PARNii.DE

Websites & Mobile Apps featuring unique design and varying levels of functionality for micro, small, and medium-sized businesses, created by an official Wix Legend Partner.

How to host an exported Studio Two site outside Wix

parnii

4 days ago

3 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

Build the exported site in its root folder, then run the resulting Node server on any host with Node.js 22.12 or later. Deploy the whole exported project, not only the build output, and run install, build and start on the host. The server listens on port 3000 unless you set PORT.

Status: Exporting a site to code is currently in alpha, so the feature may change and may have bugs or limitations.

Before you start

An exported Studio Two site with its packages installed.
A host that runs Node.js 22.12 or later.
Access to a git repository or a way to copy files to your host.

Step by step

Build the site locally. Run the build from the root of the exported site. Output goes to packages/site-app/dist. If a page fails to compile, the whole build stops.
Start the production server. Start the server from the same root folder. It serves the most recent build, so rebuild after every change to the site.
Check the pages. Open http://localhost:3000 and click through the site's pages. Confirm that the build behaves as expected before you deploy.
Prepare the full project for deployment. Deploy the entire exported site. The server loads the site's packages at runtime, and the build takes the site's settings from packages/site-app/.env. Leave out node_modules and dist, which the exported .gitignore already excludes.
Copy or push the project to your host. Either copy the files to the host or push them to a git repository that the host deploys from.
Install, build and start on the host. Run the install, build and start commands on the host, in that order. The server listens on port 3000 by default.
Set the port if needed. To use another port, set the PORT environment variable. Most Node.js hosting platforms set it for you, so no change is usually needed.

Good to know

The hosted site still depends on Wix. It loads fonts and media from Wix and calls Wix APIs for business features on the page.
The build is a Node server that serves each page and the site's 404 page for unknown URLs.
A site with dynamic pages can't be exported. Lightboxes are exported but don't appear on the running site.
A page with a widget from an installed app (other than an ERC) fails in the preview and in the build.
Visitors can't log in as members, and custom code that waits for visitor consent doesn't load.

parnii note

Run the build and the local server before every deployment, because a single page that fails to compile stops the build. Check your pages against the current limitations list first, since features like member login and consent-based scripts don't run outside Wix yet.