Archives

Where to find it

1. Open your project.
2. Click Archives in the project sidebar.

Every team member can create, download and promote archives. Only team admins see the Delete archives button.

How it works

An archive is a single zip file holding every page and file of your site as WCH built it, after substitutions and path rewriting. It is the same bundle a zip destination such as AWS S3 receives. If you set a Root directory, the files sit inside that folder in the zip.

Archives are created two ways:

• Automatically: each deploy to an AWS S3, Azure Blob Storage, Aliyun OSS or SFTP destination saves the bundle it sent as an archive.
• On demand: click Create archive to package your current staging build without deploying it.

Archives are named after your project alias and the date and time they were created, for example my-site_2026-09-28T10:15:07.zip.

Each row on the page shows:

• Name: the archive filename.
• Created: how long ago it was built.
• Actions: Promote to Production and Download. While an archive is still being built, the row shows Creating... instead.
• Promoted: a tag on archives that have been sent to a production destination. Hover over it to see when.

The list shows archives created in the last month.

Creating an archive

1. Publish to staging first. Create archive packages whatever is in your staging build right now.
2. On the Archives page, click Create archive.
3. WCH shows "Archive creation started" and adds a row that reads Creating....
4. When the zip is ready, the row shows Promote to Production and Download, and WCH adds a notification.

Create archive is disabled until the project has a source. If there is no staging build yet, WCH refuses with "No publish build." Run Publish all pages and try again.

Downloading an archive

Click Download on any finished archive. The zip opens in a new tab and downloads. Use it to keep an offline backup, inspect exactly what was deployed, or upload the site to a host WCH does not deploy to.

Promoting an archive to production

Promote to Production sends an archive to your production destination as it is. WCH does not rebuild it, so production receives exactly the files in that zip.

• Archives from an Azure deploy go to your Azure Blob Storage destination with Is Production? turned on.
• All other archives go to your AWS S3 destination with Is Production? turned on.

Promote to Production sends to AWS S3 and Azure Blob Storage destinations only. For Aliyun OSS and SFTP, download the archive, unzip it, and upload the files to your server.

Before you promote, open Extensions, then Deployments, and check that the right destination has Is Production? turned on. See WCH Publishing.

1. Find the archive you want and click Promote to Production.
2. If that archive was already sent to production, WCH asks "This archive was already uploaded to production. Upload it again?" Click Yes, upload again to continue, or Cancel.
3. The link changes to Uploading... and WCH shows "Archive upload to production started."
4. When the upload finishes, the archive gets the Promoted tag.

Only one promotion runs at a time.

GitHub destinations are not promoted from this page. Each GitHub publish creates a tag you can roll back to instead. See GitHub: Basic Implementation.

Rolling back a release

To put an earlier version of your site back live:

1. On the Archives page, find the last archive that was good. The Promoted tag and the Created time help you pick it.
2. Click Download first if you want to check its contents.
3. Click Promote to Production.
4. Check your live site once the upload finishes.

Promoting an old archive does not change your staging build or your Webflow site. The next time you publish and deploy, WCH builds from Webflow again, so fix the problem in Webflow before your next deploy.

WCH does not invalidate a CDN. If a CDN such as CloudFront sits in front of your bucket, invalidate it after promoting so visitors see the rolled-back files.

How long archives are kept

WCH always keeps your 10 most recent archives. An older archive is deleted only once it is also more than 45 days old. Download any archive you want to keep for longer.

Archives are stored separately for public and private staging. After you change Staging visibility to or from Public, the Archives page lists only the archives made under the new setting. Download the ones you need before you change it. See Staging site.

Delete archives

Delete archives removes every archive and your current staging build. It cannot be undone. Your destinations are not touched, so your live site keeps serving what you last deployed.

1. At the bottom of the Archives page, click Delete archives.
2. Confirm by clicking Delete. WCH shows how many files it removed.
3. Go to the Dashboard and click Publish all pages to rebuild your staging site.

The button is disabled when there are no archives.

Testing your changes

1. Click Create archive after a staging publish.
2. Download the zip and open it. Check that the pages and folders look the way your host expects, including the Root directory if you use one.
3. Promote it to a production destination only once the download looks right.

Troubleshooting

• Create archive is greyed out: the project has no source yet. Add one on the Sources page.
• "No publish build.": there is nothing on staging to package. Run Publish all pages first.
• The archive you want is not listed: the list shows the last month only, and only archives made under your current Staging visibility. Download archives you may need later.
• Promote to Production goes to the wrong bucket: check which S3 or Azure destination has Is Production? turned on under Extensions, then Deployments.
• Live site still shows the old version after promoting: your CDN or browser is caching the previous files. Invalidate the CDN and reload.