7 min · +100 XP
Put your tool online for free
Free static hosting, set up by Claude from one request.
By the end of this lesson
Your tool will be online at a free address, put there by Claude, and you will know when free hosting is not enough.
First, do you need this module at all? Only if someone else should open your tool, or you want to reach it from anywhere. A tool that you use on your own computer is already complete, and skipping this module is a fair choice.
Static hosting is like a free window in a large shopping centre. The centre keeps the lights on and the doors open; you only put your goods in the window. Your tool's pages are the goods, and the hosting service shows them to anyone who opens the address.
What free hosting fits
It fits when
- 1The tool is made only of pages: HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Most first tools from this course are like that.
- 2Data stays in the visitor's browser: each person sees their own list and their own entries.
- 3Netlify, Vercel, Cloudflare Pages and GitHub Pages all have a free tier for small sites. The address looks like mytool.netlify.app, mytool.vercel.app, mytool.pages.dev or yourname.github.io.
- 4There is no server to look after: the service keeps the site online, with HTTPS included.
Say it to Claude
“Put this site online on free hosting, Netlify or Vercel. Set everything up yourself, tell me only where I need to sign in in the browser, and at the end give me the link and check that it opens.”
Claude checks the project, installs the hosting service's tool, asks you to sign in once in the browser, publishes the site and gives you the address.
“Publish this project on GitHub Pages. Make sure .env and other secrets are not in the repository, turn on Pages and give me the address once it opens.”
GitHub Pages is free for public repositories; for a private one it needs a paid GitHub plan. Claude tells you which case is yours before it changes anything.
“Look at this project and tell me whether it can go on free static hosting. If yes, pick Netlify, Vercel, Cloudflare Pages or GitHub Pages for my case and explain the choice in two sentences. If not, tell me what it needs instead.”
Useful when you are not sure where the tool keeps its data or whether it has a server part.
›What "sign in in the browser" means
The first time Claude runs the hosting service's tool, a page opens in your browser. You create a free account there, often with your Google or GitHub login, and click a button such as Authorize. That lets the tool publish to your account. You do it once, and Claude does the rest. You never paste a password into the chat.
Living with the site
- 1Updates: change the tool, check it on your computer, then say "publish the update to the same site".
- 2Something looks wrong online: "the site at mytool.netlify.app shows an old version; find out why and fix it".
- 3Done with it: "delete this site from Netlify", or delete it in the service's panel.
Anyone with the link can open the site, and anyone can read its code in the browser. Never put an API key or a password into a static site: it would be visible to everyone. If the tool needs a key or holds personal data, it needs a server part; ask Claude for the simplest safe option for your case.
Your own address
The free address works fine. If you want mytool.com instead, buy a domain at any domain registrar; it costs about $10–20 a year. Then let Claude connect it to the free hosting.
“Connect my domain mytool.com to this site on Netlify. Tell me step by step which DNS records to add at my registrar, wait until they work, and check that the site opens at https://mytool.com.”
DNS changes take from a few minutes to a few hours. If the domain does not answer at once, that is the wait, not an error.
When free hosting is not enough
Signs you need your own server
- 1Two or more people must see the same data: a shared shopping list, a family budget, bookings.
- 2Accounts with logins, a database, files that users upload.
- 3Something must run all the time or on a schedule: a Telegram bot, a nightly report.
- 4The tool needs a secret key that must not be visible in the browser.
Some hosting services also offer small server functions or databases on their free tiers, and Claude can tell you whether they fit your tool. The straightforward path is a small server of your own, covered in the next lesson.
Connect a Git repository and Netlify, Vercel or Cloudflare Pages publish on every push and give each pull request its own preview address; ask Claude to set that up instead of manual uploads. Vercel's free Hobby plan is for personal, non-commercial use, so check the terms for a business site. Free tiers have bandwidth and build limits that change; ask Claude to read the current ones. Serverless functions and managed databases sit between static hosting and a VPS when you need a little backend.
A safe practice terminal. Your budget tool works on your computer, and you want to open it from your phone.
1Ask Claude in your own words to put the site online on free hosting
You and your partner want one shared shopping list that both of you edit from your phones. Which option fits?
Claude is putting your one-page tool on free hosting. Which step is yours?
Facts checked against the official Claude Code docs October 24, 2026 · source
Author
Evgenii Arsentev
PhD · Chief Executive Officer, digital health