Requesting a deploy | Cofounder Docs
Requesting a deploy
When finished work is ready for shared review, the Engineer can request a deploy.
That handoff is approval-gated. In the product UI the primary action is labeled Publish to Staging.
What Happens
When an agent requests a deploy, Cofounder:
- Uses the active sandbox workspace for that agent session
- Prepares the finished work for the selected app or marketing target
- Queues an approval for you in the agent workspace
- On approval, ships the change to staging
That is the publish-to-staging step.
It does not publish production. Production still goes through the workspace Publish flow.
Targets
A deploy request targets either:
| Target | What it ships |
|---|---|
| product | the managed app / product |
| marketing | the managed marketing site |
What You See
After the agent requests a deploy successfully:
- an approval card appears for the deploy handoff
- the primary action is labeled Publish to Staging
- the reject action is labeled Reject
If you approve:
- Cofounder ships the work to staging
- the staging / preview deployment updates
If you reject:
- staging does not change
- Cofounder can reset the session handoff state for that deploy request
- the agent gets clearer follow-up guidance so it can fix blockers and request a deploy again
When Approval Is Ready
Whether approval can be queued right away depends on how the target is set up:
- managed Cofounder targets can usually queue approval as soon as the handoff is prepared
- imported / bring-your-own targets may need automated checks to finish first
If the handoff is not ready yet, the agent should fix blockers, prepare the work again, and request a deploy again.
What It Needs
Requesting a deploy needs:
- an active sandbox for the agent session
- finished work ready to ship for the selected target
It will not:
- publish production
- replace the workspace Publish button
How This Fits The Full Flow
Typical Engineering path:
- The Engineer implements and verifies in the sandbox when needed
- The Engineer requests a deploy for the app or marketing target
- You approve Publish to Staging
- Staging updates with the change
- When ready for live traffic, use workspace Publish to promote staging to production
For database migrations:
- shipping to staging is the staging apply path
- publishing to production is the production apply path
See Migrations.