How do websites actually go from code on my laptop to live on a domain?

Question

I can build things locally but the deployment side is a black box — domains, DNS, hosting, SSL. Can someone explain the whole pipeline in plain language?

Rahul N. · Accepted Answer

The pipeline in plain words:

1. Hosting — your code runs on someone else's computer (a server). Services like Vercel, Netlify or a VPS give you one. You push code, they run it and give you a URL.
2. Domain — you rent a name (example.com) from a registrar for ~$10/year.
3. DNS — the phone book. You add a record at your registrar saying 'example.com points to my host's servers'. Takes minutes to set, up to a day to spread.
4. SSL — the padlock (https). Modern hosts issue it automatically for free via Let's Encrypt.

So: push code to GitHub → connect repo to Vercel → buy domain → point DNS at Vercel → done. First time takes an evening; after that it's ten minutes per project.

Rohan Verma · Answer

Do this once with a $5 VPS too — install nginx, copy files, configure the server yourself. You'll never be confused about what Vercel is doing for you again, and 'I've deployed on bare Linux' is a quietly impressive interview line.

How do websites actually go from code on my laptop to live on a domain?

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