Drop API

Deploy with one HTTP call. No login, no CLI, no account. Get a live URL in seconds.

Zero setup: The Drop API is the fastest way to deploy a static site. POST your files to https://api.zerodeploy.dev/drop and get a live URL back. No API key, no login, no account needed.

Deploy a single file

curl -X POST https://api.zerodeploy.dev/drop \
  -H "Content-Type: text/html" \
  --data-binary @index.html

Deploy a multi-file site

Package your build output as a tar.gz archive:

tar -czf site.tar.gz -C ./dist .
curl -X POST https://api.zerodeploy.dev/drop \
  -H "Content-Type: application/gzip" \
  --data-binary @site.tar.gz

Response

The API returns a JSON object with a live URL, a claim token for redeployment, and an expiration timestamp:

{
  "data": {
    "url": "https://shy-hill-9433.zerodeploy.app",
    "claim_token": "zdr_abc123...",
    "expires_at": "2026-03-10T12:00:00Z"
  },
  "next_steps": {
    "redeploy": {
      "description": "Update this site with new files",
      "method": "POST",
      "url": "https://api.zerodeploy.dev/drop",
      "headers": {
        "Content-Type": "application/gzip",
        "X-Claim-Token": "zdr_abc123..."
      }
    },
    "claim": {
      "description": "Make this site permanent (requires login)",
      "url": "https://dashboard.zerodeploy.dev/drop-claim?token=zdr_abc123..."
    }
  }
}

Redeploy (update existing site)

Pass the claim_token from the original deploy via the X-Claim-Token header to update the same site. This resets the 72-hour expiration timer:

curl -X POST https://api.zerodeploy.dev/drop \
  -H "Content-Type: text/html" \
  -H "X-Claim-Token: zdr_abc123..." \
  --data-binary @index.html

Framework examples

Framework	Command
Single HTML file	`curl -X POST https://api.zerodeploy.dev/drop -H "Content-Type: text/html" --data-binary @index.html`
React / Vite / Astro	`cd dist && tar -czf ../site.tar.gz . && curl -X POST https://api.zerodeploy.dev/drop -H "Content-Type: application/gzip" --data-binary @../site.tar.gz`
Next.js (static export)	`cd out && tar -czf ../site.tar.gz . && curl -X POST https://api.zerodeploy.dev/drop -H "Content-Type: application/gzip" --data-binary @../site.tar.gz`

Claim a site

Drop sites expire after 72 hours. To make a site permanent, claim it by logging in at the URL in the next_steps.claim field. Claimed sites get all the features of a regular ZeroDeploy site: custom domains, analytics, forms, and rollbacks.

Limits

10 MB max per file, 1,000 files max, 25 MB total per deployment
5 deploys per hour per IP address
72 hours expiration (reset on each redeploy)

Headers

Header	Required	Description
`Content-Type`	Yes	`text/html` for single files, `application/gzip` for tar.gz archives
`X-Claim-Token`	No	Include to redeploy (update) an existing drop site
`X-Filename`	No	Filename for single-file uploads (default: `index.html`)

When to use Drop vs CLI

Drop API: One-off deploys, prototypes, demos, AI agent deploys. Zero setup. Sites expire in 72 hours unless claimed.
CLI: Ongoing projects, CI/CD pipelines, custom domains, rollbacks, analytics, forms. Requires a ZeroDeploy account (14-day free trial).

Using Drop from AI agents

The Drop API is designed for AI agents like ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, and Copilot. An agent can deploy a user’s site with a single HTTP call:

# Agent generates HTML, then deploys it
echo '<html><body><h1>Hello World</h1></body></html>' | \
curl -X POST https://api.zerodeploy.dev/drop \
  -H "Content-Type: text/html" \
  --data-binary @-

The response includes next_steps with exact instructions for redeployment and claiming, so agents can guide users through the full workflow.

For more on AI workflows, see AI & LLM Workflows.

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