AI disclosure: I used AI assistance to draft and edit this article. I reviewed the technical claims against the browser documentation linked below and checked the examples for consistency. The code is intentionally simplified.

An AI assistant can produce a polished HTML demo in a minute. The page has buttons, calculations, a form, and maybe a chart. It looks like an application, so it is easy to assume that publishing the HTML also publishes everything behind it.

That last step needs a closer look. A static page can render, calculate, filter, animate, and remember a preference in one browser. It cannot safely hold a private API key, turn every visitor's browser into your shared database, or make a service running only on your laptop available to everyone else.

Here is the checklist I use to decide whether a generated page is ready for static hosting or needs a backend.

1. Ask where the data should go

This code can make a feedback form look finished:

const items = JSON . parse ( localStorage .…