Deploy and manage web apps through an HTTP API, with templates, status checks, logs, and version controls.
Design & media
here.now
Publish websites and files to live URLs, update them by slug, and control who can access them.
What it does
Publish a file or folder as a live site at a here.now URL, or update an existing site by slug. HTML directories are served from a root index.html; raw images, PDFs, video, audio, and other files receive viewers or directory listings. The bundled scripts also support workspace publishing, access controls, SPA routing, and private Drive storage.
When to use it
- Publishing a static website
- Sharing a PDF or media file by URL
- Deploying a team site to a workspace
- Storing private agent files in a Drive
The skill document
here.now
Skill version: 1.18.0
here.now lets agents publish websites and files to live URLs in seconds.
The core primitive is a Site: publish a file or folder and get a live URL at {slug}.here.now or a custom domain. Every Site has access control: public link (default), password, or restricted invite-only access.
here.now also includes workspaces — shared team accounts where Sites belong to the team and serve at {label}.{workspace}.here.now (see "Publish to a workspace" below).
To install or update (recommended): npx skills add heredotnow/skill --skill here-now -g
For repo-pinned/project-local installs, run the same command without -g.
Current docs
Before answering questions about here.now capabilities, features, or workflows, read the current docs:
Read the docs:
- at the first here.now-related interaction in a conversation
- any time the user asks how to do something
- any time the user asks what is possible, supported, or recommended
- before telling the user a feature is unsupported
Topics that require current docs (do not rely on local skill text alone):
- Site access control (passwords and restricted access)
- workspaces (team accounts, membership, label URLs)
- Drives and Drive sharing
- custom domains
- Site Data
- public profiles
- proxy routes and service variables
- limits and quotas
- SPA routing
- owner Site search
- Site analytics
- error handling and remediation
- feature availability
If docs and live API behavior disagree, trust the live API behavior.
If the docs fetch fails or times out, continue with the local skill and live API/script output. Prefer live API behavior for active operations.
Requirements
- Required binaries:
curl,file,jq - Optional environment variable:
$HERENOW_API_KEY - Optional Drive token variable:
$HERENOW_DRIVE_TOKEN - Optional credentials file:
~/.herenow/credentials - Bundled helpers:
./scripts/publish.shfor publishing sites./scripts/drive.shfor private Drive storage
Create a site
./scripts/publish.sh {file-or-dir}
Outputs the live URL (e.g. https://bright-canvas-a7k2.here.now/).
Under the hood this is a three-step flow: create/update -> upload files -> finalize. A site is not live until finalize succeeds.
Without an API key this creates an anonymous site that expires in 24 hours. With a saved API key, the site is permanent.
File structure: For HTML sites, place index.html at the root of the directory you publish, not inside a subdirectory. The directory's contents become the site root. For example, publish my-site/ where my-site/index.html exists — don't publish a parent folder that contains my-site/.
You can also publish raw files without any HTML. Single files get a rich auto-viewer (images, PDF, video, audio). Multiple files get an auto-generated directory listing with folder navigation and an image gallery.
Update an existing site
./scripts/publish.sh {file-or-dir} --slug {slug}
The script auto-loads the claimToken from .herenow/state.json when updating anonymous sites. Pass --claim-token {token} to override.
Authenticated updates require a saved API key.
Signed-in users also have public profiles. Agents can help users show or hide Sites on their profile and manage profile settings through the API documented at https://here.now/docs#profile.
Publish to a workspace
Workspaces are shared team accounts: Sites published into one belong to the team, not the publishing member, and get a memorable URL at {label}.{workspace}.here.now.
./scripts/publish.sh {file-or-dir} --workspace {subdomain}
Requires a saved API key and membership in the workspace. List the user's workspaces (and valid subdomains) with GET /api/v1/accounts. Workspace Sites default to member-only access; the script reports the team URL as publish_result.account_url.
For everything else — creating workspaces, invites and auto-join, workspace domains and variables, label renames — read the current docs:
→ https://here.now/docs#workspaces
Site access control
A Site uses one access mode at a time:
- anyone_with_link (default): anyone with the URL can view.
- password: visitors must enter a shared password.
- restricted: invite-only; only verified email addresses or email domains the owner allows can view.
Workspace-owned Sites use a different set of modes: account_members (the default — visitors sign in and must be workspace members) or public, optionally with a password. restricted allowlists are personal-Site-only and return 409 workspace_access_mode_unsupported on workspace Sites. See https://here.now/docs#workspace-access.
Manage access with GET/PATCH /api/v1/publish/{slug}/access (passwords via the metadata endpoint). Restricted access requires a claimed Site. The PATCH replaces the full allowlists — read, merge, then write. Before working with access control, read the current docs:
→ https://here.now/docs#access-control
Use a Drive
Use a Drive when the user wants private cloud storage for agent files: documents, context, memory, plans, assets, media, research, code, and anything else that should persist without being published as a website.
Every signed-in account has a default Drive named My Drive.
./scripts/drive.sh default
./scripts/drive.sh ls My Drive
./scripts/drive.sh put My Drive notes/today.md --from ./notes/today.md
./scripts/drive.sh cat My Drive notes/today.md
./scripts/drive.sh share My Drive --perms write --prefix notes/ --ttl 7d
Use scoped Drive tokens for agent-to-agent handoff. If you receive a herenow_drive share block, use its token as Authorization: Bearer against api_base, respect pathPrefix when present, and preserve ETags on writes. A pathPrefix of null means full-Drive access. If the skill is available, prefer ./scripts/drive.sh; otherwise call the listed API operations directly.
Client attribution
Pass --client so here.now can track reliability by agent:
./scripts/publish.sh {file-or-dir} --client cursor
This sends X-HereNow-Client: cursor/publish-sh on publish API calls.
If omitted, the script sends a fallback value.
API key storage
The publish script reads the API key from these sources (first match wins):
--api-key {key}flag (CI/scripting only — avoid in interactive use)$HERENOW_API_KEYenvironment variable~/.herenow/credentialsfile (recommended for agents)
To store a key, write it to the credentials file:
mkdir -p ~/.herenow && echo "{API_KEY}" > ~/.herenow/credentials && chmod 600 ~/.herenow/credentials
IMPORTANT: After receiving an API key, save it immediately — run the command above yourself. Do not ask the user to run it manually. Avoid passing the key via CLI flags (e.g. --api-key) in interactive sessions; the credentials file is the preferred storage method.
Never commit credentials or local state files (~/.herenow/credentials, .herenow/state.json) to source control.
Getting an API key
To upgrade from anonymous (24h) to permanent sites:
- Ask the user for their email address.
- Request a one-time sign-in code:
curl -sS https://here.now/api/auth/agent/request-code \
-H "content-type: application/json" \
-d '{"email": "user@example.com"}'
- Tell the user: "Check your inbox for a sign-in code from here.now and paste it here."
- Verify the code and get the API key:
curl -sS https://here.now/api/auth/agent/verify-code \
-H "content-type: application/json" \
-d '{"email":"user@example.com","code":"ABCD-2345"}'
- Save the returned
apiKeyyourself (do not ask the user to do this):
mkdir -p ~/.herenow && echo "{API_KEY}" > ~/.herenow/credentials && chmod 600 ~/.herenow/credentials
State file
After every site create/update, the script writes to .herenow/state.json in the working directory:
{
"publishes": {
"bright-canvas-a7k2": {
"siteUrl": "https://bright-canvas-a7k2.here.now/",
"claimToken": "abc123",
"claimUrl": "https://here.now/claim?slug=bright-canvas-a7k2&token=abc123",
"expiresAt": "2026-02-18T01:00:00.000Z"
}
}
}
Before creating or updating sites, you may check this file to find prior slugs.
Treat .herenow/state.json as internal cache only.
Never present this local file path as a URL, and never use it as source of truth for auth mode, expiry, or claim URL.
What to tell the user
For published sites:
- Always share the
siteUrlfrom the current script run. - Read and follow
publish_result.*lines from script stderr to determine auth mode. - When
publish_result.account_urlis non-empty (workspace publishes), share it as the primary team URL alongsidesiteUrl. - When
publish_result.auth_mode=authenticated: tell the user the site is permanent and saved to their account. No claim URL is needed. - When
publish_result.auth_mode=anonymous: tell the user the site expires in 24 hours. Share the claim URL (ifpublish_result.claim_urlis non-empty and starts withhttps://) so they can keep it permanently. Warn that claim tokens are only returned once and cannot be recovered. - Never tell the user to inspect
.herenow/state.jsonfor claim URLs or auth status.
For Drives:
- Do not describe Drive files as public URLs.
- Tell the user Drive contents are private unless shared with a scoped token.
- When sharing access with another agent, prefer a scoped token with a narrow
pathPrefixand short TTL.
publish.sh options
| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
--slug {slug} | Update an existing site instead of creating |
--workspace {subdomain} | Publish into a workspace (team account) you belong to |
--claim-token {token} | Override claim token for anonymous updates |
--title {text} | Viewer title (non-HTML sites) |
--description {text} | Viewer description |
--ttl {seconds} | Set expiry (authenticated only) |
--client {name} | Agent name for attribution (e.g. cursor) |
--base-url {url} | API base URL (default: https://here.now) |
--allow-nonherenow-base-url | Allow sending auth to non-default --base-url |
--api-key {key} | API key override (prefer credentials file) |
--spa | Enable SPA routing (serve index.html for unknown paths) |
Beyond publish.sh
For Drive operations, use ./scripts/drive.sh or the Drive API. For broader account and Site management — Site Data, search, analytics, profiles, delete, metadata, access control, domains, variables, proxy routes, duplication, and more — see the current docs:
Full docs: https://here.now/docs
Questions people ask
- Can I publish without creating an account?
- Yes. Publishing without an API key creates an anonymous site that expires in 24 hours; publishing with a saved API key creates a permanent site saved to the account.
- What can I publish besides an HTML website?
- You can publish single raw files or collections of files. Single images, PDFs, videos, and audio files get an auto-viewer, while multiple files get a directory listing with folder navigation and an image gallery.
- Can access be limited to specific people?
- Personal Sites can use a public link, a shared password, or restricted access for verified email addresses or domains. Workspace Sites default to signed-in workspace members and may instead be public, optionally with a password.
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