Render Static Sites

Deploys static frontends (React, Vue, Hugo, Gatsby, Docusaurus, Jekyll, etc.) to Render's global CDN with automatic TLS, Brotli compression, HTTP/2, and DDoS protection. Free tier available.

When to Use

Deploying a static site or SPA (no server-side rendering)
Choosing between a Static Site and a Web Service for a frontend
Configuring SPA fallback routing, redirects/rewrites, or custom headers
Setting up PR preview environments for a static site
Troubleshooting build failures or stale content on a CDN-hosted site

For SSR frameworks (Next.js, Nuxt, SvelteKit) that need a running server, use render-web-services instead. For Blueprint authoring, see render-blueprints.

Static Site vs Web Service

Need	Use	Why
Pure HTML/CSS/JS, SPA, docs, blog	Static Site	Free, global CDN, instant cache invalidation
SSR (Next.js `next start`, Nuxt server)	Web Service	Needs a running Node/Python/etc. process
Static export from SSR framework	Static Site	If the framework supports full static export (`next export`, `nuxt generate`)
API backend	Web Service	Static sites cannot run server code

Key constraint: Static sites are not on the private network. They cannot communicate with other Render services over internal hostnames.

Build and Publish

Setting	Purpose
`buildCommand`	Installs dependencies and builds assets (e.g. `npm ci && npm run build`)
`staticPublishPath`	Directory of built output to serve (e.g. `build`, `dist`, `public`)

Render auto-detects and installs dependencies. Set SKIP_INSTALL_DEPS=true to handle installation yourself in the build command.

Common frameworks

Framework	Build command	Publish path
Create React App	`npm ci && npm run build`	`build`
Vite (React/Vue/Svelte)	`npm ci && npm run build`	`dist`
Next.js (static export)	`npm ci && next build`	`out`
Nuxt (static)	`npm ci && nuxt generate`	`.output/public`
Hugo	`hugo --minify`	`public`
Gatsby	`npm ci && gatsby build`	`public`
Docusaurus	`npm ci && npm run build`	`build`
Jekyll	`bundle exec jekyll build`	`_site`
Astro	`npm ci && astro build`	`dist`

SPA Routing and Redirects

Single-page apps need a catch-all rule so the CDN serves index.html for all routes instead of returning 404.

Configure Redirect/Rewrite Rules in the Dashboard (Settings > Redirects/Rewrites) or via the Blueprint routes field:

routes:
  - type: rewrite
    source: /*
    destination: /index.html

For multi-path redirects (e.g. old blog URLs), add specific rules above the catch-all so they take priority.

See references/routing-and-headers.md for redirect types, header rules, and caching patterns.

Custom Response Headers

Add security and performance headers from the Dashboard (Settings > Headers) or the Blueprint headers field:

headers:
  - path: /*
    name: X-Frame-Options
    value: DENY
  - path: /assets/*
    name: Cache-Control
    value: public, max-age=31536000, immutable

PR Previews

Static sites support automatic PR previews—each pull request gets a unique URL with the built site.

Enable in Dashboard: Settings > PR Previews
Blueprint: set previews.generation to automatic or manual
Preview URLs follow the pattern <service>-<pr-id>.onrender.com

Blueprint Configuration

services:
  - type: web
    runtime: static
    name: my-frontend
    buildCommand: npm ci && npm run build
    staticPublishPath: dist
    routes:
      - type: rewrite
        source: /*
        destination: /index.html
    headers:
      - path: /*
        name: X-Frame-Options
        value: DENY
    previews:
      generation: automatic

Note: Static sites use type: web with runtime: static in Blueprints. There is no separate type: static.

CDN and Performance

Global CDN with edge caching worldwide
Brotli compression (better than gzip)
HTTP/2 by default
Immediate cache invalidation on every deploy (zero-downtime, atomic deploys)
DDoS protection included

Billing

Static sites have a free tier. They count against workspace-level monthly included amounts for:

Outbound bandwidth (data served to users)
Pipeline minutes (build time)

Usage beyond included allowances can incur additional cost. Confirm current allowances and charges at Render pricing.

References

Document	Contents
`references/routing-and-headers.md`	Redirect types, rewrite rules, header patterns, SPA config
`references/framework-configs.md`	Build commands and publish paths for 10+ frameworks

Related Skills

render-web-services — For SSR frameworks that need a running server
render-blueprints — Full render.yaml schema for static site fields
render-domains — Custom domain and TLS setup
render-deploy — Deploy flows, CLI, MCP operations

render-static-sites