# Other Hosts

A Clay build is a folder of static files, `publish/public`. Any service or server that serves static files can host it. Three settings matter everywhere:

| Setting | Value |
|---------|-------|
| Build command | `npx clay build --strict` |
| Output folder | `publish/public` |
| Base URL | `/` at the root of a domain; otherwise `baseURL` in `clay.yaml`, or `CLAY_BASE_URL` in the build settings |

## Hosting services

::: tabs
== Netlify
In **Site configuration → Build & deploy**, or in a `netlify.toml`:

```toml [netlify.toml]
[build]
  command = "npx clay build --strict"
  publish = "publish/public"

[build.environment]
  NODE_VERSION = "22"
```

Netlify serves `404.html` for unknown addresses on its own.
== Cloudflare Pages
Create a project from your repository and set:

| Setting | Value |
|---------|-------|
| Framework preset | None |
| Build command | `npx clay build --strict` |
| Build output directory | `publish/public` |
| Environment variable | `NODE_VERSION` = `22` |
== GitLab Pages
GitLab publishes the folder `public` of a job named `pages`. Move the build there in `.gitlab-ci.yml`:

```yaml [.gitlab-ci.yml]
pages:
  image: node:22
  variables:
    GIT_DEPTH: 0   # full history for last-updated dates
  script:
    - npm ci
    - npx clay build --strict
    - mv publish/public public
  artifacts:
    paths:
      - public
  rules:
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH
```

Project sites on GitLab live under the project's name, like on GitHub: set `baseURL: "/my-project/"`.
:::

A coding agent can set it up; name your host in place of Netlify:

::: prompt
Read https://clay-doc.github.io/clay-example-repo/publishing/other-hosts.md.
Then deploy the Clay docs in this repository to Netlify: add the host's
configuration, set baseURL in clay.yaml if the site is not at the root of its
domain, and check with `npx clay build --strict`.
:::

## Your own web server

Copy `publish/public` to the server and serve it as static files. Each page is a folder with an `index.html`, so the server should:

- serve `index.html` for folder addresses (`/guides/setup/` → `/guides/setup/index.html`),
- answer unknown addresses with `404.html` and status 404.

::: tabs
== nginx
With the site at the root of the domain:

```nginx
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name docs.example.com;
    root /var/www/docs;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }

    error_page 404 /404.html;
}
```
== Docker
```dockerfile [Dockerfile]
FROM nginx:alpine
COPY publish/public /usr/share/nginx/html
```
== Caddy
```text [Caddyfile]
docs.example.com {
    root * /var/www/docs
    file_server
    handle_errors {
        rewrite * /404.html
        file_server
    }
}
```
:::

> [!TIP]
> `npx clay preview` behaves like these hosts. If a page works there, it works on the server.

---

All pages of these docs, as Markdown for language models: https://clay-doc.github.io/clay-example-repo/4.x/llms.txt