---
title: Manage sites with Thally Cloud
description: Create, publish, monitor, and improve documentation sites from the Thally Cloud workspace.
url: https://pr-7-a9c4e9fe1b6c.thally.app/guides/thally-cloud
---

# Manage sites with Thally Cloud

Create, publish, monitor, and improve documentation sites from the Thally Cloud workspace.

Thally Cloud is the hosted workspace for your documentation sites. Use it
to connect GitHub, publish managed sites, review product knowledge, run Track,
and manage reader-facing settings without giving up ownership of your source.
Your MDX, configuration, pull requests, and commit history remain in your
GitHub repository.

## Choose the right Thally surface

| Surface | Use it for | Source of truth |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Thally Cloud at `app.thally.io` | Workspaces, sites, managed deployments, domains, Track, Knowledge, analytics, reader questions, billing, and members | Your workspace records and connected Git repositories |
| Your documentation repository | Pages, navigation, snippets, OpenAPI files, and versioned site defaults | Git |
| A site's built-in `/admin` area | Self-hosted runtime settings and diagnostics | The deployed site and its configured storage |
| Thally CLI and MCP | Local authoring, migration, validation, automation, and self-hosting | Files in your local checkout |

> **Note:**
  Thally Cloud can publish supported settings with a managed release. It does
  not turn its database into a second copy of your documentation pages.

## Create or connect a site

From the workspace Home page, select **Create a site**. The creation flow asks
for the information needed to publish a managed site:

#### Choose the site identity

    Enter a site name, an optional description, and an available
    `thally.app` address.

#### Choose the documentation source

    Create a customer-owned repository from the maintained starter, or connect
    an existing repository that already has a compatible Thally project.

#### Choose Product sources

    Add the repositories whose product changes Track should watch. You can
    skip this step and connect them later from **Track**.

#### Choose Knowledge surfaces

    If this step is available, add any Markdown or MDX repositories where
    Track may prepare scoped draft pull requests. You can also manage these
    destinations later from **Site settings → Knowledge surfaces**.

#### Review and publish

    Confirm the repository, production branch, site address, and optional
    Product sources, and Knowledge surfaces. Thally saves the site before it
    starts background setup, so a safe retry resumes the same site instead of
    creating a duplicate.

The documentation repository cannot also be its own product source. This
prevents a documentation pull request from triggering another Track run.

## Choose managed or external hosting

| Hosting mode | Thally Cloud manages | Your team manages |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Managed | Builds, previews, releases, routing, certificates, and rollback | Documentation source and review in GitHub |
| External | Cloud services and the site's signed connection | Builds, hosting, deployment history, and public routing |

An external site receives a `thally_site_*` credential once. Store it as
`THALLY_CLOUD_SITE_TOKEN` on the server; never expose it through a
`NEXT_PUBLIC_` variable. **Settings → Connection** lets an authorized member
rotate or revoke the credential. Thally Cloud stores only its hash and cannot
show the value again after you close the dialog.

## Work from the site dashboard

After you choose a site, the dashboard groups work by outcome:

| Area | What you can do |
| --- | --- |
| **Home** | See the live site, setup progress, and the next useful action. |
| **Analytics** | Compare human and agent traffic, engagement, and discovery paths when analytics is included in your plan. |
| **Reader questions** | Review what readers ask through AI answers and use those questions to find documentation gaps. |
| **Readiness** | See the published Agent Readiness report and open supported fixes. |
| **Knowledge** | Review product changes, evidence, affected-page matches, and the concepts Thally has learned. |
| **Track** | Connect Product sources and follow each primary-documentation update from change detection to publication. |
| **Deployments** | Inspect production and preview publishes, filter history, redeploy, repair supported failures, and roll back. |
| **Settings** | Manage identity, languages, Git source, runtime version, branding, domains, reader access, feedback, analytics, Knowledge surfaces, external-site credentials, and site deletion. |

Some areas are plan-gated. The page tells you when a capability is not
included instead of presenting controls that cannot run.

## Understand roles

Thally Cloud resolves every request against the active workspace and site.
Knowing a site ID does not grant access.

| Role | Typical responsibility |
| --- | --- |
| Viewer | Follow site, deployment, analytics, readiness, and knowledge activity. |
| Editor | Create and operate sites, review knowledge matches, and manage day-to-day settings. |
| Owner | Manage the workspace, billing, members, and destructive site actions in addition to editor work. |

Deleting a site removes it from Thally Cloud but leaves its GitHub repository
and documentation files unchanged.

Workspace members and unexpired invitations count toward billing. The Cloud
plan includes three members; additional members are billed separately.

## Know what the plans unlock

The open-source runtime, CLI, MCP server, and self-hosting path remain
available without a Cloud subscription. A Cloud plan or active trial unlocks
the hosted service layer, including managed hosting, settings synchronization,
custom domains, password protection, AI answers, Track, Product Knowledge,
Agent Readiness workflows, analytics, and teams. Enterprise adds SAML SSO,
SCIM provisioning, and access to audit logs.

## Continue with an operation

- [Publish and operate managed releases](/guides/managed-hosting)
- [Review Product Knowledge](/guides/product-knowledge)
- [Turn product changes into documentation pull requests](/guides/thally-track)
- [Manage a self-hosted site's built-in dashboard](/guides/admin-dashboard)