How do you share a Bolt project with a client?

Bolt’s share links show your code to people signed in to Bolt, and private sites need a paid plan. How to give a client their own link to the working app.

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By Kaz Kato · Published 12 October 2026 · Updated 12 October 2026

Bolt publishes to a bolt.host address, but on Free every site is public, and private sites need a paid plan. A Bolt share link shows the project and its code to people signed in to Bolt. To give a client their own private link, and see what they did, deploy the code to a room.

This guide covers what each Bolt route shows a client, what it tells you, and what it costs. Then how a Bolt project gets into a room, by way of Bolt’s own download. Share a Bolt app is the short version, and static demos explains how most Bolt builds run.

How does Bolt share a project?

Two ways. A share link invites people into the project itself, as a Viewer or an Editor, and they must be signed in to Bolt to open it. Publishing puts the site at a bolt.host address. On Free that site is public; on a paid plan it can be kept to your team and the people you invite.

The share link. A Bolt share link can be view-only, and whoever opens it needs a Bolt account and must be signed in. Viewers see the preview and the code but cannot change them. On a Bolt project, Viewer access includes duplicating the project and adding comments, but not prompting or editing it.

That is how Bolt is meant to work: a share link is for collaborators. For a client it means three things you may not want. They need a Bolt account first. They see your code. And they can duplicate your project into their own account.

Publishing. Bolt publishes a project free at a public bolt.host address. A private site, open only to your team and people you invite, needs a paid plan. A Bolt site on a domain you have attached can only be published publicly. To publish it privately, you disconnect the domain first.

What does a client see on each?

On a share link, the Bolt project: the preview, the code, and a button to copy it. On a published site, the app itself, at a bolt.host address. In a room, the app with a guided tour, on a link made for them. Only the room needs no account, keeps your code back and tells you who opened it.

Way Who can open it Account needed Shows your code What you learn Plan
A Bolt share link, as Viewer Anyone with the link A Bolt sign-in Yes, and they can copy the project No record described Any Bolt plan
Published on bolt.host, public Anyone None Not the project Visitors in total, on a paid plan Free and up; Free carries Bolt branding
Published on bolt.host, private Your team, and people invited by email or from a trusted domain Not stated on Bolt’s page Not the project Visitors in total Paid plans only
A room on Roomi (ours) The person you named, and anyone they say they passed it to None Not the project; a static build’s files reach the browser, as on any website Each person, by name Pro, at £4 a month

We make Roomi, so weigh that. Publishing on bolt.host is the quickest way to put a Bolt app online, and for a public launch it is enough. The best ways to share an app built with AI ranks it against the other routes.

One more catch with the share link. Bolt shows a project’s environment variables, such as its keys, only to Editors and Co-owners. So a project that relies on them may not load or work as expected for a Viewer. A client opening your project as a Viewer may find the part you wanted to show them broken.

Can you tell whether your client opened it?

Not person by person. On a paid plan, Bolt’s hosting analytics count visitors, pages and sources across a published site, bots included. Bolt’s page on sharing describes no record of who opened a share link. To see whether one client looked, you need a link made for that client.

On a paid plan, Bolt’s hosting analytics show unique visitors, page views, top pages and traffic sources for a published site. They include visits from crawlers and bots. Bolt’s help page on sharing a project describes no record of who opened a share link.

A room on Pro files every visit under the name on the link. You see when they opened it, how long they spent on each screen, how far through the tour they got and what they said. If they forward it, the next person is asked who they are. What the room records lists every measure.

Will your Bolt project run in a room?

Almost always. Bolt builds with JavaScript: Node.js for the back end, and any JavaScript framework in the browser. Back ends in other languages, such as PHP or Python, are not supported. That is what Roomi runs. A browser-only app is a static demo, on every plan. One with a Node.js back end is a container demo, on Pro and above.

To find out which yours is, ask Bolt in the project’s chat: “Which framework does this project use, and does it have a server of its own?” Then:

Your Bolt project On Roomi Plan
Runs in the browser only, such as a Vite app A static demo: the built files Every plan
Has a Node.js server of its own A container demo: a copy of its own for each viewer link Pro and above

A container demo needs Docker on your own machine to build it, and runs on Node 24. Container demos has the build contract.

A Bolt project usually keeps its data in a Bolt database or in Supabase. Neither comes into the room. A demo runs on mock data, so ask your coding agent to read from sample files instead, filled with invented names and figures that look like your client’s world. If the app calls an AI model, swap that for canned answers too: a container demo has no internet. Swapping real data for mock data shows four ways to do it.

From Bolt to a room, step by step

You deploy from your own computer, with the Roomi CLI and a coding agent such as Claude Code or Cursor for the technical part. The deploy rehearses first, and nothing goes live until you add --commit.

  1. Download the project. Bolt downloads a project as a zip file, from the project title’s Export menu. Running it on your own computer needs Node.js, and one command to install and start it. Unzip it into a folder of its own.
  2. Open it with your agent. Open the folder in Claude Code or Cursor, and run npm install.
  3. Make it a demo. Ask your agent to swap the database and any AI calls for sample data. For a project with a server, ask it to make a container demo that keeps to the build contract at https://getroomi.com/docs/containers. If the download holds a .env file, as one connected to Supabase can, delete it: the deploy’s secret scan stops on a key inside.
  4. Deploy it. Install the CLI with npm install -g @getroomi/cli, and sign in with roomi login. Run roomi init, which recognises a Vite build, and write a short tour. It takes the demo’s name from package.json, which a generated project often leaves as its template’s, so check name in pitch.json. Then roomi deploy rehearses, and roomi deploy --commit publishes. The Quickstart walks through each command.

When you change the app in Bolt, download it again into the same folder, keeping its pitch.json and deleting any .env it brings back, and deploy again. The same links open the new build on their next load.

Send it, and say what the room does

Make a link in your client’s name and send it yourself, by email or however you usually reach them. Roomi sends nothing for you. Before you do, run through the checklist for an app built with AI.

roomi link "Priya Shah" --expires 14

In your message, say who you are and how to reach you, and that the room records what they do there and shows it to you. Roomi’s terms ask every publisher to say so. Sharing a private link covers expiry, revoking and forwarding.

What does each cost?

Bolt charges for privacy and for taking its branding off. Roomi charges for the private link and the record of what each person did. Both start free. Bolt’s Free plan publishes public sites with its branding on them. Roomi’s Free plan runs static demos, as a draft or a public listing.

Bolt’s Free plan puts Bolt branding on published sites. Its Pro plan, at $25 a month billed monthly, removes the branding and adds private sharing and support for a web address of your own.

Roomi’s Pro plan is £4 a month or £40 a year, before VAT. It adds a private link for each client, everything each one did, container demos, and your name and colour on the room. Pricing has every plan.

Questions people ask

Is a published Bolt site private?

Not on Bolt’s Free plan, where every published site is public. A paid plan can keep a site to your team and the people you invite. A site on a domain you have attached is public whatever the plan.

Does my client need a Bolt account?

To open a share link, yes: they must sign in to Bolt. For a private published site, Bolt’s page does not say. A room on Roomi needs no account: your client opens their own link in a browser.

Can I remove the Bolt badge?

On a paid Bolt plan, yes. A room on Roomi wears your name and colour on Pro, not ours. Free rooms carry a small “Made with” mark.

Can I keep building in Bolt?

Yes. Keep working in Bolt as you do now. When you have changed something worth showing, download it again into the same folder and deploy again. Every link opens the new build on its next load.

Will my database be exposed?

Not in a room, because it is never there. A demo on Roomi runs on mock data, and the deploy stops if it finds anything that looks like a live key. A container demo has no internet, so it cannot reach your database.

Sources

About the author

Kaz Kato, Co-founder & CTO, Roomi. Kaz co-founded Roomi with Tesh, whom he has built with since 2017: two startups that failed, one venture studio that didn’t, and an exit.

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