Stop the share when the call ends
Live Links are opt-in and never auto-start. That is a product decision, not a footnote. Ending the call without ending the share is how yesterday’s preview becomes tomorrow’s surprise traffic.
Ritual: start share → send URL → review → stop share. Expiration is the backstop, not the plan.
What a Live Link is (and is not)
A Live Link publishes your local server at a userig.app/live/{slug} URL through Rig’s relay. You do not need cloudflared for the documented path. It is for client reviews, mobile testing off-LAN, and quick demos.
It is not production hardening. It is not a staging environment. It is not a substitute for auth in the application. Treat it like a meeting room with a door — not like a public website you forgot to undeploy.
LAN share with QR is the same-Wi‑Fi cousin. Remote clients need Live Link. Same hygiene applies: stop when done.
The ritual in detail
- Start the project so there is something real to share. A link to a dead port teaches the client the wrong lesson.
- Start Live Link from the share UI — consciously. Copy the URL. Do not leave an old link in Slack from last Thursday.
- Password gate anything outside a trusted room. Privacy Mode adds an optional password so the URL is not casually browseable if it leaks into a thread. Still a preview — password ≠ production security.
- Review on the call. Watch the view count if you care whether they actually opened it.
- Stop the share when the call ends. Ending the share invalidates the public entry so others cannot keep hitting your process. Prefer an explicit stop for clarity even if you will also stop the process.
- Stop or idle the process if you are done for the day. A stopped process makes the URL useless; an explicit share stop makes the intent obvious.
Docs: Stop a LAN or Live Link share, Live Link privacy password, Expiration and view count.
Why expiration is not enough
Expiration and view counts exist so demos do not outlive the meeting by accident. They are seatbelts. Seatbelts are not a driving style.
Relying only on expiry fails when:
- The review “ends” but the link sits in an email the client forwards to a contractor.
- You extended the share “just in case” and forgot.
- The Mac sleeps, wakes, and the process is still up with a live relay path.
- A second project’s share is the one you meant to stop.
Make stop-share as automatic as hanging up. Put it in the same mental slot as “leave the Zoom.”
Password gates and honest limits
Use a password when:
- The audience is outside your studio.
- The preview shows client data, even fake-ish seed data that looks real.
- The URL might land in a ticket, Notion page, or group chat with broad access.
Do not use a password as an excuse to leave the share up for a week. Do not paste secrets into the Live Link page or into Support tickets. Application secrets belong in env profiles and vaults — not in a preview URL.
Agents and shares
MCP can help you operate projects; it should not casually publish previews without you. Shares stay opt-in from the product’s point of view — keep that true in your agent habits. If you ask an editor to “share this,” confirm the UI state and stop when the human meeting ends. An agent that leaves relays up overnight is just a faster way to forget.
Common failure modes
Call ended, Slack still has the link. Stop the share; optionally post “link retired” if the client might retry.
Stopped the process, forgot the share. Prefer explicit share stop so the catalog and relay state match your intent.
LAN QR left on a TV in the office. Tear down LAN share the same way.
Wrong project shared. Catalog shows last LAN/Live Link URLs — verify before you paste.
Treating Live Link as staging. If you need a stable environment with real auth, deploy staging. Live Link is for the five-minute review so you skip that deploy — see Client preview without a staging box.
A studio policy that fits on an index card
- No Live Link without a named owner on the call.
- Password on for external clients by default.
- Stop share before standup notes / before laptop lid.
- Expiration set short; extend only during the meeting.
- Never paste production credentials into a shared preview.
Policies fail when they are longer than the ritual. Keep the ritual shorter than the call.
After the stop — verify once
Stopping is not complete until you have checked one of:
- The share UI no longer lists an active Live Link for that project.
- Opening the old URL fails closed (error / expired), not your local homepage.
- View count is no longer climbing while you are in another meeting.
That thirty-second verify is cheaper than a client pinging a half-dead preview at 11pm and assuming the build is broken. If you use Continuity or a second Mac, confirm you did not leave a share active on the *other* machine’s catalog entry — stop is per share, not a global “I am done for the day” switch.
Related
Start share is a decision. Stop share is the other half of the same decision. Expiration only catches what you forgot — and forgetting is the default after a good call.