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Deploy an Onchain App with Fleek

One of the “secrets” of onchain apps is that they almost always have a very large web2 component that they’re dependent on. Most onchain apps rely on traditional infrastructure for their frontends, APIs, and other parts of the architecture. Fleek’s goal is to address this issue with the Fleek Network, a fast and trustless Content Delivery Network (CDN). In this tutorial, you’ll use Fleek to deploy a site built with the Onchain App Template.

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Objectives

By the end of this tutorial you should be able to:

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Prerequisites

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Next.js

You should be familiar with Next.js, but do not need to be an expert. If you are comfortable with other React libraries, the pattern should be relatively easy to follow.

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Onchain Apps

The tutorial assumes you’re comfortable with the basics of deploying an app and connecting it to a smart contract. If you’re still learning this part, check out our tutorials in Base Learn for [Building an Onchain App].

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Setting up the Template

You can skip this section if you’ve already built an app based off the template, such as our tutorial for How to Mint on Zora with an App. Open Onchain App Template, click the green Use this template button, and create a new repository from the template. Clone your repo and open it in an editor. Install bun if you need to, and install dependencies. 
# Install bun in case you don't have it
curl -fsSL https://bun.sh/install | bash

# Install packages
bun i

# Run Next app
bun run dev
Navigate to localhost:3000 and make sure that it’s working, then shut down the server. For this tutorial, you do not need to set any environment variables.

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Installing and Configuring Fleek

Fleek requires static pages, so you’ll need to ensure that your build process produces them. In your editor, open next.config.js and update the nextConfig. 
/** @type {import('next').NextConfig} */
const nextConfig = {
  output: 'export',
  reactStrictMode: true,
  images: {
    unoptimized: true,
  },
  trailingSlash: true,
};

module.exports = nextConfig;
Save and close the file. Run bun run build and confirm that a directory called out is created. Navigate to Fleek’s website and create an account, or log in if you already have one. Click into First Project. You can rename it if you want in the Settings tab. The best way to start is to link Fleek to your repo from the beginning. Click Add New from the upper right corner, then select Deploy My Site. Select your code location, log into your Git provider, and accept installing the Fleek app. You can either give it permissions for all repos, or add them one at a time. Select your repo, and click the Deploy button. The Configure Site window should automatically populate with the appropriate information, but just in case:
  • Site Name: Your site name
  • Framework: Next.js
  • Branch: main
  • Publish Directory: out
  • Build Command: npm install && npm run build
Click Deploy Site. Your deploy will probably fail, but this is expected! Return to your code editor. Open a terminal and install the Fleek CLI with: 
npm install -g @fleek-platform/cli
Then, in the root of your project run: 
fleek login
Click the link in your terminal, then click Confirm in the web page that opens up. Once you are connected, click the Visit Dashboard button. The site automatically creates a project called First Project. If you’d like, you can rename it, or add a new one. Each project can include more than one site. Return to your terminal in the app folder, and run: 
fleek sites init
Select First Project from the list 
⚠️ Warning! To proceed, please select a project...

✔ Select a project from the list: › First Project

✅ Success! You have switched to project "First Project".
For We've found existing sites. Would you like to link to one of them?, pick: Y Find the site you just added and select it.
You’re using TypeScript, but do not select TypeScript (fleek.config.ts) in the final prompt. Select JSON (fleek.config.json).
You’ll get a few more prompts:
  • ? Please specify the directory containing the site files to be uploaded
    • Enter out
  • ? Would you like to include the optional “build” command?
    • Pick Y
  • ? Specify build command:
    • Enter npm install && npm run build
    • Select JSON (fleek.config.json)

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Deployment

You can deploy the site from the CLI as the docs describe, but you do not need to. There is a better way! 
# Don't use, better method below!
fleek sites deploy
Instead, trigger an automatic deploy by making a change to the text at src/app/page.tsx, committing your changes, and pushing to your repo.

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Dashboard Overview and Confirming Deployment

Return to your dashboard and click on the Sites tab. Click on the card for your new site to open it. Here, you can see information about your site in a similar presentation to other deployment providers. Click on the <-> Deploys tab and you’ll see the automatic deploy you triggered by pushing the commit! Open your site by clicking on the build once it shifts from Pending to Live. You can then click on the link to view your site. Click on Settings. If you’d like, you can change the slug for your site to a name that’s more related to your project.

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Conclusion

In this tutorial, you learned how to use Fleek to deploy a Next.js site based on Onchain App Template. You also learned how to link Fleek to your Git provider to enable CI/CD.