If you’re looking for a streamlined way to create, edit, and deploy your web applications, then you’ve come to the right place. Today, we’ll explore a powerful development workflow using Bolt.new, StackBlitz, GitHub, and Netlify. You can follow along either by reading this blog or by checking out the full video tutorial here. While the blog offers a step-by-step breakdown, the video contains more visual demonstrations that may be harder to capture in writing.
Overview
In the accompanying video, we cover how to take a web application from concept to deployment using these powerful tools:
- Creating a New Project with Bolt.new: Start a new project from scratch effortlessly.
- Deploying to Netlify: Host your application seamlessly.
- Opening in StackBlitz and Creating a GitHub Repo: Edit your project in a powerful online IDE while integrating version control.
- Setting Up Continuous Deployment: Automate your deployments to Netlify whenever you push updates.
- Customizing Your Domain: Use a custom subdomain for your deployed project.
- Making Iterative Changes: Load your project back into Bolt.new to make improvements and deploy again.
By the end of this guide, you’ll be able to create, edit, and publish web applications efficiently, all while minimizing friction in your workflow.
Step-by-Step Guide
Step 1: Create a Project with Bolt.new
Bolt.new is designed for quick prototyping and web development. You can start from scratch by heading to bolt.new and signing in with your GitHub account. Bolt.new allows you to instantly generate a project by simply providing a prompt. In the video, we created a fun app called “MoodFlip” that takes a negative situation and returns a humorous positive spin to brighten your day.
Once you’ve created your project, you can preview it within Bolt.new. It’s as simple as clicking “Run” and seeing your app come to life.
Step 2: Deploy Your Project with Netlify
With Bolt.new, deploying your web application to Netlify is a breeze. Once your app is ready, click on the “Deploy” button in Bolt.new to initiate the deployment process. Netlify will provide a public URL where you can view your app.
For custom domains, you can log in to Netlify and configure your custom domain settings or set up an SSL certificate using a service like AWS Route 53. In the video, we set up a custom subdomain to make our project more memorable.
Step 3: Open Your Project in StackBlitz
Bolt.new provides a basic IDE, but for a more enhanced coding experience, you can open your project in StackBlitz. StackBlitz is a powerful online IDE that offers a range of features to improve your coding experience, such as version control and extensions.
Once in StackBlitz, you can create a new GitHub repository for your project directly from the interface. This makes it easy to set up version control and keep track of changes as your project evolves.
Step 4: Set Up Continuous Deployment
Continuous deployment ensures that every change you make is automatically reflected in your live application. With Netlify, you can easily connect your GitHub repository to automate deployments. Each time you push changes to GitHub, Netlify picks them up and deploys them without any extra manual effort.
In the video, we show how to set up the deployment process using StackBlitz and Netlify, ensuring that all changes are synced and deployed to a custom subdomain.
Step 5: Load Your Repository Back into Bolt.new
One of the standout features of Bolt.new is its integration with GitHub. Suppose you need to iterate on your project further and leverage the AI capabilities of Bolt.new. In that case, you can load an existing GitHub repository back into Bolt.new by simply prefixing the GitHub URL with “bolt.new/”.
This allows you to enhance or tweak your project and even use Bolt.new’s AI capabilities to suggest changes, such as improving the UI or adding animations.
Key Takeaways
This workflow allows you to harness the power of multiple tools, each excelling at a different part of the development lifecycle:
- Bolt.new is fantastic for quick starts and making changes with AI assistance.
- StackBlitz provides a robust environment for writing and managing your code.
- GitHub integrates version control, allowing you to keep track of every update.
- Netlify ensures easy, continuous deployments, making your application accessible online.
By using these tools together, you get a complete ecosystem that supports all aspects of web development—from initial prototyping to final deployment. This makes it ideal for developers at all levels, whether you’re just starting out or already experienced.
For a more detailed demonstration, be sure to watch the full video on YouTube, where I walk through each step visually, highlighting the different tools and showing you exactly how they work together.