Render Static Sites

---
name: render-static-sites
description: >-
  Deploys and configures static sites on Render's global CDN—build commands,
  publish paths, SPA routing, redirects, custom headers, and PR previews. Use
  when the user needs to deploy a static site, set up a React/Vue/Hugo/Gatsby
  frontend, configure SPA fallback routing, add redirect rules, customize
  response headers, or choose between a static site and a web service for
  their frontend.
  Trigger terms: static site, CDN, SPA, single-page app, React deploy,
  Vue deploy, Hugo, Gatsby, Docusaurus, Jekyll, staticPublishPath.
license: MIT
compatibility: Render static sites (free tier available)
metadata:
  author: Render
  version: "1.0.0"
  category: compute
---

# Render Static Sites

Deploys static frontends (React, Vue, Hugo, Gatsby, Docusaurus, Jekyll, etc.) to Render's global CDN with automatic TLS, Brotli compression, HTTP/2, and DDoS protection. Free tier available.

## When to Use

- Deploying a **static site or SPA** (no server-side rendering)
- Choosing between a **Static Site** and a **Web Service** for a frontend
- Configuring **SPA fallback routing**, **redirects/rewrites**, or **custom headers**
- Setting up **PR preview environments** for a static site
- Troubleshooting **build failures** or **stale content** on a CDN-hosted site

For SSR frameworks (Next.js, Nuxt, SvelteKit) that need a running server, use **render-web-services** instead. For Blueprint authoring, see **render-blueprints**.

## Static Site vs Web Service

| Need | Use | Why |
|------|-----|-----|
| Pure HTML/CSS/JS, SPA, docs, blog | **Static Site** | Free, global CDN, instant cache invalidation |
| SSR (Next.js `next start`, Nuxt server) | **Web Service** | Needs a running Node/Python/etc. process |
| Static export from SSR framework | **Static Site** | If the framework supports full static export (`next export`, `nuxt generate`) |
| API backend | **Web Service** | Static sites cannot run server code |

**Key constraint:** Static sites are **not on the private network**. They cannot communicate with other Render services over internal hostnames.

## Build and Publish

| Setting | Purpose |
|---------|---------|
| `buildCommand` | Installs dependencies and builds assets (e.g. `npm ci && npm run build`) |
| `staticPublishPath` | Directory of built output to serve (e.g. `build`, `dist`, `public`) |

Render auto-detects and installs dependencies. Set `SKIP_INSTALL_DEPS=true` to handle installation yourself in the build command.

### Common frameworks

| Framework | Build command | Publish path |
|-----------|--------------|--------------|
| Create React App | `npm ci && npm run build` | `build` |
| Vite (React/Vue/Svelte) | `npm ci && npm run build` | `dist` |
| Next.js (static export) | `npm ci && next build` | `out` |
| Nuxt (static) | `npm ci && nuxt generate` | `.output/public` |
| Hugo | `hugo --minify` | `public` |
| Gatsby | `npm ci && gatsby build` | `public` |
| Docusaurus | `npm ci && npm run build` | `build` |
| Jekyll | `bundle exec jekyll build` | `_site` |
| Astro | `npm ci && astro build` | `dist` |

## SPA Routing and Redirects

Single-page apps need a catch-all rule so the CDN serves `index.html` for all routes instead of returning 404.

Configure **Redirect/Rewrite Rules** in the Dashboard (Settings > Redirects/Rewrites) or via the Blueprint `routes` field:

```yaml
routes:
  - type: rewrite
    source: /*
    destination: /index.html
```

For multi-path redirects (e.g. old blog URLs), add specific rules **above** the catch-all so they take priority.

See `references/routing-and-headers.md` for redirect types, header rules, and caching patterns.

## Custom Response Headers

Add security and performance headers from the Dashboard (Settings > Headers) or the Blueprint `headers` field:

```yaml
headers:
  - path: /*
    name: X-Frame-Options
    value: DENY
  - path: /assets/*
    name: Cache-Control
    value: public, max-age=31536000, immutable
```

## PR Previews

Static sites support automatic PR previews—each pull request gets a unique URL with the built site.

- Enable in Dashboard: Settings > PR Previews
- Blueprint: set `previews.generation` to `automatic` or `manual`
- Preview URLs follow the pattern `<service>-<pr-id>.onrender.com`

## Blueprint Configuration

```yaml
services:
  - type: web
    runtime: static
    name: my-frontend
    buildCommand: npm ci && npm run build
    staticPublishPath: dist
    routes:
      - type: rewrite
        source: /*
        destination: /index.html
    headers:
      - path: /*
        name: X-Frame-Options
        value: DENY
    previews:
      generation: automatic
```

**Note:** Static sites use `type: web` with `runtime: static` in Blueprints. There is no separate `type: static`.

## CDN and Performance

- **Global CDN** with edge caching worldwide
- **Brotli compression** (better than gzip)
- **HTTP/2** by default
- **Immediate cache invalidation** on every deploy (zero-downtime, atomic deploys)
- **DDoS protection** included free

## Billing

Static sites have a **free tier**. They count against workspace-level monthly included amounts for:

- **Outbound bandwidth** (data served to users)
- **Pipeline minutes** (build time)

## References

| Document | Contents |
|----------|----------|
| `references/routing-and-headers.md` | Redirect types, rewrite rules, header patterns, SPA config |
| `references/framework-configs.md` | Build commands and publish paths for 10+ frameworks |

## Related Skills

- **render-web-services** — For SSR frameworks that need a running server
- **render-blueprints** — Full `render.yaml` schema for static site fields
- **render-domains** — Custom domain and TLS setup
- **render-deploy** — Deploy flows, CLI, MCP operations