# Publishing your app

> Take your app live. What publishing does, where your app lands, and how updates ship.

Publishing takes your app live on the web. Before you publish, only you and your collaborators can see your work. After you publish, anyone you have allowed can visit.

## Before you publish

Five minutes of checking saves an awkward launch:

1. **Click through the core flows in the preview** the way a stranger would: land, sign up, do the main thing, come back.
2. **Test privacy with two accounts** if your app has sign-in: create data as one user, confirm a second user cannot see it. See [How data privacy works](/docs/data/data-privacy).
3. **Check mobile** with the device toggle; half your visitors will arrive on a phone.
4. **Set your title, description, and preview image** in Vault → SEO, so shared links look right from the first share.
5. **Review who can use the app** in Vault → Auth: open to anyone, invite-only, or sign-in required. See [Public vs private apps](/docs/auth/public-vs-private).

## How to publish

In the build workspace, hit **Publish**. Vaulter builds a production version of your app and puts it online. In a moment you have a real, shareable URL.

Your app goes live at its own address on `vaulter.run`, formed from your app's name, like `salon-booker--acme.vaulter.run`. You can share that link right away from the Share menu in the workspace, or put your app on a custom domain: [buy one inside Vaulter](/docs/publish/buy-a-domain) or [connect one you own](/docs/publish/connect-domain).

## What publishing actually does

Each publish is a complete production build, prepared for the open web:

- Your pages get their **social and search tags**: title, description, and a preview image, so shared links unfurl properly. See [SEO](/docs/growth/seo).
- On paid plans, the **analytics** tracker is added so visits to your live app show up in your dashboard. See [Analytics](/docs/growth/analytics).
- Everything is served over **HTTPS**, on Vaulter's edge network.
- Caches are versioned per publish, so visitors get your new version immediately, never a stale mix of old and new.
- Publishing also refreshes your project's **thumbnail**, the image on your dashboard card.

On the free plan, published apps carry a small "Built with Vaulter" badge. Paid plans can turn it off in **Vault → SEO**.

## Shipping updates

Publishing is not a one-time event. Keep building after you launch, and hit **Publish** again whenever you want changes to go live. Your visitors always see the last version you published, never your work in progress. Every publish is recorded in **Vault → Deployments**, so you can see your app's release history.

## Who can publish, and who can visit

Publishing requires an admin role on the project, so a collaborator with view or edit access cannot ship your app by accident.

By default a published app is open: anyone with the link can visit. If your app should require sign-in, or be visible only to your team, see [Public vs private apps](/docs/auth/public-vs-private).