Show a client a website before it goes live

A client judges a site best on their own phone and laptop. Screenshots and screen shares can't show how it scrolls, loads and feels there. You don't need a staging server to give them the real thing: give them a link to the site as it is on your laptop, or to a build you uploaded.

Live from your laptop, or uploaded

Under a reserved name, both use the same link, so the client only ever needs one.

Before you start

On macOS and Linux, install the command line tool with:

curl -fsSL https://ouicu.com/install.sh | sh

On Windows, run this in PowerShell:

irm https://ouicu.com/install.ps1 | iex

Then log in. It opens ouicu.com in your browser, where you approve this computer:

ouicu login

In a meeting: share it live

Start your dev server, then share it under the client's name:

ouicu share 3000 --name studiolund

Paste the link into the meeting chat and let them open it on their own laptop or phone. Make the change they ask for and save: the page updates on their screen, since hot reload passes through. For a phone in the room, the QR code under the link in your terminal opens it.

Names come with Hobby and Pro. On Free, leave out --name: you get a random name, and the share runs for up to 2 hours.

For a review in their own time

A live share needs your laptop on. When they'll look tonight or next week, build the site and upload it under the same name:

npm run buildouicu deploy ./dist --name studiolund

Point it at the folder your build writes: dist for Vite and Astro, out for a Next.js static export, build for Create React App. Add --spa for a single-page app, so its routes work. The link works with your laptop off.

Upload again with the same name to update it. They keep the link, and see the new version once the upload finishes. While a live share runs under the name, it wins, so you can leave a version up for review and still share live in the next meeting.

On Free, you get 1 uploaded site, kept 7 days after its last upload. On Hobby and Pro, sites stay until you delete them.

One name for each client (Hobby and Pro)

Give each client a name of their own, like studiolund or nordkap. The link they bookmarked last month still works today, whatever you have shared or uploaded under it since. Hobby keeps 3 names, and Pro has no limit.

On Pro, a name can also show at a domain of yours, like preview.yourstudio.com. See Custom domains.

Keep it between you and them

Anyone with a link can open it, until you add a password or a list of people. Set either on the name, on the Shares page under “Change who can open it”, and it holds for every share and upload under that name:

• A password, on Hobby and Pro. They type it once, and that browser stays in for 7 days.
• Invited people, on Pro. List their addresses, or @theirstudio.com for everyone there. They type their email address and get a link to open it, with no account to make.

Previews on ouicu.app also ask search engines not to list them, so unfinished work doesn't turn up in a search. More in Password-protect a staging site.

Know when they've looked (Hobby and Pro)

ouicu emails you when someone opens your link: when they came, from which country, on what kind of device, and the page they opened first. On a link for invited people, it names them. Visits from your own network are left out, so checking the link yourself doesn't email you. Follow up while it's fresh.

When you close the laptop (Hobby and Pro)

A live share goes off when your laptop sleeps. Under a reserved name, visitors then see the last version of each page someone opened, with a note in a corner:

The live preview is offline. This is its last version, from 3 Oct, 14:05.

Only what someone opened while the share ran is kept, and nothing sent with a visitor's cookies or login. Share again and they see the live site. For a full copy that stays up, upload a build instead.

What your client sees

• On Free, a short notice from ouicu first, once a week in each browser. On Hobby and Pro, the link opens straight to your site.
• A page from ouicu asking for the password or their email address, when the link has one.
• A small Report button in a corner, so anyone can tell ouicu about a preview that looks wrong. Reports go to ouicu, not to you.