Go Live

1 · What's in your folder

Unzip it. Everything is already done — you're just choosing where it lives:

• index.html — your website (light + dark mode, gallery, SEO, all of it).
• studio.html — your negatives. A private editor that rebuilds the whole site. Keep it; never delete it.
• photos/ — your images, already web-sized with location data stripped.
• og-image.jpg + favicons — your social-share card and browser icons.
• sitemap.xml + robots.txt — so Google can find and rank you.
• README.md — a short version of this page.

2 · The 2-minute way (no accounts needed)

Netlify Drop hosts a folder for free by drag-and-drop — no sign-up required to try it:

1. Unzip your download so you have a normal folder.
2. Open app.netlify.com/drop and drag the whole folder onto the page.
3. That's it — you get a live link (something like yourname.netlify.app) you can text to anyone.
4. Make a free Netlify account when it asks — that keeps the site up permanently and lets you replace the files later.

Perfect for tonight. When you want your own domain and automatic updates, graduate to section 3 — nothing you did here is wasted.

3 · The solid setup — GitHub + Vercel (free)

This is what most working photographers should end on: your files live in GitHub (version history, never lose your site) and Vercel serves them (fast, free, automatic HTTPS).

1. Create a free GitHub account → github.com/signup, then a new privaterepository and upload your folder's files (the web UI's "uploading an existing file" link works — no terminal needed).
2. Create a Vercel account with that GitHub login → vercel.com/signup.
3. In Vercel: Add New → Project, import your repo, set Framework to Other, leave build command empty (it's plain HTML), deploy.
4. Done — every time you update the repo, the site redeploys itself.

Official walkthroughs: GitHub Get Started ↗ · Vercel Getting Started ↗

4 · Your own domain (GoDaddy & co.)

yourname.comcosts ~$10–20/year and is the single biggest "this person is a professional" signal. Any registrar works — GoDaddy is the common one:

1. Buy the domain → godaddy.com/domains (search your name; .com > .photo > .net, in that order of instinct).
2. In your host's dashboard add the domain: Vercel → Project → Settings → Domains, or Netlify → Domain management. It shows you exactly which DNS records it wants.
3. Add those records at GoDaddy → their DNS how-to ↗. Propagation takes minutes to a few hours; HTTPS is automatic.
4. The step everyone forgets: open your studio.html, type the domain under Site & SEO, re-download, and re-publish. That bakes your domain into the SEO tags, the social card, and sitemap.xml— it's what makes Google index your address.

5 · Let AI do it — copy-paste prompts

If you use Claude Code (claude.com/claude-code ↗) or ChatGPT Codex (chatgpt.com/codex ↗), open it inside your unzipped folder, paste one of these, and it will drive the whole thing — accounts, deploys, DNS — while you watch:

I'm in a folder containing a finished static portfolio website exported from Bluff Book (index.html, studio.html, photos/, og-image.jpg, favicon files, sitemap.xml, robots.txt). Nothing needs building — it's plain HTML.

Deploy it to production for free:
1. Check whether I have the Vercel CLI; install it if not, and walk me through logging in (I may not have an account — guide me one step at a time and wait for me).
2. Deploy THIS folder as-is as a static site (no framework, no build step). Name the project after the person in index.html's <title>.
3. Give me the live URL at the end and confirm og-image.jpg loads at /og-image.jpg.

Do not modify, reformat, or "improve" any files — they're generated and studio.html must stay byte-identical.

This folder is my finished static portfolio website (exported from Bluff Book — plain HTML, no build step). Set me up so every future update deploys automatically:

1. Initialize a git repo here and make the first commit.
2. I may not have a GitHub account — walk me through creating one (github.com/signup), then create a PRIVATE repo named after my site and push.
3. Connect the repo to Vercel (vercel.com/new, import the repo, framework = "Other", no build command, output dir = the repo root) so every push goes live.
4. Tell me my live URL, and explain in two sentences how I ship future updates: open studio.html → edit → download the new folder → replace the files → commit → push.

Guide me through any sign-ins one step at a time and wait for me. Don't modify the site files.

My static portfolio site (exported from Bluff Book) is already deployed — I'll tell you the host (Vercel or Netlify) and the current URL. I want it on my own domain.

1. If I don't own one yet: I'm looking at GoDaddy — help me pick and buy the domain (godaddy.com), or suggest a cheaper registrar if it matters.
2. Add the domain on my hosting dashboard, then tell me EXACTLY which DNS records to create at the registrar (type, host, value) for my host, step by step.
3. Wait with me while DNS propagates, verify HTTPS is issued, and check both apex and www work.
4. Last step, don't skip: remind me to open my site's studio.html, enter the domain in Site & SEO, re-download the site, and re-publish — that bakes the domain into my SEO tags, social card, and sitemap.xml.

My portfolio site is a static folder exported from Bluff Book (index.html + studio.html + photos). I want to add a "Book me" contact form that emails me, WITHOUT breaking the existing site.

1. Help me sign up at resend.com (free tier) and create an API key; store it as an environment variable on my host — never in the HTML.
2. Add a small serverless function on my current host (Vercel or Netlify) that accepts the form POST and sends me the email via Resend.
3. Add the form to index.html's contact section, styled with the site's existing CSS variables (--bg, --ink, --accent) so it matches both light and dark mode.
4. Tell me what to test before I share the site again.

Touch nothing else — especially studio.html and the photos folder.

6 · The accounts, briefly

Honest version: your Bluff Book site needs at most two of these — one host, and a registrar if you want your own domain. The rest only matter if you later bolt on a backend (booking forms, client galleries with logins, that kind of thing).

7 · Updating your site later

Your site has no admin login because the admin is a file you own:

1. Open studio.html in any browser (double-click works, even offline).
2. Add or reorder photos, edit captions, change the look, update your bio or domain — the preview updates live.
3. Hit Download website (.zip) and publish the fresh folder the same way you did before (Netlify: drag onto your site's Deploys page; GitHub: replace the files and commit).
4. Also hit Save studio backup now and then, and keep a copy somewhere safe — studio.html can rebuild everything, forever.

8 · Stuck? Ask the community

Also: the Bluff Book section of the User Manual covers the builder itself, and this page lives at grindcity.org/go-live— it's linked from your export's README too.