Netlify Hosting - Do Schema Changes Need to be Deployed?

When you host your Studio on Netlify, the build process (running sanity build or npm run build) only creates the static files for your Studio interface—it does not deploy your schema. So yes, you still need to run sanity deploy separately if you want to use features that require a deployed schema.

Here's the distinction:

What sanity build does (what Netlify runs):

• Compiles your Studio into static HTML/CSS/JS files
• Creates the dist folder that Netlify serves
• Makes your Studio UI available at your Netlify URL

What sanity deploy does (separate command):

• Deploys your schema definitions to Sanity's platform
• Makes your schema available to features like AI Agent Actions, Canvas, and Dashboard
• Deploys to the *.sanity.studio domain (if using Sanity's hosting)

When you need to run sanity deploy:

• If you're using AI features like Agent Actions (requires deployed schema)
• If you're using Canvas for content mapping
• If you want your schema accessible in the Dashboard
• You only need to do this once per environment when setting up these features, not every time you make schema changes

When you don't need it:

• If you're just using basic Studio functionality
• Your self-hosted Studio on Netlify will work fine for content editing without it

For most self-hosted setups on Netlify, you can skip sanity deploy unless you specifically need those AI-powered features. Your Netlify build handles everything needed for a functioning Studio interface.

If you do need schema deployment, you can add it to your CI/CD pipeline by running SANITY_AUTH_TOKEN=<your-token> sanity schema deploy as part of your deployment process.