usual account, with no sign-in page to write.

## Share with a customer, protected by a password

> You, to your agent: Open the site to our customer, with a password.

Your agent makes the site private, then, on its page in while, you create a link valid for 1, 7 or 30 days, with a password your agent will never see.

## See a new version before you deploy it

> You, to your agent: Show me the new version before you deploy it.

Your agent opens a preview, at its own address, with its own data. You look at it, then your agent puts it into production.

## Go back to the previous version

> You, to your agent: Go back to the previous version.

In the 30 minutes after a deployment, the previous version comes back in a second. After that, it takes a few seconds. Once the previous version is back, your agent reads what broke in while's logs, fixes it and deploys again.

## Next steps

- [Deploy a React app built with Vite](/en/guides/deploy-vite-react/)
- [Deploy a Next.js app](/en/guides/deploy-nextjs/)
- [Restrict your app to the people in your company](/en/guides/internal-tool-company-sign-in/)
- [Compare the hosts that have an MCP server](/en/comparisons/mcp-hosting-claude-code/)

## Sources

1. [Astro, the configuration reference (output and outDir)](https://docs.astro.build/en/reference/configuration-reference/), 2026-11-02
2. [Vite, the guide to deploying a static site (npm run build, dist)](https://vite.dev/guide/static-deploy), 2026-11-02

## Questions

### Can I deploy a Hugo site?

Yes, your agent starts from the template Dockerfile provided for Hugo.

### Can my site have an API next to it?

Yes, your agent declares a web service in the same project.

### Do I need to build the site on my computer?

No, your agent sends the code, and there is nothing to run on your side.