Page branching

Use page branching to build and iterate on pages without touching the live site.

Page branching gives your team a safe space to design without affecting the original page. Branch any page, make your changes, and merge when you're ready — or delete the branch if you decide not to use it. Multiple designers can work on different branches at the same time, so large teams can build and ship faster without stepping on each other's work.

How page branching works

When you branch a page, Webflow creates a working copy you can edit freely. Changes on the branch don't affect the main site, and changes on the main site don't appear on your branch — unless you pull in updated classes, components, variables, or interactions. When you're ready to commit, merging the branch overwrites the original page's content with your branch version. You can also use the design approvals workflow for more control over merging.

Page branches support real-time collaboration — multiple teammates can work on the same branch at the same time. Page branching is also compatible with Localize — use the Locale view dropdown to switch locales.

Roles and permissions

Default roles:

• Site managers and designers can create and merge branches
• Content editors and marketers can create branches, but not merge them

Custom roles (Enterprise customers and partners):

• A custom role with the "content editor" base role or above can create branches
• A custom role without "Make changes without approval" requires approval to merge branches

Publishing, transfers, and duplication

Full-site publishing isn't blocked by page branching — teammates can publish the main site at any time without publishing branches. To publish a branch, you'll need to merge it into the main site first.

Page branches won't carry over if you transfer or duplicate your site.

Commenting

You can add comments to a page branch just like any other page. When the branch is merged, all comments — resolved and unresolved — are permanently deleted and can't be recovered.

Create a page branch

You can create page branches for static pages (e.g., Utility pages, User pages, and Ecommerce pages), draft pages, dynamic pages (e.g., Ecommerce and Collection pages), and new pages.

To create a branch for a new page:

1. Go to the Pages panel
2. Click the Create new page icon > New page as a branch

To create a branch from an existing page:

1. Go to the Pages panel
2. Hover over a page and click the Create page branch icon

Edit a page branch

Editing a page branch works similarly to editing other pages, with a few key differences.

What you can and can't do

How classes, components, variables, and interactions work on branches

If a class, state, HTML tag, component, variable, or interaction is changed on the main site but not on the branch, those changes will take effect after you merge — they won't appear on the branch in the meantime. You can pull updates from the main site into your branch at any time, and it's a good idea to do this frequently so you're always working with the latest.

If the same class, component, variable, or interaction was updated on both the main site and the branch, you'll need to resolve those conflicts before you can pull updates or merge.

You can also copy and paste elements between pages and branches. If a pasted element has classes that were modified on the main site, the branch version of those classes takes effect — the main site's classes won't be affected.

Pulling updates from main:

To pull class, component, variable, and interaction updates from the main site into your branch:

1. Go to the branched page
2. Click the Branched status indicator > Check for updates
3. If updates are available, click Pull updates, then Okay to confirm

If nothing has changed on the main site, a modal will confirm you're already up to date.

Resolving conflicts before updating:

If the same item was updated on both the main site and the branch, you'll need to resolve conflicts before pulling updates:

1. Go to the branched page
2. Click the Branched status indicator > Check for updates
3. For each conflict, choose which version to keep from the dropdown (Main site or Branch)
4. Click Resolve conflicts and update

CMS

Page branches share the same CMS as the main site, so CMS changes made while a page is branched will show up on the branch. For example, if a Collection list has four items when you create a branch and you add one on the main site, the branch will show five items.

Branch control

If a designer leaves a branch, any other Workspace member with design access can take over to edit, merge, or delete it — as long as the original designer isn't actively working on it at the same time.

Share a read-only link

When you're finished designing, you can share a read-only link with teammates before merging.

Site Activity log

You can view branch activity from the Site Activity log. Click the list icon next to Branch merged to see a summary of changes that were merged into the main site.

Collaborate on a branch in real time

Multiple teammates can join the same branch and collaborate in real time, just like on the main site. Everyone can see each other's presence, watch changes happen instantly, and work independently without affecting main.

Real-time features available on branches:

• See where teammates are working with presence indicators in the top bar and Pages panel
• Watch design changes appear instantly
• Undo and redo your own actions independently

Branch-specific actions supported with multiple users present:

• Request a review — a team member can submit a review request and another team member can approve or reject it while both are reviewing the branch
• Merge — merge the branch back into main when the work is ready
• Pull in updates from main — sync main-site changes into your branch while you're working
• Stage a branch — stage for preview; only one publish can run at a time, and other users are notified when staging is in progress
• Delete a branch — all other users on the branch are notified and moved back to main

Merge a page branch

Once you're done, you can merge your branch back into the main site. Teammates will see the merged changes after refreshing the Designer. Merging overwrites the original page's content, so make sure you're happy with your design first.

You can merge from the branch itself or from the Pages panel. In either case, you can review a merge summary before committing. Click any row in the summary to see more detail in the Site Activity log.

To merge from the branch:

1. Go to the branched page
2. Click the Branched status indicator > Merge
3. Review the merge summary
4. Click Merge branch

To merge from the Pages panel:

1. Go to the Pages panel
2. Hover over the page branch
3. Click the Merge this branch with your site icon
4. Review the merge summary
5. Click Merge branch

If you merge but later want to recover the original page design, you can preview or restore it from a site backup.

Resolve conflicts before merging

If the same class, state, HTML tag, or main component was updated on both the main site and the branch, you'll need to resolve those conflicts before merging:

1. Go to the branched page
2. Click the Branched status indicator > Merge
3. Review the merge summary
4. For each conflict, choose which version to keep from the dropdown (Main site or Branch)
5. Click Resolve conflicts and merge

Delete a page branch

You can delete a branch if you decide to keep the original page design or want to start fresh.

To delete a branch:

1. Go to the branched page
2. Click the Branched status indicator > Delete branch
3. Click Delete branch to confirm

If you delete a branch by mistake, you can preview or restore it from a site backup. Restoring will bring back both the main site and page branches to the state at that timestamp.

Stage a page branch

You can publish a branch to its own staging subdomain before merging, separate from your main staging subdomain or custom staging domain. This lets you and your team test branches on a real published site — useful for reviewing custom code, performance, integrations, and responsiveness across devices. You can share the staging URL with anyone, whether or not they have a Webflow account. If you've enabled private staging, authentication is required to access staged branches.

The staged branch URL includes a snapshot of the full site, so you can see how your branch changes affect the rest of the site. If there are class conflicts between the branch and main, the branch version takes precedence.

Each branch gets its own staging URL — if you have 10 branches, you'll have 10 staging URLs. If you merge or delete a staged branch, its URL is unpublished and deleted. Anyone in your Workspace except those with reviewer roles can stage a branch.

To stage a branch:

1. Go to the branched page
2. Click Stage branch at the top right
3. Click Publish branch

Branch staging is for testing and review only — you can't publish directly from branch staging to production. When you're ready, merge the branch into the main site and publish from there.