How to share a prototype or MVP (without deploying it)
You asked Claude (or v0, or ChatGPT) for a clickable prototype of your app idea, and it gave you a folder: an index.html, a couple more pages, some images. It works when you open it on your machine. Now you want a few people to click through it and tell you what they think — and the obvious move, deploying it to Vercel or Netlify, feels like a lot of ceremony for "look at this thing I made."
Deploying vs. sharing — they’re different jobs
A deploy platform’s job is to run an app: build it, serve its backend, scale it, give it a production domain. That’s the right tool when there’s code that has to run on a server. But a clickable prototype usually has no server — it’s front-end files pretending to be an app. For that, the job isn’t deploying, it’s sharing: getting it in front of the right people and hearing back.
One way to hold it: Netlify and Vercel are for running apps; a sharing tool is for showing them. If the thing already runs by opening an HTML file, a deploy pipeline is solving a problem you don’t have yet.
What a sharing tool gives you that a deploy doesn’t
Push a prototype to Netlify and you get a public URL — and that’s about it. The things you actually want when collecting feedback aren’t in the box:
- Control over who opens it. A password, a list of invited people, or email-verified access — not just "anyone with the URL, indexed by Google."
- Feedback on the prototype itself. Comments reviewers leave in place, or a quick poll to settle a direction.
- Knowing it landed. View counts, who opened it, and an email the moment someone does.
- No build, no dashboard. Drag the folder in, get a link. Drag a new version in to update it.
On Shareable, you drop the whole folder (or a .zip) — theindex.html plus its images, CSS, and JS — and get exactly that link. Or ask your AI to publish it for you from the chat.
What runs in a shared prototype
Files are served raw, with no sandbox, so the prototype behaves the way it does locally: interactive scripts, click handlers, page transitions, multi-page navigation, and bundled assets all work. It can even call a backend you already have — a fetch() to an existing API, or a form that posts to a Google Apps Script — because that call runs from the viewer’s browser, same as anywhere.
When you actually need Vercel or Netlify
The moment your prototype needs its own server, it’s become an app. Move to a deploy platform when you need:
- Server-side code — your own API routes, or server-side rendering.
- A database, or real user accounts for your app’s users.
- A build step — a framework build, a bundler, environment-variable secrets.
- A production domain on a pipeline, with previews per branch.
Until then, you’re sharing a front-end, and a link beats a deploy.
Frequently asked questions
How do I share a clickable prototype without deploying it?
If your prototype is HTML, CSS, and JavaScript that runs in the browser, you don’t need a deploy pipeline. Drop the folder (or a .zip) into Shareable and you get one link with access control and feedback tools — no build step, no project dashboard. You only need a host like Vercel or Netlify when the prototype needs its own server, database, or build.
Is Netlify or Vercel overkill for sharing a prototype?
For a static clickable prototype or app mockup, usually yes. Netlify and Vercel are built to run apps — server code, builds, databases. If your prototype already works by opening an HTML file, all you actually need is a link you can send, with control over who opens it. That’s a sharing tool, not a deploy platform.
Can a shared prototype call a real backend or API?
Yes. The prototype runs in the viewer’s browser, so a fetch() to an existing API, or a form that POSTs to a Google Apps Script or form service, works the same as it does locally. What you can’t do on any static host is run server-side code of your own — that’s the line where you move to real app hosting.
When do I need Vercel or Netlify instead of a sharing tool?
When the prototype stops being static: you need your own API routes or server-side rendering, a database, user accounts for your app, a build step, or environment-variable secrets. At that point it’s an app, and it needs a platform that runs code on a server.
Are images and CSS included when I share a prototype folder?
Yes. Upload the whole folder (or a .zip) and Shareable keeps the index.html plus its images, CSS, JS, and fonts as bundled assets — referenced by their relative paths, exactly as they sit in the folder. You don’t have to inline anything.
Share your next AI-made page in seconds
Paste the HTML or publish from your AI — get a link with access control, analytics, and a heads-up when it’s opened.