> For clean Markdown content of this page, append .md to this URL. For the complete documentation index, see https://buildwithfern.com/learn/llms.txt.

# Preview and publish workflow

> The recommended path for taking a docs change from local development through preview and staging to production.

Fern gives you four ways to see a docs change, each trading build time for site performance and audience. The recommended path is to move through them in order: iterate locally, share a preview link for review, publish to a staging instance for a production-faithful check, then publish to production.

| Step                                    | Command                                         | Build time           | Site speed        | Audience              |
| --------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- | -------------------- | ----------------- | --------------------- |
| [Local development](#local-development) | `fern docs dev`                                 | Instant (hot reload) | Fast              | You                   |
| [Preview link](#preview-links)          | `fern generate --docs --preview`                | Fast                 | Slower navigation | Contributors          |
| [Staging instance](#staging-instance)   | `fern generate --docs --instance <staging-url>` | Slower               | Fast              | Team and stakeholders |
| [Production](#production)               | `fern generate --docs`                          | Slower               | Fast              | Public                |

## Local development

Run [`fern docs dev`](/learn/docs/preview-publish/preview-changes#local-development) while you write. The server renders your docs at `http://localhost:3000` with hot reload, so edits appear as you save. Some features (search, SEO metadata, authentication) are disabled locally, so use the later steps to verify them.

```bash
fern docs dev
```

## Preview links

Run [`fern generate --docs --preview`](/learn/docs/preview-publish/preview-changes#preview-links) to get a URL you can share with reviewers. Preview links aren't indexed by search engines and don't expire.

```bash
fern generate --docs --preview
# Or a stable URL that updates in place on each run
fern generate --docs --preview --id plants-api-refresh
```

Previews skip the static build that production and staging sites get: pages render on demand when a visitor requests them. This makes the preview link fast to generate, but navigating between pages is slower than on a published site. Preview links are for checking content and layout, not for judging site performance.

## Staging instance

Publish to a staging instance when you want to see the change exactly as production will serve it. This requires [multiple instances](/learn/docs/configuration/site-level-settings#instances-configuration) in `docs.yml`, for example a `staging.` prefix on your production domain:

**`docs.yml`**

```yaml docs.yml
instances:
  - url: plantstore.docs.buildwithfern.com
  - url: staging.plantstore.docs.buildwithfern.com
```

```bash
fern generate --docs --instance staging.plantstore.docs.buildwithfern.com
```

A staging publish runs the full static build, so it takes longer than a preview link, but the resulting site loads and navigates as fast as production. Use it to check search, authentication, performance, and anything else previews don't cover before going live.

## Production

Publish to production when the change is ready for the public. Run [`fern generate --docs`](/learn/docs/preview-publish/publishing-your-docs), or pass `--instance` with your production URL if `docs.yml` defines more than one instance.

```bash
fern generate --docs
# With multiple instances
fern generate --docs --instance plantstore.docs.buildwithfern.com
```

Most teams automate the last three steps in CI: [preview links on every pull request](/learn/docs/preview-publish/preview-changes#automate-with-github-actions), [staging on every merge, and production on a manual trigger](/learn/docs/preview-publish/publishing-your-docs#publish-to-staging-and-production).

> The recommended path for taking a docs change from local development through preview and staging to production.