Live preview
View your documentation site from any branch before merging to the publishing branch.
Live preview let you see how your documentation looks on a live URL, rendered from a branch that hasn't been merged yet. Content, navigation, and theme changes all show up exactly as they would after a deploy, without touching your published site.
Why preview
Every push to the publishing branch triggers a deploy and updates your live site. When you're working on a draft or a large content change, you don't want half-finished pages going live. Live preview solve that: review your changes on the real site, share the link with your team, and merge when everything looks right.
Prerequisites
- A site connected to a GitHub repository. See Connect GitHub.
- At least one branch other than the publishing branch with committed changes.
- No unsaved changes in the editor, save before previewing.
Start a preview
Open the editor on a non-default branch
Switch to the branch you want to preview. The Preview button appears in the bottom toolbar when the active branch is not the publishing branch.
Save your changes
The Preview button stays disabled while you have unsaved edits. Save first, then the button becomes active.
Select Preview
A new browser tab opens with your site rendered from the selected branch. A banner at the top of the page confirms the active branch.
The preview session lasts two hours. After that, the page falls back to the published content. Start a new preview from the editor to extend the session.
Browse the preview site
While previewing, every page on your site renders content from the preview branch. The sticky banner at the top of each page shows which branch is active.
A few things to keep in mind:
- Custom domains are bypassed. Preview always loads on your
*.bloques.sitesubdomain, even if you have a custom domain configured. The preview cookie only works on the Bloques subdomain. - Search engines won't index preview pages. All pages include a
noindexdirective during preview. - The preview reflects the latest push. If you push new commits to the branch while previewing, refresh the page to see the updated content.
Exit preview
Select Exit preview in the banner. The page reloads and shows the published content from your default branch. The banner disappears.
You can also let the session expire. After two hours, the site automatically reverts to the published content on the next page load.
Limitations
| Limitation | Detail |
|---|---|
| Two-hour session | Preview sessions expire after two hours. Start a new one from the editor. |
| One branch at a time | Each preview session is tied to a single branch. Starting a new preview replaces the previous session. |
| Bloques subdomain only | Preview runs on *.bloques.site. Custom domains always serve the published branch. |
| Organization members only | Only members of the site's organization can start a preview. |