Windsurf has just released Wave 6, and it includes a pretty cool new feature called Deploys. This means you can automatically deploy your app while staying within Windsurf. You don’t need to use an external hosting service; you can simply ask Cascade to do it, and it will handle the deployment for you.
This is the landing page that I built inside Windsurf and then deployed using Windsurf’s new feature. It’s not being hosted on localhost; it’s actually hosted on the windsurf.build domain. The landing page is fully functional, and everything seems to be working. This was a really simple HTML, CSS, and JavaScript landing page. It wasn’t anything too special, and I’ll also explain the reason behind that, but this is what it created.
Now, let me guide you through the process of how you can deploy an app.
How to Deploy Your App
This feature is most useful for quickly deploying landing pages because they are mostly static.
Note: Netlify is a static hosting platform, which is what Windsurf uses to host your site. On Netlify, you cannot host full-stack apps with microservices; it only works with static websites.
This is the project directory. I gave Windsurf a prompt to build a simple landing page, make it responsive, and use only HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It generated the landing page, though there were some minor UI issues that I had to fix.
Once everything was finalized, I prompted Cascade to deploy the project, and it began the deployment process. Since we are deploying on Netlify, the first step was creating the Netlify.toml file. After that, the deployment process started.
- First, it will ask for your subdomain name, which in this case is
clarity-minimal-landing. You cannot change the main domain, which iswindsurf.build. Everything deployed through Windsurf will be hosted under this domain; however, you can modify the subdomain. - After that, it uploads all the files.
- If the deployment is successful, you will see a confirmation with the following details:
- Build Status: Completed
- Project Name
- Provider Details
- After that, you will be prompted to view your deployment, which will take you to the URL where the landing page is hosted.
The 24-Hour Hosting Limit: Claiming Your Project
Now, here’s the most important part: Windsurf will only host your project for 24 hours unless you claim it using your own Netlify account.
To do this, you need to log into GitHub and authenticate Netlify with GitHub. The process is simple: you just enter your GitHub credentials, and after that, you’ll reach a page where you can claim the project. Once claimed, it will be added to your Netlify sites.
The landing page has been added along with other landing pages and projects. But remember, you must claim it. Only then will you have full ownership of the deployment. This is the most important step.
A Real-World Use Case: Landing Pages
At the same time, the UI was fully responsive because I had asked it to make the website responsive in the prompt. I tested it by opening it on my mobile device; everything worked great. The navigation and all the features were functioning properly.
The main use case here is for quickly deploying landing pages. Even if you’re building a product, this feature can be really useful. Typically, before people even start working on a product, they create a landing page showcasing the main features. These landing pages can be designed in Figma, deployed quickly, and used to gain traction.
Companies use these landing pages to collect emails by asking people to join a waitlist. This helps them identify potential users who are genuinely interested in the product. They move forward with product development based on that interest. This is a common approach used for nearly every product launch.
Troubleshooting Failed Deployments
Now that I’ve told you about a page I was able to successfully deploy, let me also share the problems I ran into and how Windsurf guided me through the errors. If you encounter these issues, you’ll know how to solve them.
This is another front-end app I was working on: a minimal and sleek-looking journal app that I wanted to deploy for this article. The development process went smoothly, and there weren’t any UI errors at all. Everything functioned properly, and all the elements were well-aligned.
Note: If you’re wondering how I achieved this, it’s actually pretty simple. When brainstorming ideas, always ask for both the pages and the modals before passing them to Windsurf or Cursor. This ensures a well-planned development cycle.
Once the app was built, I asked Windsurf to deploy it. It followed the same process, telling me where the app would be deployed, uploading all the files, and providing a link to track the build progress. It also reminded me that I had to claim the deployment.
This time, the app was never actually deployed. It failed.
Fortunately, there is a way to fix this. You just need to go through the same process of connecting Netlify to your GitHub account. Once you click ‘Claim App,’ it will take you to the Netlify dashboard. The process is straightforward, so I’m not demoing it here. Once connected, you’ll see the deploy log in the ‘Deploy’ section. You can copy the entire log and send it back to Windsurf for troubleshooting.
That’s exactly what I did, but in my case, the issue was caused by a deprecated component in my project. Fixing it would have taken too much time, so for the sake of this article, I decided to move on to a simpler project. Otherwise, deploying the app would have been straightforward.
Other New Features in Wave 6
In addition to Deploys, Windsurf Wave 6 brings a lot of other new features.
- If you’re on an enterprise plan like I was, you now have access to MCPS and turbo mode. This was actually one of the main reasons I wasn’t using Windsurf before because I didn’t have support for MCPS; instead, I was using Cursor.
- Aside from that, there are other great features that have been introduced. For example, before committing to GitHub, you can now generate a commit message that looks at the diff and automatically creates the commit message for you.
- Another helpful addition is the table of contents for the Windsurf chat. I found this to be really useful because it lets you jump quickly to specific prompts, especially if you need to revert to an earlier point in the conversation. This is handy if you’ve made a mistake and want to go back.
- There have also been improvements to the tab feature as well as updates for long conversations in Cascade. You no longer need to initialize a new chat every time you have a lengthy conversation.