version: "1.0.1" name: webflow-mcp:safe-publish description: Publish a Webflow site with a plan-confirm-publish workflow. Shows what changed since last publish, runs pre-publish checks, and requires explicit confirmation before going live.

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

1. Check publish status: Determine if site has unpublished changes: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 lastPublished, site has unpublished changes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

1. List all pages: Use Webflow MCP's data_pages_tool with action list_pages
2. 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)

1. List all collections: Use Webflow MCP's data_cms_tool with action get_collection_list
2. 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

1. 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

1. Run pre-publish checks:

• Verify no broken collection references
• Check for pages with missing required fields
• Warn about draft items that will remain unpublished

1. 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

1. Ask for publish scope:

• Webflow subdomain only
• Custom domains only
• Both subdomain and custom domains

Phase 4: Confirmation & Publishing

1. Require explicit confirmation:

• User must type "publish" to proceed
• "yes" or "y" should NOT trigger publish
• Show clear warning about what will go live

1. 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

1. Capture publish timestamp:

• Fetch site info again after publish
• Record exact publish time from lastPublished field

Phase 5: Verification & Reporting

1. Verify publish success:

• Check that lastPublished timestamp updated
• Verify site is accessible at published URL(s)
• Report any verification failures clearly

1. Generate success report:

• Show publish timestamp
• List what went live (pages, items)
• Provide published URL(s)
• Show verification status

1. 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, inform user "No changes to publish"
• If lastPublished is null, warn "First publish - entire site will go live"

Timestamp Handling:

• Store both ISO format and human-readable format
• Calculate time elapsed since last publish
• Show timezone (prefer UTC for clarity)

Phase 2: Change Detection Rules

Page Change Detection:

• Compare page lastUpdated with site lastPublished
• Only flag pages where lastUpdated > lastPublished
• Categorize changes:
• Content changes (hard to detect via API)
• SEO metadata changes (compare if available)
• Structural changes (page created/deleted)

CMS Item Detection:

• Check isDraft field for all items
• Compare lastUpdated with site lastPublished
• Count items in each state:
• Published + not modified
• Published + modified
• Draft (won't be published)
• Archived (won't appear on site)

Collections to Check:

• Query all collections with data_cms_tool with action get_collection_list
• For each collection, list items with data_cms_tool with action list_collection_items
• Batch queries if site has many collections (10+ collections)

Phase 3: Pre-Publish Validation

Required Checks:

1. Broken References:

• Check if referenced items exist
• Warn if reference field points to deleted/archived item
• Note: API may not expose this easily - best effort

1. Missing Required Fields:

• Verify all required CMS fields are populated
• Warn if required fields are empty (shouldn't be possible, but check)

1. SEO Completeness:

• Check pages for missing seo.title or seo.description
• Warn but don't block publish
• Provide recommendations for improvement

1. Draft Item Warning:

• Clearly list all draft items
• Explain they will remain unpublished
• Offer to cancel if user wants to publish drafts first

Warning Levels:

• 🔴 Critical: Would break site (broken refs, missing required fields)
• ⚠️ Warning: Suboptimal but publishable (missing SEO, drafts)
• 💡 Suggestion: Best practices (add meta descriptions, optimize images)

When to Block Publish:

• Only block if critical errors found
• For warnings and suggestions, allow user to proceed
• Always show warnings prominently

Phase 4: Confirmation & Publishing

Confirmation Requirements:

• User MUST type "publish" (case-insensitive)
• Do NOT accept: "yes", "y", "ok", "go", "confirm"
• Rationale: Prevents accidental publishes from generic confirmations
• If user types anything else, ask again or treat as cancel

Publish API Usage:

// Correct format for data_sites_tool with action publish_site
{
  "site_id": "site-id-here",
  "publishToWebflowSubdomain": true,  // or false
  "customDomains": []  // MUST be array, even if empty
}
// If custom domains exist:
{
  "site_id": "site-id-here",
  "publishToWebflowSubdomain": false,
  "customDomains": ["example.com", "www.example.com"]
}

Domain Selection:

• If no custom domains: Publish to subdomain only
• If custom domains exist: Ask user which to publish to
• Subdomain only
• Custom domains only
• Both
• Default to subdomain if user doesn't specify

Error Handling:

• If customDomains validation error: Ensure it's an array
• If 400 Bad Request: Check request format
• If 403 Forbidden: Check site publish permissions
• If 500 Server Error: Retry once after 5 seconds, then report failure

Phase 5: Verification & Reporting

Post-Publish Verification:

1. Fetch Updated Site Info:

• Call data_sites_tool with action get_site again
• Verify lastPublished timestamp updated
• If timestamp didn't update, publish may have failed

1. Site Accessibility Check:

• Use WebFetch to check published URL
• Verify site returns 200 OK
• Check that content is served (not error page)
• Measure response time

1. Custom Domain Checks:

• If published to custom domains, verify each domain
• Some domains may take time to propagate (DNS)
• Note: "Domain may take a few minutes to update" if slow

Verification Failure Handling:

• If site not accessible: Report clearly
• Note: Changes ARE published even if verification fails
• Possible causes:
• DNS propagation delay
• CDN cache not yet cleared
• Temporary Webflow infrastructure issue
• Suggest: "Try accessing the site in 2-3 minutes"

Success Report Format:

✅ Published Successfully!
 
Site: [Site Name]
Published at: [ISO Timestamp] ([Human Readable])
 
What Went Live:
- X pages modified
- Y CMS items published
- Z draft items promoted to published
 
Verification:
✅ Site accessible
✅ URL: [primary URL]
✅ Response time: [Xms]
 
[If custom domains]
Custom Domains:
✅ example.com - accessible
⚠️ www.example.com - propagating (may take 2-3 minutes)

Best Practices

Always:

• ✅ Show comprehensive preview before publishing
• ✅ Require explicit "publish" confirmation
• ✅ Verify site after publish
• ✅ Report exact publish timestamp
• ✅ List all changes going live
• ✅ Warn about draft items

Never:

• ❌ Publish without explicit user confirmation
• ❌ Accept generic confirmations like "yes"
• ❌ Hide warnings from user
• ❌ Retry failed publishes automatically
• ❌ Proceed if critical errors detected

Edge Cases:

No Changes to Publish:

ℹ️ No Changes to Publish
 
Last published: January 9, 2026 at 20:05:38 UTC
Last updated: January 9, 2026 at 20:05:38 UTC
 
All changes are already published. Your site is up to date!

First Publish (Never Published Before):

⚠️ First Publish Warning
 
This site has NEVER been published before.
 
This will make the ENTIRE site publicly accessible:
- All pages (2 pages)
- All CMS items (47 items across 3 collections)
- All assets
 
Are you ready to make this site live?
Type "publish" to proceed, or "cancel" to abort.

Publish to Staging Subdomain:

• If site has custom domains but user chooses subdomain only
• Useful for testing before publishing to production domain
• Explain: "Publishing to subdomain only. Custom domains will continue showing old version."

Partial Publish Not Supported:

• Webflow publishes entire site, not individual pages
• Cannot publish specific pages or collections
• If user asks to "publish just the homepage", explain limitation
• Alternative: Use staging subdomain for testing

Performance Optimization

For Large Sites:

• Sites with 100+ pages or 1000+ items may take time to analyze
• Show progress: "Analyzing 150 pages..."
• Batch API calls when possible
• Consider skipping detailed diff for very large change sets

Caching:

• Cache site info during workflow (don't refetch unnecessarily)
• Only refetch after publish to verify

Timeouts:

• Publish API may take 10-30 seconds for large sites
• Don't timeout too quickly
• Show: "Publishing... this may take up to 30 seconds for large sites"

Error Messages

Clear and Actionable:

❌ Bad:

"Publish failed"

✅ Good:

"Publish Failed: Validation Error
 
The Webflow API returned an error:
- customDomains parameter must be an array
 
This is likely a configuration issue. Retrying...

Common Errors:

1. Validation Error (customDomains):

• Fix: Ensure customDomains: [] is an array
• Don't pass null or omit the field

1. Site Not Found:

• User may have provided wrong site ID
• List available sites and ask user to select

1. Insufficient Permissions:

• Site may require specific publish permissions
• Check workspace access settings

1. Publish Already in Progress:

• Another publish may be running
• Wait 30 seconds and try again