Still deploying updates to toggle maintenance pages? I was too! 🚀
Tags: webdev, showdev, startup, frontend
Published: 2024-01-11 23:22:39


![Automated Maintenance Page Builder](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/2stk1y86fyhtqwxx9fvg.gif)

_Scouts Honour: I'll be discussing a new SaaS I've developed here_ 🫡

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Hey Dev Community! 👋 As the CTO of a web development agency, I've been in the coding trenches for years. One pain point that has consistently nagged at me (and I've seen discussed in this community over the years!) is the process of manually deploying updates just to toggle simple website maintenance pages. It's a cumbersome dance we've all been doing for too long!

## The Maintenance Challenge

Every agency I've been at, we've built custom solutions for maintenance windows; deploying static HTML pages, updating database booleans, updating code, and crossing our fingers that everything goes smoothly. 

The disconnect between what should be one of the simplest parts of a website and the complexity I've always encountered frustrated me 😡

Even worse, these pages are usually static, and provide no way of keeping your users in the loop on how your maintenance is progressing, so instead companies usually revert to posting status updates on social media. Again, this just seemed ridiculous! 🤦

## The Birth of Maintenance.dev 🤔

So, I took matters into my own hands and built [Maintenance.dev](https://maintenance.dev). I wanted to make toggling maintenance pages as easy as flipping a switch, and to stop us all reinventing the wheel for such a common task.

## What's the Magic?

Here's the lowdown: 
1. **Log in, Add Branding, Title, Text:**
   - Just log into Maintenance.dev, add your branding, title, and maintenance message. 


![Automated Maintenance Page Builder](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/2stk1y86fyhtqwxx9fvg.gif)


2. **Generate Your Script:**
   - Maintenance.Dev will generate a simple script for your project, e.g.:

```html
    <script
      src="https://maintenance.dev/maintenance.js"
      data-project-id="5c08e0e1-bad3-46f2-ba0f-e432cac5c1cf"
      defer
    ></script>
```

3. **Insert, Toggle, Done:**
   - Insert the script into your webpage. Anytime you hit `Enable/Disable Maintenance` on your dashboard, your maintenance page is toggled on/off to your website users, instantly. That's it. Really.

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/9afm43b9m3d9bggb3v9m.gif)

## Realtime Updates, No Refresh Required! 🔉

We also solved the communication gap during maintenance. No more resorting to tweets or external updates. **Any time you update your maintenance page, these updates will be delivered to users in realtime without them even having to refresh their page**. 🔄 

All this is achieved via websockets, so you don't need to worry about your website polling/spamming network requests 🤩

## What about me? I'm an app/backend developer! 🙋🙋‍♀️

I also didn't forget about my mobile and backend developers. So I went a step further and provided an alternative option for you (or for anyone else who may have more bespoke UX needs than what the low-code automated maintenance page provides):

- **Custom JSON Structure:**
  - For those who want complete control, you have the option to define **your own JSON structure**. Same as above, any time you toggle maintenance mode for your project, we'll send you this information in realtime (including any updates you make to the project).

![CUSTOM JSON Payload](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/rae0k5dse3kd9gqhgelx.png)

## Get Started in Minutes! - FREE

I tried to make the free-tier as generous as possible, and if I'm being honest I think it should be suitable for almost anyone outside of professional organizations/agencies.

There's also an option to join the waiting list for the paid plan (which will give you a 50% discount for when it goes live).

{% embed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXiTTVd3E8Q&t=25s %}

👉 If this looks useful to you, please check out [Maintenance.dev](https://maintenance.dev).

Please feel free to comment any questions here! I'm more than happy to discuss anything about the tool, how it works, how I built it (tech stack) - whatever you might be interested in! 💻✨ Thanks everyone! 👋