Share a preview

Your theme is uploaded but you don't have to set it live to show it off. Preview links let anyone open a one-off URL and see the site rendered with the in-progress theme — even if it isn't the live one yet, and even if the content they're previewing is still in draft.

Step 1 — Generate a preview link

In your Basker admin:

1. Go to Design → Themes.
2. Open the theme you just uploaded.
3. Click Share preview.

Basker generates a signed URL of the form https://{your-domain}/preview/{token} and copies it to your clipboard. The token is unique to this preview, has an expiry (visible next to the link), and isn't tied to your sign-in session — anyone with the URL can open it.

Step 2 — Open the link

The first time someone opens the preview URL:

1. Basker validates the token.
2. It sets a basker-preview cookie in the browser.
3. It redirects to the site's home page, rendered with the previewed theme.

From that point on, every page they visit on the same domain renders with the previewed theme as long as the cookie is valid. Browsing around the site shows them the new theme everywhere, not just on the original landing URL.

Step 3 — Share with a colleague

Send the preview URL however you'd send any link — email, Slack, a doc. Recipients don't need a Basker account or any special permissions. The link works on any device and any browser.

If you need to revoke the preview before its expiry — for example, if you sent it to the wrong person — open the theme in the admin and remove the active preview link.

A few things worth knowing

• Drafts are visible. Preview mode shows draft content the public site doesn't, so you can review unpublished pages and events with the new theme in place.
• Live traffic is unaffected. Visitors without the cookie continue to see whatever theme is currently set as live. Preview is per-browser.
• No separate URL. Preview happens in place at your normal domain — no preview. subdomain to remember.
• Tokens expire. Once expired, the preview URL stops working. Generate a new one from the admin if you need to extend the window.

You're done

You've built a Basker theme from scratch — directory layout, default layout with Open Graph metadata and global components, a default page template plus a homepage variant, three reusable blocks, theme-wide settings, a calendar fed by the FrontStage API, and a previewable upload.

Where to go next:

• Theme directory structure — every directory, every validation rule, every supported field type.
• Building blocks — block patterns the tutorial didn't cover (relationship blocks, nested groups, conditional fields).
• Templates overview — full reference for every content type's template, including the variables each one exposes.
• FrontStage API — the full read-only API surface for theme-side widgets.
• Versioning and rollback — how to ship updates without breaking the live site.