Custom deployment patterns

How Embedded Deployment Works covers the embedded method ADT builds and automates. A FileMaker Web Viewer doesn't strictly require its content to come from data stored in the file — it can just as easily be pointed at a URL. FileMaker injects the same script-calling bridge into a Web Viewer's JavaScript context either way, which is exactly what makes fmBridge() work: pointing a Web Viewer at a local Vite dev server URL still gives your app a live connection back to FileMaker.

That means two other deployment shapes are architecturally possible, even though ADT doesn't build or automate either one:

Hosted. Drop vite-plugin-singlefile from vite.config.ts, build and host the app on any static host or platform (Vercel, a CDN, your own server), and point the Web Viewer's URL calculation at that hosted address instead of the file's stored HTML. Updates go live the moment you redeploy the host — no FileMaker deploy step at all. The tradeoffs: you now own hosting and uptime, the app needs a live internet connection to load, and nothing keeps the hosted app and the FileMaker schema it depends on in sync automatically — that discipline is on you.

Downloaded (hybrid). Keep the embedded copy as the baseline so the app still works offline and on first load, but add your own logic — a script, a scheduled check, whatever fits your solution — to fetch a newer build from a host and redeploy it into the file's storage. This gets you self-updating behavior without giving up the offline fallback, at the cost of building and maintaining that update-check logic yourself.

Neither of these is a supported ADT workflow the way the embedded path is — there's no equivalent of deploy_html for them. Treat them as patterns you can build on top of the same Web Viewer + @adt/fmdapi foundation, not as documented features.

Comparison

	Embedded	Hosted	Downloaded (hybrid)
Built-in ADT tooling	Yes (deploy_html / adt deploy)	No — you build this	No — you build this
Requires a web host	No	Yes	Yes, for updates
Works offline	Yes	No	Yes, after first download
Update path	Redeploy into the file	Redeploy the host, no FileMaker step	Self-updating, if you build it

Next step

See How Embedded Deployment Works for the embedded method's mechanics, pros, and cons.