01What preview and production mean here
Production is the release served from your default branch; that definition is the whole model, and the main branch guide covers its mechanics. A preview is anything you review before that merge happens. If this is your first page from the set, the pillar page holds the setting these guides share.
On some platforms a preview is a hosted URL generated per branch: click it and a client sees the unfinished redesign. That is a real feature, it is well liked, and we do not have it. Saying so once, early, is the point of this page. The rest is what we do instead, and who should want the other thing instead of us.
02The branch pattern this host supports
Branch
Ask your agent, or yourself, to work on a feature branch. Pushes to it deploy nothing, so the live site never meets the half-finished version.
Review
The review is the diff plus a local run. Your agent can build and serve the site on your machine, where clicking through unfinished pages costs nothing and impresses nobody.
Merge
Merging into the default branch is the deploy button. The push validates, the release goes live, and the history records it with a number.
Keep the exit open
If the merged result was wrong, rollback restores the previous release in one click. Review mistakes are cheap here, which is the argument for this pattern.
03What you give up, said once
Hosted preview URLs. Not offered here, and no roadmap promise hides behind that sentence. If your workflow depends on sending a stakeholder a link per branch, that link is the product, and a platform built around preview deployments will serve you better than one that talks its way around the gap.
What softens it, for some people: rollback makes a wrong merge a one-click event, branches keep experiments invisible, and an agent that runs the site locally before pushing does most of what a preview URL did anyway. The phrase for some is doing real work in that sentence, and you know which kind you are.
04Who needs real preview environments
Agencies running client sign-off on staged URLs, teams practising genuine staging-versus-production parity, and anyone whose stakeholders will not read a diff but will click a link. Those are legitimate requirements, and this host is the wrong tool for them.
For a one-site owner working with an agent, the branch-and-merge loop is less ceremony for the same safety, because the safety here is rollback plus history rather than a dress-rehearsal URL. The 14-day trial is the cheap way to find out which camp your workflow belongs in.
05Preview questions, answered straight
Can I see a branch live before merging?
Not on a hosted URL here. Run it locally, or merge deliberately and let rollback carry the risk. Other hosts do it differently, and that difference is real.
Is production ever served from a non-default branch?
No. The default branch is the only publishing source, which is what keeps the rule easy to reason about.
What stops a half-finished redesign going live?
Only keeping it on a branch, which is what branches are for. Merge is a decision, and the pipeline respects decisions rather than guessing at them.
Does rollback permanently restore the old release?
It makes the old release the live one. Newer releases stay in history, so you can step forward again after fixing the problem.
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