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Creating a Site

Set up a new site in Vivreal — hosted by us, self-hosted, or linked to existing collections

beginner8 min readFor portal users

Creating a Site

Setting up a site in Vivreal takes just a few steps. You'll choose how you want to host it, pick a template, configure your domain, and you're live.

Prerequisites

Before creating a site, you should have:

  • Admin or Owner role in your group
  • If using ecommerce, a Stripe integration configured

Create Your Site

Open the Sites page

Navigate to the Sites section from the dashboard. You'll see any existing sites listed here along with their deployment status.

Click + New Site

Tap the + New Site button. The site creation dialog opens.

Choose your setup mode

Vivreal offers three ways to get started:

  • Hosted by Vivreal (recommended) — Vivreal hosts the site and auto-creates the collections for you. You'll review and edit the content to match your business.
  • I'm hosting my own site — Vivreal creates the collections for you, but you deploy and host the website yourself using the Client API.
  • I already have collections — Create a site and link it to collections you've already built.

Select a template

Choose from the available templates. Each is optimized for a specific type of site:

  • Ecommerce — storefront with product pages, cart, and Stripe checkout
  • Generic — flexible starting point for any type of site
  • Restaurant — menu, location, and ordering focused
  • Portfolio — showcase work and projects
  • Blog — content and article focused
  • Services — service offerings and booking
  • Landing — single-page conversion focused

If the template requires integrations (e.g., Stripe for ecommerce), Vivreal checks that they're configured before continuing.

Name your site

Enter a name for your site. This is used in the portal and helps identify it in your site list.

Choose a domain

You have two options:

  • Vivreal subdomain — pick a subdomain like shop.vivreal.app (free, checked for availability)
  • Custom domain — search for and register a domain (billed at cost)

Both are optional — you can skip this step and get a default URL to start with.

Create the site

Tap Create Site to kick things off. If you chose "Hosted by Vivreal", the deployment process begins automatically.

What Happens Next

For Vivreal-hosted sites, the deployment process takes a few minutes. Vivreal sets up your site, builds it, and gives you a live URL when it's ready. You can monitor the progress from the Sites page.

For self-hosted sites, Vivreal creates the collections and provides your API key. You're ready to start building and calling the Client API from your own codebase.

Deployment Status

Each Vivreal-hosted site shows one of these statuses:

StatusMeaning
DeployingYour site is being set up and built.
LiveDeployment succeeded — your site is accessible at its URL.
FailedSomething went wrong. Check the error details and retry.

Deployments typically take 3-5 minutes. The status updates automatically — no need to refresh.

After Setup

Once your site is ready, you can:

  • Visit it by tapping the URL on the Sites page
  • Connect a custom domain — see Custom Domains
  • Update content — changes to your collections appear on the site automatically
  • Adjust settings — modify branding or trigger a redeployment from Site Settings

Each group can create a limited number of sites based on your tier. Check your limits in Group Settings if you're unsure.

Troubleshooting

If a Vivreal-hosted deployment fails:

  • Check the error message on the Sites page for details
  • Verify integrations — ecommerce templates require a valid Stripe connection
  • Retry the deployment from the site's settings

Next Steps

Learn about the available templates in detail with Choosing a Template, or jump to Custom Domains to connect your own domain name.