Framework, static and storage

Every website is framework or static. Your agent picks this at creation. A third kind, storage, holds shared files instead of a site: see Sharing files.

Framework (default)

Typed React source with a fixed file model (pages, components, global.css, and so on). Webly builds it through the quality gate, then serves the result.

Use this when the agent is writing a real app-like site and you want drafts, checks, and structured source in the dashboard.

Static

Raw files (index.html, CSS, assets) uploaded as a tree. No React build: what you deploy is what gets served after publish. An agent ships a built folder (dist/) with begin_deploy: a 5-minute ticket and an upload command, so the files never pass through the conversation. A deploy that says which version it was built from never quietly undoes someone else's newer edits, and a deploy that would drop files the site has stops and lists them. Either goes ahead only when the person agrees. The Webly helper sends that version for you when it knows it: from the folder's last deploy, or from a git-mirror clone's history. For a small change, such as a heading or a button label, the agent searches the site's text files and edits just those lines, so it doesn't resend the whole page.

Use this for simple sites, hand-written HTML, or when the agent is shipping a finished folder.

Turning a static site into a framework site

A site's kind doesn't change, but a static site can be copied into a new framework site: Convert to a framework site… in the site's Settings (Hobby and Pro). If you have an AI agent, asking it to port the site gives a better result. Each page becomes a React page, a header or footer that is the same on every page becomes a component, your CSS and images come along, and old addresses such as /about.html redirect to the new ones. The static site stays as it is and stays live. Scripts and click handlers aren't converted: the new site lists them with where they were, and Ask your agent to finish copies a prompt that hands that list to your agent. Sites built by a tool like Vite or Next.js can't be converted, because their source isn't on Webly.

The other way, Convert to a static site… in a framework site's Settings makes a plain HTML copy: each page as it was last built, with shared parts like the header copied into every page, so the static editor can change all of it. Anything interactive (that needs JavaScript) stops working and is listed for your agent.

Same extras on both

Forms, custom domains, and analytics work on either kind once the site is claimed. New content, including posts, products and FAQs, goes in the site's source files. Sites that already use Webly's CMS or a managed blog keep working, and your agent keeps editing that content there until you ask it to move it into source files.

For the full contract, see the API or llms.txt.