Concepts

This page explains the core concepts behind Dropley.

Artifacts

An artifact is a published website created from an uploaded ZIP. Every artifact has:

A unique shortId (8-character nanoid, e.g., abc12345)
A public URL at https://preview.dropley.app/p/{shortId}
A status: published on creation (failed if something goes wrong)
An expiration date after which it's automatically deleted

How Publishing Works

Dropley accepts ZIP archives, folders, or loose files. The client normalizes them into a consistent manifest and uploads via a single API. On the server, files are stored in an R2 bucket and served with their original directory structure. Dropley identifies the entry point (index.html by default) and serves the full project, preserving relative paths.

Expiration

Every artifact automatically expires. You choose the lifetime when uploading:

Duration	Use Case
1 day	Quick previews, temp shares
3 days	Short-lived demos
7 days	Default — most common
15 days	Extended sharing
30 days	Longest available

After expiration, the artifact and all its files are permanently deleted. There is no "never expire" option.

Artifact URLs

Each artifact gets a unique URL that lives for its configured duration. The URL structure is:

1https://preview.dropley.app/p/{shortId}

For ZIP projects, assets within the artifact are served at:

1https://preview.dropley.app/p/{shortId}/{path/to/asset}

Upload Source Tag

When an artifact is published through an AI assistant or tool, an optional source tag identifies what created it. Available sources: Claude Code, ChatGPT, Cursor, Lovable, Bolt, Storybook, Figma, or Other. This is displayed on the artifact page and helps Dropley understand how the service is used.

Artifact Token

When you create an artifact, you receive an artifact token. This token lets you:

View full artifact details (including upload source and tags)
Update the artifact (change expiration, tags, source)
Delete the artifact

The token expires 30 minutes after creation. Keep it secure — anyone with it can modify your artifact while it's valid.

No Account System

Dropley has no accounts, no login, and no dashboard. Every action happens through uploads and tokens. This means:

No personal data collected
No passwords to manage
No accounts to recover
Artifact management is token-based only