---
title: Deployments
description: Understand deployment triggers, status, and rollout behavior.
---

Deployments turn docs source into the live site your readers see.

Radiant starts a deployment when a relevant docs change is published or pushed
to the connected docs source. You can follow deployment status from the
dashboard Overview page.

## What starts a deployment

Radiant can start deployments from several workflows:

| Trigger | When it happens |
| --- | --- |
| Dashboard editor | You publish a draft from the dashboard editor |
| Writing agent | You publish a draft that includes agent changes |
| Push to branch | A GitHub-backed docs project receives a relevant push to the connected branch |
| Manual redeploy | You start a redeploy from the dashboard Overview page |
| Repository settings update | You change repository, branch, or docs root settings and redeploy |

For GitHub-backed projects, Radiant watches the connected branch. In monorepos,
Radiant checks the configured docs root so unrelated repository changes do not
need to rebuild the docs site.

## Deployment lifecycle

<Steps>
  <Step title="Radiant receives a change">
    A publish action, Git push, or manual redeploy tells Radiant which commit or
    draft should become live.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Radiant checks access and limits">
    Radiant confirms repository access, validates authentication, and checks the
    deployment limit for the site's plan.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Radiant builds the docs">
    Radiant loads the docs root, validates `docs.json`, processes MDX and
    OpenAPI content, and builds the static docs site.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Radiant deploys the site">
    When the build succeeds, Radiant publishes the new site files. The updated
    docs are live when the deployment shows Success. The published output also
    includes AI-readable files such as `/llms.txt` and Markdown page versions.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Radiant indexes assistant context">
    On Pro sites, Radiant can index the published docs and API reference pages
    after a successful deployment so Knowledge Assistant can answer from the latest content.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Status labels

| Status | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| Queued | Radiant has accepted the deployment and is preparing to run it |
| Building | Radiant is validating, building, or deploying the docs site |
| Success | The updated docs site is live |
| Failed | The deployment could not complete |
| Limit | The site reached its deployment limit for the day |
| Canceled | A newer deployment replaced this deployment before it finished |

## Build logs

Open a deployment from the activity table to see the deployment log. Logs show
the major checks Radiant ran, including repository access, authentication,
content processing, site build, and deploy.

If a deployment fails, the log points to the stage that failed. Common causes
include invalid `docs.json`, invalid MDX, a missing docs root, a broken internal
link, or an OpenAPI source that cannot be loaded.

## Assistant indexing

For Pro sites, the activity table can show an assistant context row after a
successful deployment. This indexing step prepares the latest published docs and
API reference pages for Knowledge Assistant.

If the docs deployment succeeds but assistant indexing is still processing, the
site is already live. Knowledge Assistant can use the new content after indexing finishes.

## Common questions

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Why did a push not start a deployment?">
    Radiant only deploys relevant docs changes on the connected branch. If your
    project uses a docs root in a monorepo, changes outside that docs root may
    not start a docs deployment.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What happens when I update repository settings?">
    Repository, branch, and docs root changes affect where Radiant reads future
    docs source from. After changing those settings, redeploy so the live site
    uses the updated source.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Why did an older deployment get canceled?">
    If a newer deployment starts before an older one finishes, Radiant can
    cancel the older run so the latest change becomes the live version.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What does Limit mean?">
    Limit means the site reached the deployment limit included with its current
    plan for that day. Check Billing for current plan details.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Next steps

<Columns columns={3}>
  <Column>

  <Card title="Repository settings" href="/publish-and-manage/repository-settings" icon="lucide:git-branch">
    Change docs source.
  </Card>

  </Column>
  <Column>

  <Card title="Custom domain" href="/publish-and-manage/custom-domain" icon="lucide:globe">
    Connect your domain.
  </Card>

  </Column>
  <Column>

  <Card title="Knowledge Assistant" href="/knowledge-assistant/overview" icon="lucide:message-circle-question-mark">
    Understand indexing.
  </Card>

  </Column>
</Columns>