# Preview deploy

**Source:** https://promtable.com/glossary/preview-deploy

> A preview deploy is the per-PR live URL automatically created by deploy platforms (Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, Railway) — lets reviewers see the actual rendered change before merge.

---
A preview deploy is the per-PR live URL automatically created by deploy platforms (Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, Railway) — lets reviewers see the actual rendered change before merge.

Preview deploys closed the loop on code review: instead of guessing how a PR looks, reviewers click a live URL. Implementations: deploy platform watches GitHub / GitLab, every PR triggers a fresh deploy at a unique URL (pr-123.preview.app), URLs are gated behind auth or password (or public for OSS), automatically torn down on merge. Combined with [[database-branching]], a preview deploy can also have its own ephemeral database. By 2026 preview deploys are table-stakes for Jamstack platforms; backend-only services still rarely have them (Render, Railway started adding them). Production patterns: comment from the deploy bot on the PR with the URL, automated Lighthouse / accessibility checks on preview, AI [[ai-code-review]] bots that pull preview screenshots.

## When to use

- Any frontend / full-stack PR workflow.

## Common mistakes

- Leaving preview deploys public + indexable — duplicate-content SEO penalties, leaked drafts.

## Related terms

- [database-branching](https://promtable.com/glossary/database-branching)
- [shadow-deployment](https://promtable.com/glossary/shadow-deployment)

*Last updated: 2026-06-01*
---

Original page: https://promtable.com/glossary/preview-deploy
Maintained by Promtable (https://promtable.com). Content: CC BY 4.0. Cite as "Promtable — https://promtable.com/glossary/preview-deploy".
Contact: info@vibecodingturkey.com.