safe-publish

Safe Publish

Publish a Webflow site with comprehensive preview, validation, and explicit confirmation workflow.

Important Note

ALWAYS use Webflow MCP tools for all operations:

• Use Webflow MCP's data_sites_tool with action list_sites for listing available sites
• Use Webflow MCP's data_sites_tool with action get_site for detailed site information
• Use Webflow MCP's data_pages_tool with action list_pages for retrieving all pages
• Use Webflow MCP's data_cms_tool with action get_collection_list for listing CMS collections
• Use Webflow MCP's data_cms_tool with action list_collection_items for checking draft items
• Use Webflow MCP's data_sites_tool with action publish_site for publishing the site
• Use Webflow MCP's webflow_guide_tool to get best practices before starting
• DO NOT use any other tools or methods for Webflow operations
• All tool calls must include the required context parameter (15-25 words, third-person perspective)

Instructions

Phase 1: Site Selection & Status Check

1. Get site: Identify the target site. If user does not provide site ID, ask for it.
2. Fetch site details: Use Webflow MCP's data_sites_tool with action get_site to retrieve:
   • Last published date
   • Last updated date
   • Custom domains configured
   • Locale settings
3. Check publish status: Determine if site has unpublished changes:
   • Compare lastUpdated vs lastPublished timestamps
   • If lastPublished is null, site has never been published
   • If lastUpdated > lastPublished, site has unpublished changes

Phase 2: Change Detection & Analysis

4. List all pages: Use Webflow MCP's data_pages_tool with action list_pages
5. Identify modified pages:
   • Compare each page's lastUpdated with site's lastPublished
   • Flag pages modified after last publish
   • Categorize by type (static, CMS template, archived, draft)
6. List all collections: Use Webflow MCP's data_cms_tool with action get_collection_list
7. Check for draft items:
   • For each collection, use Webflow MCP's collections_items_list_items
   • Count items where isDraft: true
   • Count items modified since last publish
8. Detect issues:
   • Draft items that won't be published unless explicitly included
   • Pages missing SEO metadata
   • Broken references (if detectable)

Phase 3: Pre-Publish Validation & Preview

9. Run pre-publish checks:
   • Verify no broken collection references
   • Check for pages with missing required fields
   • Warn about draft items that will remain unpublished
10. Generate detailed preview:
    • Show all pages to be published
    • Show all CMS items to be published
    • Display warnings for any issues found
    • Show which domains will be updated
11. Ask for publish scope:
    • Webflow subdomain only
    • Custom domains only
    • Both subdomain and custom domains

Phase 4: Confirmation & Publishing

12. Require explicit confirmation:
    • User must type "publish" to proceed
    • "yes" or "y" should NOT trigger publish
    • Show clear warning about what will go live
13. Execute publish:
    • Use Webflow MCP's data_sites_tool with action publish_site with correct parameters
    • Handle customDomains as empty array if no custom domains
    • Set publishToWebflowSubdomain based on user choice
14. Capture publish timestamp:
    • Fetch site info again after publish
    • Record exact publish time from lastPublished field

Phase 5: Verification & Reporting

15. Verify publish success:
    • Check that lastPublished timestamp updated
    • Verify site is accessible at published URL(s)
    • Report any verification failures clearly
16. Generate success report:
    • Show publish timestamp
    • List what went live (pages, items)
    • Provide published URL(s)
    • Show verification status
17. Handle failures gracefully:
    • If publish fails, show clear error message
    • Suggest remediation steps
    • Do not retry automatically

Examples

User prompt:

Publish my site

Step 1: Site Selection

🚀 Safe Publish - Site Selection

Available Sites:

1. **MCP Demo#1**
   - Last published: January 9, 2026 at 20:05:38 UTC
   - Last updated: January 9, 2026 at 20:49:37 UTC
   - ⚠️ **Has unpublished changes** (updated 44 minutes after last publish)

2. **MCP Demo#2**
   - Last updated: January 9, 2026 at 19:32:53 UTC
   - Status: Not yet published

Which site would you like to publish? (1-2)

Step 2: Change Detection & Preview

🚀 Publish Preview: MCP Demo#1

**Last published:** January 9, 2026 at 20:05:38 UTC
**Time since last publish:** ~1 hour 5 minutes

---

## Changes to Publish:

### 📄 Pages Modified: 1
└── **Home** (/)
    - SEO title updated to "Home Page"
    - Last modified: 21:10:52 UTC

### 📝 CMS Items: 2 draft items to publish

**Blog Posts (2 drafts):**

1. **"Why Webflow MCP Will Transform Your Workflow in 2026!"**
   - Status: Draft
   - Created: 20:24:44 UTC
   - Last modified: 21:11:03 UTC
   - Featured: Yes
   - Slug: webflow-mcp-transform-workflow-2026

2. **"Webflow E-commerce: The Future of Online Shopping in 2026!"**
   - Status: Draft
   - Created: 20:05:24 UTC
   - Last modified: 21:11:11 UTC
   - Featured: Yes
   - Slug: webflow-ecommerce-2026

---

**Pre-Publish Checks:**
- ✅ No broken references detected
- ✅ All required fields populated
- ⚠️ 2 draft items will become published

**Publish Targets:**
- Webflow subdomain: mcp-demo-1-e88499.webflow.io
- Custom domains: None configured

**⚠️ Type "publish" to make these changes live.**

Step 3: After user types "publish"

🔄 Publishing MCP Demo#1...

Progress: ████████████████████ 100%

✅ Published Successfully!

**Site:** MCP Demo#1
**Published at:** 2026-01-09 21:12:52 UTC (January 9, 2026 at 21:12:52)

---

## What Went Live:

### 📄 Pages (1)
- ✅ Home (/) - SEO title updated

### 📝 Blog Posts (2)
- ✅ "Why Webflow MCP Will Transform Your Workflow in 2026!"
- ✅ "Webflow E-commerce: The Future of Online Shopping in 2026!"

---

## Verification:

- ✅ **Site accessible:** Yes
- ✅ **URL:** https://mcp-demo-1-e88499.webflow.io
- ✅ **Status:** Page loading successfully
- ✅ **Content delivery:** Webflow CDN responding

---

**🎉 Your site is now live with all changes published!**

All unpublished changes have been successfully published to the Webflow subdomain. The 2 draft blog posts are now visible on your site.

Alternative: With Warnings

🚀 Publish Preview: Company Site

**Last published:** January 8, 2026 at 14:30:00 UTC

---

## Changes to Publish:

### 📄 Pages Modified: 3
├── **About** (/about)
│   └── Content updated
├── **Contact** (/contact)
│   └── Form fields changed
└── **Home** (/)
    └── Hero section updated

### 📝 CMS Items

**Blog Posts:**
- 5 published items modified
- 2 draft items (will NOT be published automatically)

**Products:**
- 3 new items created
- 1 item updated

---

**Pre-Publish Checks:**
⚠️ **Warnings Found:**

1. **Missing SEO Metadata (2 pages):**
   - /about - No meta description
   - /contact - No meta title or description
   - 💡 Recommendation: Add SEO metadata before publishing

2. **Draft Items (2):**
   - "Upcoming Product Launch" (Blog Post)
   - "Holiday Sale Announcement" (Blog Post)
   - ⚠️ These will remain unpublished

3. **Large Change Set:**
   - 3 pages + 9 CMS items will be updated
   - Consider reviewing changes carefully

**Publish Targets:**
- Webflow subdomain: company-site.webflow.io
- Custom domains: example.com, www.example.com

---

**Would you like to:**
1. Proceed with publish (type "publish")
2. Cancel and review (type "cancel")

Guidelines

Phase 1: Critical Requirements

Site Status Check:

• Always fetch complete site details using sites_get
• Compare lastUpdated vs lastPublished to detect unpublished changes
• If timestamps are identical, inform user "No changes to publish"
• If lastPublished is null, warn "First publish - entire site will go live"

Timestamp Handling:

• Store both ISO format and human-readable format
• Calculate time elapsed since last publish
• Show timezone (prefer UTC for clarity)

Phase 2: Change Detection Rules

Page Change Detection:

• Compare page lastUpdated with site lastPublished
• Only flag pages where lastUpdated > lastPublished
• Categorize changes:
  • Content changes (hard to detect via API)
  • SEO metadata changes (compare if available)
  • Structural changes (page created/deleted)

CMS Item Detection:

• Check isDraft field for all items
• Compare lastUpdated with site lastPublished
• Count items in each state:
  • Published + not modified
  • Published + modified
  • Draft (won't be published)
  • Archived (won't appear on site)

Collections to Check:

• Query all collections with collections_list
• For each collection, list items with collections_items_list_items
• Batch queries if site has many collections (10+ collections)

Phase 3: Pre-Publish Validation

Required Checks:

1. Broken References:

   • Check if referenced items exist
   • Warn if reference field points to deleted/archived item
   • Note: API may not expose this easily - best effort

2. Missing Required Fields:

   • Verify all required CMS fields are populated
   • Warn if required fields are empty (shouldn't be possible, but check)

3. SEO Completeness:

   • Check pages for missing seo.title or seo.description
   • Warn but don't block publish
   • Provide recommendations for improvement

4. Draft Item Warning:

   • Clearly list all draft items
   • Explain they will remain unpublished
   • Offer to cancel if user wants to publish drafts first

Warning Levels:

• 🔴 Critical: Would break site (broken refs, missing required fields)
• ⚠️ Warning: Suboptimal but publishable (missing SEO, drafts)
• 💡 Suggestion: Best practices (add meta descriptions, optimize images)

When to Block Publish:

• Only block if critical errors found
• For warnings and suggestions, allow user to proceed
• Always show warnings prominently

Phase 4: Confirmation & Publishing

Confirmation Requirements:

• User MUST type "publish" (case-insensitive)
• Do NOT accept: "yes", "y", "ok", "go", "confirm"
• Rationale: Prevents accidental publishes from generic confirmations
• If user types anything else, ask again or treat as cancel

Publish API Usage:

// Correct format for sites_publish
{
  "site_id": "site-id-here",
  "publishToWebflowSubdomain": true,  // or false
  "customDomains": []  // MUST be array, even if empty
}

// If custom domains exist:
{
  "site_id": "site-id-here",
  "publishToWebflowSubdomain": false,
  "customDomains": ["example.com", "www.example.com"]
}

Domain Selection:

• If no custom domains: Publish to subdomain only
• If custom domains exist: Ask user which to publish to
  • Subdomain only
  • Custom domains only
  • Both
• Default to subdomain if user doesn't specify

Error Handling:

• If customDomains validation error: Ensure it's an array
• If 400 Bad Request: Check request format
• If 403 Forbidden: Check site publish permissions
• If 500 Server Error: Retry once after 5 seconds, then report failure

Phase 5: Verification & Reporting

Post-Publish Verification:

1. Fetch Updated Site Info:

   • Call sites_get again
   • Verify lastPublished timestamp updated
   • If timestamp didn't update, publish may have failed

2. Site Accessibility Check:

   • Use WebFetch to check published URL
   • Verify site returns 200 OK
   • Check that content is served (not error page)
   • Measure response time

3. Custom Domain Checks:

   • If published to custom domains, verify each domain
   • Some domains may take time to propagate (DNS)
   • Note: "Domain may take a few minutes to update" if slow

Verification Failure Handling:

• If site not accessible: Report clearly
• Note: Changes ARE published even if verification fails
• Possible causes:
  • DNS propagation delay
  • CDN cache not yet cleared
  • Temporary Webflow infrastructure issue
• Suggest: "Try accessing the site in 2-3 minutes"

Success Report Format:

✅ Published Successfully!

Site: [Site Name]
Published at: [ISO Timestamp] ([Human Readable])

What Went Live:
- X pages modified
- Y CMS items published
- Z draft items promoted to published

Verification:
✅ Site accessible
✅ URL: [primary URL]
✅ Response time: [Xms]

[If custom domains]
Custom Domains:
✅ example.com - accessible
⚠️ www.example.com - propagating (may take 2-3 minutes)

Best Practices

Always:

• ✅ Show comprehensive preview before publishing
• ✅ Require explicit "publish" confirmation
• ✅ Verify site after publish
• ✅ Report exact publish timestamp
• ✅ List all changes going live
• ✅ Warn about draft items

Never:

• ❌ Publish without explicit user confirmation
• ❌ Accept generic confirmations like "yes"
• ❌ Hide warnings from user
• ❌ Retry failed publishes automatically
• ❌ Proceed if critical errors detected

Edge Cases:

No Changes to Publish:

ℹ️ No Changes to Publish

Last published: January 9, 2026 at 20:05:38 UTC
Last updated: January 9, 2026 at 20:05:38 UTC

All changes are already published. Your site is up to date!

First Publish (Never Published Before):

⚠️ First Publish Warning

This site has NEVER been published before.

This will make the ENTIRE site publicly accessible:
- All pages (2 pages)
- All CMS items (47 items across 3 collections)
- All assets

Are you ready to make this site live?
Type "publish" to proceed, or "cancel" to abort.

Publish to Staging Subdomain:

• If site has custom domains but user chooses subdomain only
• Useful for testing before publishing to production domain
• Explain: "Publishing to subdomain only. Custom domains will continue showing old version."

Partial Publish Not Supported:

• Webflow publishes entire site, not individual pages
• Cannot publish specific pages or collections
• If user asks to "publish just the homepage", explain limitation
• Alternative: Use staging subdomain for testing

Performance Optimization

For Large Sites:

• Sites with 100+ pages or 1000+ items may take time to analyze
• Show progress: "Analyzing 150 pages..."
• Batch API calls when possible
• Consider skipping detailed diff for very large change sets

Caching:

• Cache site info during workflow (don't refetch unnecessarily)
• Only refetch after publish to verify

Timeouts:

• Publish API may take 10-30 seconds for large sites
• Don't timeout too quickly
• Show: "Publishing... this may take up to 30 seconds for large sites"

Error Messages

Clear and Actionable:

❌ Bad:

"Publish failed"

✅ Good:

"Publish Failed: Validation Error

The Webflow API returned an error:
- customDomains parameter must be an array

This is likely a configuration issue. Retrying...

Common Errors:

1. Validation Error (customDomains):

   • Fix: Ensure customDomains: [] is an array
   • Don't pass null or omit the field

2. Site Not Found:

   • User may have provided wrong site ID
   • List available sites and ask user to select

3. Insufficient Permissions:

   • Site may require specific publish permissions
   • Check workspace access settings

4. Publish Already in Progress:

   • Another publish may be running
   • Wait 30 seconds and try again