Concepts

This page explains the core concepts behind Dropley.

Artifacts

An artifact is a published static website created from uploaded files. You can upload a loose index.html file, a folder, or a ZIP archive. 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. It keeps the project directory structure intact and serves the full static project. An index.html file is required; when a project contains more than one, Dropley automatically uses the shallowest matching path.

Expiration

Every artifact automatically expires. The default lifetime of 3 days applies automatically at publish; change it right after publishing in the manage panel under your URL, or with your artifact token:

Duration	Use Case
1 day	Quick previews, temp shares
3 days	Default — short-lived demos
7 days	Longest available

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

Need to decide whether a temporary public link is the right delivery method? See Temporary Static Hosting vs. Permanent Hosting.

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