# Manage a hosted website with MCP | answer.cloud Docs

> Canonical source: [Manage a hosted website with MCP | answer.cloud Docs](https://www.answer.cloud/docs/hosting/agent-workflow/)

Update an existing hosted website with your coding agent: inspect source and site identity, preview locally, publish the chosen destination, and verify the result.

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Manage a hosted website with MCP

Update an existing hosted website with your coding agent: inspect source and site identity, preview locally, publish the chosen destination, and verify the result.

Reviewed November 1, 2026

Use this workflow for ongoing edits to a website already hosted by Answer Cloud. For the first starter website, use [the separate launch quickstart](https://www.answer.cloud/docs/getting-started/first-website/). For a main website on another host, use [the companion workflow](https://www.answer.cloud/docs/getting-started/existing-website/).

## 1. Confirm the project and site

Open the preserved Astro source. Have your connected agent read the project instructions and identify its organization ID, site slug, public addresses, and build commands.

Ask it to call `list_organizations` if the organization has not been established, select the intended organization when necessary, and inspect `list_sites`. Compare the result with the project's recorded URL. Do not reserve a replacement site because the current agent cannot find the original.

If the website uses CMS content, inspect its collections and templates before editing. Preserve approved article URLs and existing content rather than treating the website as a blank static build.

## 2. Make and review the source change

Give a concrete request and any factual wording or assets the agent needs:

```
Update the existing services page using this approved information. Preserve its URL and the site's design system. Build locally and show me the changed page on desktop and mobile before publishing.
```

The agent should edit Astro source, run the project's relevant checks, build the site, and preview the compiled result. Check navigation, content, responsive behavior, images, and important visitor actions.

Keep platform-generated chat scripts, analytics, discovery files, and text mirrors out of hand-written source. A site-scoped chat stylesheet can remain part of your public assets.

## 3. Publish the reviewed result

When ready, specify staging or production if the destination is still unresolved. If you already selected it for this release, the agent can continue under that instruction.

For a full site, package the complete build and any required CMS manifest/templates, then use `start_deploy`, upload the ZIP, finalize it, and poll `get_deploy`. See [Deploy an artifact](https://www.answer.cloud/docs/hosting/deploy/).

With independent releases enabled, review staging and then [promote the processed deployment](https://www.answer.cloud/docs/hosting/environments/). Shared widget configuration can affect both destinations, so do not switch a shared theme to a stylesheet available only on staging.

## 4. Verify and retain the handoff

The agent should inspect warnings, open the returned public URLs, check the changed content and important links, inspect discovery resources, and test a meaningful chat answer. It should distinguish browser verification from an API-only chat check.

Keep the edited source, dependency lockfile, and updated project instructions. Record the deployment sequence and any unresolved checks without recording credentials. If a release needs recovery, use [deployment history and rollback](https://www.answer.cloud/docs/hosting/rollback/) on the same site.

With GitHub enabled and a repository linked, successful uploads also save public deployed output automatically. Record the commit after it appears in deploy history, and retain editable Astro source separately from the saved output. See [GitHub deployment and automatic commits](https://www.answer.cloud/docs/hosting/github/#automatic-commits-after-uploads).