The Difference Between Running and Deploying
When you click Run in Replit, your app runs inside the Replit development environment. You can access it via a preview URL, but it stops when you close the Replit tab or when your session times out. This is fine for development and testing but not for a live app that real users need to access.
Deploying makes your app permanently accessible at a real URL -- independent of whether you have Replit open. The app runs on Replit's infrastructure, not on your session.
The simplest mental model: Run is for building. Deploy is for sharing. You build in Run, you ship with Deploy.
How to Deploy
Step 1: Make sure your app is working correctly in Run mode. Fix any bugs before deploying.
Step 2: Click the Deploy button at the top right of the Replit editor.
Step 3: Choose Autoscale Deployment. This scales your app automatically based on traffic -- appropriate for most apps at launch stage.
Step 4: Replit will build and deploy your app. This takes one to three minutes. When complete, you get a .replit.app URL.
Step 5: Test the deployed URL. This is the URL you share with users, add to your website, and use in your marketing.
Custom Domains
By default your app gets a .replit.app URL. To use your own domain (like buildwithaiclub.com), you connect it in the Replit deployment settings. You will need a paid Replit plan and access to your domain's DNS settings. Claude can write the exact DNS records you need to add.