Deploy with the CLI

The Shellui CLI builds your app and uploads dist/web/ to hosting-service as a preview site. Previews are meant for workshops and demos. Set hosting.url in shellui.config.json first.

Preview

shellui login
shellui deploy --build

The first deploy creates a preview site and saves hosting.slug in shellui.config.json. Commit that file so later deploys, including CI, update the same site. A preview expires 7 days after its last deploy (HOSTING_PREVIEW_TTL_DAYS).

CI with a deploy token

1. In admin, open Hosting, go to Deploy tokens and create one. Copy it now: it is shown once.
2. Save it as a repository secret named SHELLUI_DEPLOY_TOKEN.
3. Make sure hosting.slug is set in shellui.config.json, or every run creates a new preview.
4. Add a workflow:

name: Preview
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
jobs:
  preview:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: read
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: 22
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npx shellui deploy --build
        env:
          SHELLUI_DEPLOY_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.SHELLUI_DEPLOY_TOKEN }}

When SHELLUI_DEPLOY_TOKEN is set, the CLI skips shellui login and sends the token to hosting-service. It never prints the token.

A deploy token belongs to your company. It can create a preview and redeploy any preview slug of your company, nothing else: it cannot list apps, read history, deploy apps created in admin, manage tokens or delete anything. Revoke it in admin when you no longer need it.

Errors

Error	What to do
deploy_token_invalid	The secret is wrong or was cut. Copy a new token
deploy_token_revoked	Create a new token in admin
deploy_token_expired	Create a new token in admin
deploy_token_preview_only	hosting.slug names an app created in admin. Use a preview slug
preview_forbidden	hosting.slug belongs to another company