# Share a Zola Site Preview — One Binary, One Build, One Link

Canonical: https://commareports.com/share-zola-site
Published: 2026-09-01

> zola build writes a static public/ directory. Publish it to Comma for a private preview link with anchored comments and a revision per build, without setting up hosting first.

# Share a Zola site preview

Zola builds a site in one binary with no Node install and no dependency
tree, which makes the contrast sharper than usual: the build takes
milliseconds, and getting one colleague to look at the result takes
twenty minutes of deciding where to put it.

## Publish the build

```bash
zola build --base-url /
```

Drag `public/` (or a zip of it) into [the app](https://commareports.com/):

- `index.html` becomes the report body.
- CSS, JS, images, fonts and the generated search index upload as assets
  with their references rewritten to the uploaded copies — the step that
  fails when you open `public/index.html` from disk and every
  root-relative path resolves against your filesystem. See
  [broken CSS in a shared report](/html-report-broken-css).
- Scripts run inside a sandboxed iframe, so a theme toggle or the
  built-in search keeps working.

`--base-url /` is worth the flag: a preview build should not assume the
hostname it will eventually be served from.

## Private by default

A pre-launch site is not something to leave on a guessable URL. Every
report is private until you change it — team, email-domain gate, named
reviewers, or a
[password-protected link](/password-protect-html-report) for a client.
See the [sharing model](/docs/sharing).

## Feedback lands on the page

- **Anchored threads** on the paragraph, the image, the nav item — see
  [commenting on HTML](/comment-on-html).
- **Revisions.** Rebuild and PATCH the same report id; the reviewer sees
  the new build at the URL they already have, with the previous one still
  there.
- **An agent can read the comments back** through [MCP](/docs/mcp).

## Limits

- **Entry HTML: 5 MB.** Assets: 25 MB per file, **250 MB and 500 files
  total** — a site with a page per taxonomy term can exceed 500 files.
  Build a section for review when it does.
- **60 requests/minute per token.**

## Try it

Comma is free — unlimited reports, unlimited commenters, unlimited
revision history.

**[Create your first report →](https://commareports.com/)**

### Related

- [Hugo previews](/share-hugo-site) — the nearest neighbour
- [Eleventy](/share-eleventy-site) · [Jekyll](/share-jekyll-site) · [Astro](/share-astro-site)
- [Share with a client](/share-html-file-with-client) · [Publish from CI](/docs/ci)