A local website export may not contain everything already stored on the server. CMS data, uploads, generated files, and hosting configuration can exist only in the webroot or in adjacent server folders. Review Beam’s filters and cleanup behavior before the first production publish.
Publish filters
Publish filters control which local files enter the release package. Add build artifacts, caches, development files, or other local output that should never be deployed. These filters affect publishing; they do not control which backups appear in Beam.
Excluded and protected paths
Excluded paths are removed from the publish payload. Protected paths prevent important server locations from being overwritten or removed during activation. Beam also protects its own deployment internals.
If another service writes files directly to the server, treat that location as server-managed. Protect it explicitly and avoid aggressive webroot cleanup until both publishing and rollback have been tested.
Choose safe cleanup behavior
Publish Changes can include deletions. Use the conservative cleanup option when the webroot is also maintained by a CMS, an upload form, or another publishing process. Enable broader cleanup only when the local export is the complete source of truth for the webroot.
Back up before changing filters
Create a webroot backup.
Publish a controlled change.
Verify both the updated website and the server-managed files.
Only then use the same settings for a larger release.
Important archive restrictions
Beam rejects unsafe archive paths and symbolic-link entries during extraction. Keep the export as normal files and folders with a valid start file such as index.html or index.php.
For recovery options and additional backup paths, see Using webroot backups, releases, and rollback.