Deploying your app

Deploy to Vercel

This is the guided path. You will do everything through websites (github.com and vercel.com) and Cursor's file menu. No terminal required for the main steps. If you prefer the terminal, each step has a "Prefer the terminal?" expandable with the command-line version.

Step 1: get your code on GitHub

If your project is already on GitHub from Course 2, skip to Step 2.

If not:

1. Go to github.com and log in.
2. In the top-right corner, click the + icon, then New repository.
3. Give your repository a name (anything is fine - it will be part of your URL). Leave everything else at the defaults. Do NOT check "Add a README" or "Add .gitignore" - your project already has those files on your laptop.
4. Click Create repository.

GitHub now shows you a page with setup instructions. Keep this tab open.

Go to Cursor. In the menu at the top of your screen, choose Source Control (or press Cmd+Shift+G on Mac, Ctrl+Shift+G on Windows).

In the Source Control sidebar, you will see a button labelled Publish Branch or Publish to GitHub. Click it. Cursor will ask you to choose the repository you just created on GitHub. Pick it.

What you should see: Cursor pushes your code up, a small progress bar appears, and then your GitHub repository page (the tab from earlier) shows your project files when you refresh it.

git init

git add .

git commit -m "First commit"

Step 2: import your project on Vercel

1. Go to vercel.com and sign up with your GitHub account. Vercel will ask for permission to see your repositories - say yes.
2. On the Vercel dashboard, click Add New, then Project.
3. You will see a list of your GitHub repositories. Find the one you just created and click Import next to it.
4. Vercel looks at your project and detects what kind of app it is (Next.js, React, plain HTML, and others). It is usually right.
5. Leave the settings as they are and click Deploy.

What you should see: a page with a live build log. Text scrolls past as Vercel installs your dependencies, runs your build, and uploads the result.

Step 3: watch it build

The build takes one to three minutes for a first deploy. When it finishes:

• If you see a green checkmark and a URL: click the URL. Your app is on the internet. Done.
• If you see a red X: the build failed. Do not panic - this is common on the first try. Click the failed deployment and leave the tab open. Lesson 5 covers reading the error and fixing it.

From now on

Whenever you save your work to GitHub (Source Control sidebar in Cursor → Commit → Push), Vercel automatically rebuilds and redeploys your app. You do not log in to Vercel again for normal work.

git add .
git commit -m "Describe what changed"
git push

Deploy to Netlify

This is the guided path. You will do everything through websites (github.com and netlify.com) and Cursor's file menu. No terminal required for the main steps. If you prefer the terminal, each step has a "Prefer the terminal?" expandable with the command-line version.

Step 1: get your code on GitHub

If your project is already on GitHub from Course 2, skip to Step 2.

If not:

1. Go to github.com and log in.
2. In the top-right corner, click the + icon, then New repository.
3. Give your repository a name (anything is fine - it will be part of your URL). Leave everything else at the defaults. Do NOT check "Add a README" or "Add .gitignore" - your project already has those files on your laptop.
4. Click Create repository.

GitHub now shows you a page with setup instructions. Keep this tab open.

Go to Cursor. In the menu at the top of your screen, choose Source Control (or press Cmd+Shift+G on Mac, Ctrl+Shift+G on Windows).

In the Source Control sidebar, you will see a button labelled Publish Branch or Publish to GitHub. Click it. Cursor will ask you to choose the repository you just created on GitHub. Pick it.

What you should see: Cursor pushes your code up, a small progress bar appears, and then your GitHub repository page (the tab from earlier) shows your project files when you refresh it.

git init

git add .

git commit -m "First commit"

Step 2: import your project on Netlify

1. Go to netlify.com and sign up with your GitHub account. Netlify will ask for permission to see your repositories - say yes.
2. On the Netlify dashboard, click Add new site, then Import an existing project.
3. Choose Deploy with GitHub. Netlify may ask you to authorise the connection again - approve it.
4. You will see a list of your GitHub repositories. Find the one you just created and click it.
5. Netlify asks about build settings. For most projects, it fills these in correctly. Two common cases:
   • Next.js: build command is next build, publish directory is .next.
   • Vite or React: build command is npm run build, publish directory is dist or build.
6. Leave the defaults and click Deploy site.

What you should see: a page with a live build log. Text scrolls past as Netlify installs your dependencies, runs your build, and uploads the result.

Step 3: watch it build

The build takes one to three minutes for a first deploy. When it finishes:

• If you see "Site is live" and a URL: click the URL. Your app is on the internet. Done. The URL will look like random-words-123456.netlify.app. You can rename it from the Netlify dashboard under Site configuration → Change site name.
• If you see "Site deploy failed": the build failed. Do not panic - this is common on the first try. Click the failed deploy and leave the tab open. Lesson 5 covers reading the error and fixing it.

From now on

Whenever you save your work to GitHub (Source Control sidebar in Cursor → Commit → Push), Netlify automatically rebuilds and redeploys your app. You do not log in to Netlify again for normal work.

git add .
git commit -m "Describe what changed"
git push

Deploy to Fly.io

The good news: you only need three commands.

Step 1: install flyctl

flyctl is the command-line tool that talks to Fly.io. Open Cursor's integrated terminal (View menu → Terminal, or Ctrl+backtick).

On macOS:

brew install flyctl

On Windows (PowerShell):

iwr https://fly.io/install.ps1 -useb | iex

On Linux:

curl -L https://fly.io/install.sh | sh

What you should see: progress messages as the tool downloads and installs. When it finishes, the prompt returns.

Now log in:

fly auth login

What you should see: your browser opens. Log in to Fly.io (or sign up if you have not). When you come back to the terminal, it should say you are logged in.

Step 2: launch the app

From inside your project folder, run:

fly launch

flyctl asks you a series of questions. For most, the default answer is correct. The important ones:

• "App name?" Pick something short, lowercase, and unique. It becomes part of your URL (your-name.fly.dev).
• "Region?" Pick the one closest to you.
• "Deploy now?" Say yes.

What you should see: flyctl creates a file called fly.toml in your project folder. This is the configuration for your Fly.io app. Git will track it automatically - that is fine. Then the terminal shows the build happening live.

Step 3: watch it deploy

The deploy takes two to four minutes for a first run. When it finishes, the terminal prints a URL like your-app-name.fly.dev. Open it in a browser. Your app is on the internet.

If the deploy fails: scroll up in the terminal and look for a line starting with Error:. Lesson 5 covers the most common causes.

From now on

When you make changes, run this command from your project folder:

fly deploy

Fly.io rebuilds and redeploys. Unlike Vercel and Netlify, Fly.io does not redeploy automatically when you push to GitHub - you trigger each deploy yourself. This is simpler to understand at first. You can set up automatic deploys later if you want.