webflow-mcp:safe-publish

What this skill does

# Safe Publish

Publish a Webflow site with comprehensive preview, validation, and explicit confirmation workflow.

## Important Note

**ALWAYS use Webflow MCP tools for all operations:**
- Use Webflow MCP's `data_sites_tool` with action `list_sites` for listing available sites
- Use Webflow MCP's `data_sites_tool` with action `get_site` for detailed site information
- Use Webflow MCP's `data_pages_tool` with action `list_pages` for retrieving all pages
- Use Webflow MCP's `data_cms_tool` with action `get_collection_list` for listing CMS collections
- Use Webflow MCP's `data_cms_tool` with action `list_collection_items` for checking draft items
- Use Webflow MCP's `data_sites_tool` with action `publish_site` for publishing the site
- Use Webflow MCP's `webflow_guide_tool` to get best practices before starting
- DO NOT use any other tools or methods for Webflow operations
- All tool calls must include the required `context` parameter (15-25 words, third-person perspective)

## Instructions

### Phase 1: Site Selection & Status Check
1. **Get site**: Identify the target site. If user does not provide site ID, ask for it.
2. **Fetch site details**: Use Webflow MCP's `data_sites_tool` with action `get_site` to retrieve:
   - Last published date
   - Last updated date
   - Custom domains configured
   - Locale settings
3. **Check publish status**: Determine if site has unpublished changes:
   - Compare `lastUpdated` vs `lastPublished` timestamps
   - If `lastPublished` is null, site has never been published
   - If `lastUpdated` > `lastPublished`, site has unpublished changes

### Phase 2: Change Detection & Analysis
4. **List all pages**: Use Webflow MCP's `data_pages_tool` with action `list_pages`
5. **Identify modified pages**:
   - Compare each page's `lastUpdated` with site's `lastPublished`
   - Flag pages modified after last publish
   - Categorize by type (static, CMS template, archived, draft)
6. **List all collections**: Use Webflow MCP's `data_cms_tool` with action `get_collection_list`
7. **Check for draft items**:
   - For each collection, use Webflow MCP's `data_cms_tool` with action `list_collection_items`
   - Count items where `isDraft: true`
   - Count items modified since last publish
8. **Detect issues**:
   - Draft items that won't be published unless explicitly included
   - Pages missing SEO metadata
   - Broken references (if detectable)

### Phase 3: Pre-Publish Validation & Preview
9. **Run pre-publish checks**:
   - Verify no broken collection references
   - Check for pages with missing required fields
   - Warn about draft items that will remain unpublished
10. **Generate detailed preview**:
    - Show all pages to be published
    - Show all CMS items to be published
    - Display warnings for any issues found
    - Show which domains will be updated
11. **Ask for publish scope**:
    - Webflow subdomain only
    - Custom domains only
    - Both subdomain and custom domains

### Phase 4: Confirmation & Publishing
12. **Require explicit confirmation**:
    - User must type "publish" to proceed
    - "yes" or "y" should NOT trigger publish
    - Show clear warning about what will go live
13. **Execute publish**:
    - Use Webflow MCP's `data_sites_tool` with action `publish_site` with correct parameters
    - Handle `customDomains` as empty array if no custom domains
    - Set `publishToWebflowSubdomain` based on user choice
14. **Capture publish timestamp**:
    - Fetch site info again after publish
    - Record exact publish time from `lastPublished` field

### Phase 5: Verification & Reporting
15. **Verify publish success**:
    - Check that `lastPublished` timestamp updated
    - Verify site is accessible at published URL(s)
    - Report any verification failures clearly
16. **Generate success report**:
    - Show publish timestamp
    - List what went live (pages, items)
    - Provide published URL(s)
    - Show verification status
17. **Handle failures gracefully**:
    - If publish fails, show clear error message
    - Suggest remediation steps
    - Do not retry automatically

## Examples

**User prompt:**
```
Publish my site
```

**Step 1: Site Selection**
```
🚀 Safe Publish - Site Selection

Available Sites:

1. **MCP Demo#1**
   - Last published: January 9, 2026 at 20:05:38 UTC
   - Last updated: January 9, 2026 at 20:49:37 UTC
   - ⚠️ **Has unpublished changes** (updated 44 minutes after last publish)

2. **MCP Demo#2**
   - Last updated: January 9, 2026 at 19:32:53 UTC
   - Status: Not yet published

Which site would you like to publish? (1-2)
```

**Step 2: Change Detection & Preview**
```
🚀 Publish Preview: MCP Demo#1

**Last published:** January 9, 2026 at 20:05:38 UTC
**Time since last publish:** ~1 hour 5 minutes

---

## Changes to Publish:

### 📄 Pages Modified: 1
└── **Home** (/)
    - SEO title updated to "Home Page"
    - Last modified: 21:10:52 UTC

### 📝 CMS Items: 2 draft items to publish

**Blog Posts (2 drafts):**

1. **"Why Webflow MCP Will Transform Your Workflow in 2026!"**
   - Status: Draft
   - Created: 20:24:44 UTC
   - Last modified: 21:11:03 UTC
   - Featured: Yes
   - Slug: webflow-mcp-transform-workflow-2026

2. **"Webflow E-commerce: The Future of Online Shopping in 2026!"**
   - Status: Draft
   - Created: 20:05:24 UTC
   - Last modified: 21:11:11 UTC
   - Featured: Yes
   - Slug: webflow-ecommerce-2026

---

**Pre-Publish Checks:**
- ✅ No broken references detected
- ✅ All required fields populated
- ⚠️ 2 draft items will become published

**Publish Targets:**
- Webflow subdomain: mcp-demo-1-e88499.webflow.io
- Custom domains: None configured

**⚠️ Type "publish" to make these changes live.**
```

**Step 3: After user types "publish"**
```
🔄 Publishing MCP Demo#1...

Progress: ████████████████████ 100%

✅ Published Successfully!

**Site:** MCP Demo#1
**Published at:** 2026-01-09 21:12:52 UTC (January 9, 2026 at 21:12:52)

---

## What Went Live:

### 📄 Pages (1)
- ✅ Home (/) - SEO title updated

### 📝 Blog Posts (2)
- ✅ "Why Webflow MCP Will Transform Your Workflow in 2026!"
- ✅ "Webflow E-commerce: The Future of Online Shopping in 2026!"

---

## Verification:

- ✅ **Site accessible:** Yes
- ✅ **URL:** https://mcp-demo-1-e88499.webflow.io
- ✅ **Status:** Page loading successfully
- ✅ **Content delivery:** Webflow CDN responding

---

**🎉 Your site is now live with all changes published!**

All unpublished changes have been successfully published to the Webflow subdomain. The 2 draft blog posts are now visible on your site.
```

**Alternative: With Warnings**
```
🚀 Publish Preview: Company Site

**Last published:** January 8, 2026 at 14:30:00 UTC

---

## Changes to Publish:

### 📄 Pages Modified: 3
├── **About** (/about)
│   └── Content updated
├── **Contact** (/contact)
│   └── Form fields changed
└── **Home** (/)
    └── Hero section updated

### 📝 CMS Items

**Blog Posts:**
- 5 published items modified
- 2 draft items (will NOT be published automatically)

**Products:**
- 3 new items created
- 1 item updated

---

**Pre-Publish Checks:**
⚠️ **Warnings Found:**

1. **Missing SEO Metadata (2 pages):**
   - /about - No meta description
   - /contact - No meta title or description
   - 💡 Recommendation: Add SEO metadata before publishing

2. **Draft Items (2):**
   - "Upcoming Product Launch" (Blog Post)
   - "Holiday Sale Announcement" (Blog Post)
   - ⚠️ These will remain unpublished

3. **Large Change Set:**
   - 3 pages + 9 CMS items will be updated
   - Consider reviewing changes carefully

**Publish Targets:**
- Webflow subdomain: company-site.webflow.io
- Custom domains: example.com, www.example.com

---

**Would you like to:**
1. Proceed with publish (type "publish")
2. Cancel and review (type "cancel")
```

## Guidelines

### Phase 1: Critical Requirements

**Site Status Check:**
- Always fetch complete site details using `data_sites_tool` with action `get_site`
- Compare `lastUpdated` vs `lastPublished` to detect unpublished changes
- If timestamps are identical