AI Vocabulary · 04 Building with AI
What is Deployment?
Putting software live: moving it from a computer or repository to a server where real users can reach it.
Deployment is the step from "works on my machine" to "works for everyone". The code from a repository is built and placed on a server or hosting platform, gets a web address, and starts serving real users. Platforms like Vercel, Netlify or cloud providers can deploy automatically every time the repository changes.
AI tools have made building fast, but deployment is where responsibility starts: real data, real users, real uptime. A prototype made with vibe coding can be deployed in minutes, which is exactly why someone should check it first.
Why it matters for you
Knowing what happens at deployment helps you ask the right launch questions: Who reviews changes before they go live? Where is it hosted, and in which region? How do we roll back if it breaks?
Own it
Keep deployment accounts and domains in your company's name, know where your data is hosted, and make sure you can move to another host or to self-hosting if needed. A human in the loop before release is cheap insurance.
Where it comes from
"Deploying" software comes from the military sense of moving forces into position. The modern habit of shipping small changes many times a day was popularised in 2009, when Timothy Fitz described continuous deployment at the start-up IMVU and Eric Ries spread the idea in his blog (Startup Lessons Learned). It became a core practice of modern software teams.
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