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Hosting & Distribution Strategy

Addresses: Issue #186 · Issue #189

Recommended Stack

GitHub Releases + Cloudflare Pages — fully free, production-grade, zero maintenance overhead.

Cloudflare Pages  ← static landing/download website
    └── Download buttons
            ├── GitHub Releases → markdown-reader-windows.exe
            ├── GitHub Releases → markdown-reader-macos.dmg
            └── GitHub Releases → markdown-reader-linux.AppImage

GitHub Releases — Binary Hosting

Upload app binaries directly to a GitHub Release.

Property Detail
File size limit 2 GB per file (current 81.5 MB is well within range)
Bandwidth Unlimited, served via GitHub's CDN
Versioning Each release is tagged (e.g.v1.0.0)
Cost Free

Creating a release:

git tag v1.0.0
git push origin v1.0.0

Then on GitHub: Releases → Draft a new release → attach binaries → Publish .

Download URLs follow a stable, predictable pattern:

https://github.com/petertzy/markdown-reader/releases/download/v1.0.0/markdown-reader-windows.exe
https://github.com/petertzy/markdown-reader/releases/download/v1.0.0/markdown-reader-macos.dmg
https://github.com/petertzy/markdown-reader/releases/download/v1.0.0/markdown-reader-linux.AppImage

Cloudflare Pages — Website Hosting

Host the distribution website on Cloudflare Pages.

Property Detail
Bandwidth Unlimited on the free tier
CDN Global edge network, automatic HTTPS
Deploys Connected to GitHub — every push to mainauto-deploys
Cost Free

Setup:

  1. Push the website source to a /website folder or a separate repo
  2. Go to Cloudflare Pages → Connect GitHub repo
  3. Set build output directory to /website
  4. Deploy — Cloudflare assigns a *.pages.dev domain instantly

A custom domain can be attached at any time at no extra cost through Cloudflare.

Why Not Vercel for File Hosting

Vercel's free tier caps total deployment size at 100 MB and is designed for code and serverless functions, not binary distribution. Use Cloudflare Pages for the static site and GitHub Releases for the binaries.

When a Paid VPS Makes Sense

A VPS is only worth considering once the project requires:

  • Server-side rendering or user authentication
  • A custom backend API for the website
  • Self-hosted analytics or download tracking

At current scale, the free stack above handles everything with zero maintenance overhead.