Azure Static Web Apps

What are Static Web Apps?

I guess you already know what Jamstack is. Static Web Apps are Jamstack apps but in Microsoft terminology. I’m not sure what’s the reason to call it differently. A few months before Static Web Apps launch, Azure published a detailed guide about building and deploying Jamstack apps on Microsoft’s cloud. There is no mention of Jamstack on the new Azure product, even tho it address and improves the modern deployment process.

Is it a competitor to Amazon and Google?

Not really. Static Web Apps is nothing like Firebase or Amplify. It’s a very basic product, it heavily depends on Github Actions, and basically, all you can do is deploy static assets and serverless functions.

Dashboard

Azure doesn’t have its own CI/CD. It only connects with Github and uses Github Actions to build the project and deploy it to Azure Edge.

After successful deployment, you will have a link to your website and many usage metrics like requests, function hits, and errors. You can’t easily revert to specific deployment from the dashboard. The only option is to revert git commit, but that won’t bring back your data if you fetch it from a headless CMS.

Conclusion

Static Web Apps are in Preview mode. It connects only with Github and requires Github Actions to build and deploy a product. It’s very limited for now. If you use Github and Azure, it might be worth trying.