Staging and Versioning
Learn how to use your base domain as a staged preview to help you test your sites in a real world environment.
Version Links
When you click publish, Framer will always generate a new version for you. You can find an overview of all of these versions in Site Settings → Staging & Versioning.
Click on the version ID of any version to open the version link in a new tab. You will also be able to see a detailed overview of the status of each version, the publisher, and the timestamp stamp of each publish. For any versions with warnings, you can click on the warning status and download the error file for debugging as well.
The versioned links are built statically, meaning they'll never change. The link will be permanently tied to the version in question, regardless of any publish that happens afterwards.
Staging
On publishing a website, Framer automatically generates a domain for you consisting of a random string of letters. This is called the Base Domain. You also have the option to add a second Custom Domain, which you can learn more about in this article. You can only use the staging feature if you have a Custom Domain connected.
By default, the Base and Custom Domains will both always point to the latest published version. However, if you are looking to test your websites in a real world setting before deploying it to the Custom Domain (the version customers will be more likely to see), you can enable staging and use the Base Domain as your staged preview.
To do this, go into the Staging & Versions tab and select the Enable Staging option. By doing this, you will be presented with the option to explicitly select a version for the Custom Domain. Your Base Domain will always point to the latest version, so you can validate the version before you deploy it to the Custom Domain.
Testing
Once you have staging enabled, you will notice that you only have the option to update the Base Domain from the publish layer. Publish to this link as many times as you need until you are happy with the results. Then, go back to the Staging & Versioning tab and click on the Deploy button next to the version you wish to deploy to your Custom Domain. If you make a mistake, you can always deploy a previous version and rollback your changes until you are ready to deploy again.