# Hosting a frontend

> Keep using your favorite frontend hosting provider


Encore is not opinionated about where you host your frontend, pick the platform that suits your situation best.

<GitHubLink
    href="https://github.com/encoredev/examples/tree/main/ts/nextjs-starter"
    desc="Next.js + Encore TS Web App Starter. Frontend hosted on Vercel, backend on Encore."
/>

## Hosting a frontend using Encore
Encore is primarily designed for backend development. It is possible to serve a frontend using Encore but for production we recommend that you deploy your frontend using Vercel, Netlify, or a similar service.

### Template engines

You can make use of template engines like Handlebars, Pug, or EJS to render HTML files on the server. Learn more about in the [Template Engine](/docs/ts/frontend/template-engine) docs.

### Serving static assets

You can create a `api.static` endpoint that serves static frontend assets, including HTML files.

```ts
import { api } from "encore.dev/api";

// Using fallback route to serve all files in the ./assets directory under the root path.
export const rootAssets = api.static({
  expose: true,
  path: "/!path",
  dir: "./assets",
  // When a file matching the request isn't found, Encore automatically serves a 404 Not Found response.
  // You can customize the response by setting the notFound option to specify a file that should be served instead:
  notFound: "./assets/not_found.html",
});

```

Keep in mind that this approach will not work if you have a Single-Page Application (SPA) that uses client-side routing.

<GitHubLink
    href="https://github.com/encoredev/examples/tree/main/ts/static-files"
    desc="Static files example, sercing HTML files from a directory."
/>