The quickest way to turn a Claude Design into a real website on your own domain is to click Export > Download as .zip, upload that ZIP in InstaPods (Create pod > Upload ZIP), and add your domain in the pod’s Domains tab. The site is live on an HTTPS URL as soon as the pod starts, and you never unzip anything or rename a file.
There is one trap worth knowing before you try any host: a Claude Design export has no index.html. Upload it to a plain static host and the home page returns a 404, even though every file arrived. InstaPods spots the export and writes the missing entry point for you, which is why the steps below are short.
This guide is for anyone who designed a landing page, portfolio or prototype in Claude Design and wants it at yourname.com rather than inside Claude. We build InstaPods, so weigh our section with that in mind. If you are happy on Netlify, Vercel or Wix, Claude Design can send the design there directly, and the last section says when that is the better pick.
What Claude Design can export (and what it can’t)
Anthropic’s help article lists no “publish to the web” option for Claude Design. Its Export menu (upper right of a project) offers, per Anthropic’s help article, read on 2026-10-15:
- Download as .zip - the design’s files.
- Export as standalone HTML - one HTML file.
- Export as PDF, PPTX, or to Google Slides - documents, not websites.
- Send to a list of tools: Adobe Experience Manager, Adobe for Creativity, Adobe Journey Optimizer, Base44, Canva, Gamma, HubSpot, Hyperframes, Lovable, Miro, Netlify, Replit, v0, Vercel and Wix.
- Handoff to Claude Code - send it to a local coding agent or Claude Code on the web.
What the article does not mention anywhere: hosting, custom domains, or a public web page for a design. Sharing inside Claude Design is about collaborators. Designs start private, and Share lets you choose who can view, comment or edit. So if you want visitors on your own domain, the design has to leave Claude Design and land on a host. Claude Design is on the Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans, per the same article, and the standalone app at claude.ai/design closes on 2026-12-14.
Why a Claude Design export shows a 404
A Claude Design .zip export is a complete static site with one piece missing: the home page. Inside the ZIP you will find:
- one or more artboards, named after the design, such as
Landing Page.dc.html support.js, the small runtime that renders them- the
.jsxcomponents the artboards import (React and Babel load from a CDN, and the components are compiled in the browser, so there is nothing to build)
What it never contains is an index.html. Static hosts serve index.html when someone visits /, so with no file of that name the root URL returns a 404 while /Landing%20Page.dc.html loads fine. Hosts handle that differently:
- Vercel’s drag-and-drop deploy asks which page people should see first. Choose “No root page” and
/returns a 404, per Vercel’s own Claude Design guide (updated 2026-09-15). - A plain static host or your own server just serves the 404. The fix is to rename the artboard to
index.htmlbefore zipping. - InstaPods recognises the export (an
.dc.htmlartboard plussupport.js) and writesindex.htmlfor you. A one-artboard design is served at/directly. A design with several artboards gets a simple index page that links to each one by name, since picking one of them as your home page would be a guess. If your ZIP already has its ownindex.html, we leave it alone.
Step by step: Claude Design to a live site
The ZIP route is five steps once you have an InstaPods account.
- Export the design. In Claude Design, open the project, click Export, then Download as .zip. Leave it zipped. A ZIP with everything inside one folder works too: we strip the single wrapper folder.
- Sign in to InstaPods. Go to app.instapods.com and sign up. Adding a card is required before your first deploy, and it adds a $10 credit, which covers about three months on the $3/mo Launch plan.
- Upload the ZIP. Click Create pod, choose the Upload ZIP tab, and drop the file in. The export is detected as a static site, so there is no install or build step. ZIPs up to 128 MB are accepted.
- Pick a plan and deploy. The wizard preselects Build ($7/mo) for uploads. A design export is a handful of small files, so you can switch it to Launch (1 vCPU, $3/mo).
- Open the URL. The pod page shows a live HTTPS address of the form
https://<pod-name>.<region>.instapods.app. Visit it and you should see your design at the root, not a 404.
If you prefer the terminal, unzip the export into a folder and run instapods deploy my-design --preset static from inside it. The same entry-point fix runs on that path (unless you pass --no-reload), and on a GitHub repo deploy.
Put it on your own domain
A Claude Design site goes on your own domain at the host, not in Claude Design. On InstaPods:
- Open the pod and go to the Domains tab.
- Add your domain, for example
www.mydesign.comorlaunch.mydesign.com. - At your registrar, create the CNAME record the Domains tab shows.
- Wait for DNS to update, usually a few minutes. SSL is issued automatically once the record resolves.
A bare root domain like mydesign.com needs a CNAME at the root, which only works if your DNS provider supports CNAME flattening (Cloudflare does). You can add more than one domain to the same pod.
Updating the design without changing the URL
Most people iterate. Claude Design makes that easy on the design side, and the hosting side should not undo it by handing you a new address each time. With Vercel’s drop, re-exporting and dropping again “gives you a new project with a new URL”, per Vercel’s guide, which suggests connecting a Git repository if you want one stable URL.
On InstaPods, a pod created with Upload ZIP has an Update from ZIP card on its page with a Re-upload ZIP button. The new export replaces the old files on the same pod, same URL, same domain, same plan. If your new export adds or removes artboards, the generated index page is rebuilt to match, and a ZIP that ships its own index.html is never touched.
The standalone HTML export
The Export as standalone HTML option gives you a single HTML file instead of a ZIP. That file works on any static host too, with one rule: it must be named index.html to load at /. Rename it, put it in a ZIP, and upload it the same way. You can also paste its contents into the Paste source tab on the InstaPods Import page.
If the design came out of a regular Claude chat as an artifact rather than from Claude Design, the flow is slightly different: see how to deploy a Claude artifact as a real website.
When Send to Netlify, Vercel or Wix is the better pick
Claude Design’s built-in Send to is the better choice in three cases, and we would use it ourselves:
- You already host on Netlify, Vercel or Wix. Sending the design to the account you already pay for, or use free, keeps everything in one dashboard.
- You want it to cost nothing. Vercel’s guide says its free Hobby plan works for a dropped Claude Design export. InstaPods has no free plan: it is $3/mo per pod after the $10 credit.
- You want a site builder around the design. Wix is a site builder rather than a file host; check what Send to Wix does with your design before choosing it. A static host gives you files on a server.
InstaPods fits when you want the design on your own domain on a flat-priced host, a fixed URL you can re-upload to, and a real Linux server behind it with SSH access, so the same pod can grow into an app later. For comparisons across hosts, see Vercel vs Netlify pricing.
| Route | Root page (/) | Re-export, same URL? | Custom domain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Send to Netlify / Vercel / Wix | Not checked | Not checked | At the host (not checked) |
| Download .zip, Vercel drop | Asks you to pick a page | No, new URL per drop | At the host (not in Vercel's guide) |
| Download .zip, plain static host | 404 until you rename a file | Yes, if you overwrite | Yes |
| Download .zip, InstaPods | Written for you | Yes, Re-upload ZIP | Yes, Domains tab |
FAQ
Can I publish a Claude Design as a website?
Yes. Anthropic’s help article lists no publish-to-web option, but the Export menu can send a design to Netlify, Vercel, Wix and other tools, or download it as a .zip or a standalone HTML file. Either download can be hosted on any static host, including on your own domain.
Why does my Claude Design export show a 404?
A Claude Design .zip export has no index.html. The canvas names each page after the design, for example Landing Page.dc.html, and a static host serves index.html at the root, so the root URL returns a 404 even though every file uploaded. Rename the page to index.html, pick a root page if your host asks, or use a host that writes the entry point for you.
Can I use a custom domain with a Claude Design site?
Not from inside Claude Design: Anthropic’s help article does not mention custom domains or web hosting. You add the domain at whichever host serves the export. On InstaPods you add it in the pod’s Domains tab and point a CNAME at the value shown, and SSL is issued automatically.
Which plans include Claude Design?
Anthropic’s help article says Claude Design is available on Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans and is on by default; usage limits follow your Claude plan. Hosting the export is separate: InstaPods starts at $3/mo per pod, with a $10 credit when you add a card.