Deployment Guide

✅ Pre-Deployment Checklist

Before deploying, ensure:

1. Widget files are built: Run npm run build

   • This builds widget first, then the main app
   • Widget files end up in dist/ folder

2. Required files in dist/:

   • ✅ widget.js (595KB)
   • ✅ widget.css (65KB)
   • ✅ widget-embed.html
   • ✅ _headers (CORS configuration)
   • ✅ _redirects (routing rules)

3. Verify locally:

   bashCopy

   npm run build
   npm run preview
   # Visit http://localhost:4173/demo
   

🚀 Netlify Deployment

Build Settings

Ensure your Netlify site has these build settings:

• Build command: npm run build
• Publish directory: dist
• Node version: 18 or higher (set in Environment Variables: NODE_VERSION=18)

Deployment Process

1. Push to Git:

   bashCopy

   git add .
   git commit -m "Add widget embed system"
   git push origin main
   

2. Netlify will automatically:

   • Run npm install
   • Run npm run build
   • Deploy dist/ folder
   • Apply _headers and _redirects rules

3. Verify deployment:

   • Visit https://your-domain.com/widget.js - should return JavaScript
   • Visit https://your-domain.com/widget.css - should return CSS
   • Visit https://your-domain.com/demo - should load widget demo
   • Visit https://your-domain.com/widget-embed.html - should show embed example

🔍 Troubleshooting

Widget files 404 error

Symptom: widget.js and widget.css return 404

Solutions:

1. Check build logs:

   • Look for "BUILD_WIDGET=true vite build" in logs
   • Ensure both widget and app builds completed

2. Verify _redirects file:

   • Check if _redirects file exists in deployed site
   • Should contain explicit rules for widget files

3. Clear Netlify cache:

   bashCopy

   # In Netlify dashboard:
   Site settings > Build & deploy > Clear cache and retry deploy
   

4. Manual verification:

   bashCopy

   # Locally verify build output
   npm run build
   ls -la dist/ | grep widget
   # Should show widget.js, widget.css, widget-embed.html
   

CORS errors

Symptom: Widget loads on same domain but fails on external sites

Solution: Verify _headers file contains:

/widget.js
  Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
  Content-Type: application/javascript; charset=utf-8

/widget.css
  Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
  Content-Type: text/css; charset=utf-8

SPA routing issues

Symptom: Direct URLs to /demo return 404

Solution: The _redirects file should have the SPA fallback as the LAST rule:

/* /index.html 200

📦 Manual Build & Deploy

If automatic deployment fails, you can build and deploy manually:

# 1. Build locally
npm run build

# 2. Verify files
ls -la dist/ | grep -E "(widget|_headers|_redirects)"

# 3. Deploy via Netlify CLI
npm install -g netlify-cli
netlify deploy --prod --dir=dist

🔗 Widget URLs After Deployment

Once deployed, your widget will be available at:

• Widget script: https://your-domain.com/widget.js
• Widget styles: https://your-domain.com/widget.css
• Demo page: https://your-domain.com/demo
• Embed example: https://your-domain.com/widget-embed.html

📝 Embed Code for Third-Party Sites

Share this code with users who want to embed the widget:

<!-- RuFlo Research Widget Container -->
<div id="ruflo-research-widget-container"></div>

<!-- Configuration (optional) -->
<script>
  window.RufloResearchWidgetConfig = {
    primaryColor: "#8b5cf6",
    accentColor: "#22c55e",
    backgroundColor: "#1a1a1a"
  };
</script>

<!-- Load Widget -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://your-domain.com/widget.css">
<script src="https://your-domain.com/widget.js"></script>

🛠️ Environment Variables

No environment variables are required for the widget to work. However, if you're using Supabase functions, ensure these are set in Netlify:

• VITE_SUPABASE_URL
• VITE_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY

✨ Post-Deployment Testing

After deployment, test:

1. Main app: Visit homepage, create a research goal
2. Demo page: Visit /demo, verify widget loads
3. Widget files: Direct access to /widget.js and /widget.css
4. Embed example: Visit /widget-embed.html
5. CORS: Test widget on external domain (e.g., CodePen, JSFiddle)

📊 Monitoring

Monitor widget usage:

• Check Netlify Analytics for /widget.js and /widget.css requests
• Use browser DevTools Network tab to verify CORS headers
• Monitor error logs for failed widget loads

🔄 Updating the Widget

When you make changes:

1. Update source code
2. Run npm run build locally to test
3. Commit and push to Git
4. Netlify auto-deploys
5. Widget updates are live immediately (users may need to clear cache)

💾 Caching Strategy

The _headers file sets:

• Widget files: 1 year cache (max-age=31536000)
• Immutable flag for faster loads

To force users to get new version:

• Change widget version in code
• Or rename files (e.g., widget.v2.js)
• Or use cache busting query params