Ephemerals

An ephemeral is a disposable Xano environment in Xano’s cloud. It runs the same backend as the Xano Engine, at a URL other people can reach, and it expires on its own. Use one to share a build, and as the source of a release.

Deploy to an ephemeral

An ephemeral is created under your Xano workspace, so sign in once first:

npx xanosdk login

Then deploy to an ephemeral:

npm run xano:deploy:ephemeral                       # scaffolded project: backend and built frontend
npx xanosdk deploy ./xano/index.ts --ephemeral      # any project: backend only

The scaffolded script builds the frontend and passes --static ./frontend/dist, so the ephemeral serves both (see Frontend hosting). The deploy prints the backend URL, and the frontend URL when it published one.

→ Deploying xano/index.ts → ephemeral "e4f2-9ab1" ("my-app") (refresh, full replace)
  on your-instance.xano.io · workspace 3
✓ Refreshed ephemeral "e4f2-9ab1" ("my-app") (URL unchanged) (1.1s)
  https://your-instance.xano.io/tenant/e4f2-9ab1
  Expires in 0h 56m
  Manage with `npx xanosdk ephemeral get e4f2-9ab1`
  Open the builder with `npx xanosdk impersonate ephemeral:e4f2-9ab1`
→ Deploying static frontend ./frontend/dist → ephemeral "e4f2-9ab1" ("my-app")
  Routing: spa — every path serves index.html.
✓ Config injected into 1 document: window.XANO_HOST
✓ Static host deployed
  https://a1b2c3-your-instance.xano.io
✓ Frontend is live

Not every instance has ephemerals turned on. Where they are off, deploy --ephemeral says so and names who can turn them on. A deploy to the Xano Engine still works meanwhile.

Create, refresh and expire

The project tracks one ephemeral. Its record is .xano/ephemeral.json, which is uncommitted.

The first deploy creates it. These flags apply only then:
Flag What it sets
--expires-hours <n> How long it lives, 1 to 24 hours. Default: 1.
--name <n> Its display name. Default: the workspace name, else this directory’s name.
On an ephemeral that already exists they are accepted and not acted on, and the --json summary lists them under notApplied.
Every later deploy refreshes it. The ephemeral keeps its name and backend URL, and the deploy replaces what it holds: tables are recreated and seeded again.
When it expires, it is gone. The next deploy creates a new ephemeral with a new URL and clears the old record.

Flag	What it sets
`--expires-hours <n>`	How long it lives, 1 to 24 hours. Default: 1.
`--name <n>`	Its display name. Default: the workspace name, else this directory’s name.

npx xanosdk deploy ./xano/index.ts --ephemeral --expires-hours 8 --name my-app-review

Keep rows, or start over

A deploy to an ephemeral replaces everything on it unless you pass --keep-data, which merges as on the Engine: code and schema changes land, and the rows already in the tables stay.

npx xanosdk deploy ./xano/index.ts --ephemeral --keep-data   # merge, keep rows
npx xanosdk deploy ./xano/index.ts --ephemeral --reset       # replace and re-seed, overriding --keep-data

A --keep-data deploy merges only into an ephemeral an earlier deploy finished filling. A new or recreated one is replaced and seeded, and the deploy says why.

Manage ephemerals

These commands take an ephemeral’s name (the handle, such as e4f2-9ab1), not its display name. ephemeral list shows the handle in bold.

Command	What it does
`xanosdk ephemeral list`	The ephemerals under your workspace. `--all-workspaces` spans every workspace.
`xanosdk ephemeral get <name>`	One ephemeral’s URL, status and expiry.
`xanosdk ephemeral delete <name>`	Tears it down now instead of waiting for expiry. `--yes` skips the prompt.
`xanosdk ephemeral export [name]`	Writes its bundle JSON to `.xano/exports/` (default: this project’s ephemeral). `--format multidoc` writes XanoScript instead.

After a deploy to an ephemeral, it is the backend this project tracks, so xanosdk status, test run-all, tables and env pull reach it with no flag. Name another one as ephemeral:<name>.

Cut a release from it

A release is cut from what is running on an ephemeral, not from the Engine:

npx xanosdk deploy ./xano/index.ts --ephemeral --test   # deploy to an ephemeral and run its tests
npx xanosdk release create v1.4.0                        # cut from that ephemeral

Releases covers the rest of the flow.

Serve a frontend beside the backend: Frontend hosting.
Ship what you tested: Releases.

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Deploy to an ephemeral

Create, refresh and expire

Keep rows, or start over

Manage ephemerals

Cut a release from it

Next

​Deploy to an ephemeral

​Create, refresh and expire

​Keep rows, or start over

​Manage ephemerals

​Cut a release from it

​Next

Deploy to an ephemeral

Create, refresh and expire

Keep rows, or start over

Manage ephemerals

Cut a release from it

Next