NorthStar Consulting Production Site

Quick Start: Deploy to Netlify

The site is ready to deploy to Netlify with automatic lead submission.

1. Connect to Netlify

Visit Netlify and click Add new site → Import an existing project.

• Select GitHub as your Git provider
• Authorize and select the bei22002-cpu/business repository
• Netlify should auto-detect the netlify.toml configuration

2. Configure Environment Variables

In Netlify's site settings, go to Build & deploy → Environment and add:

EMAIL_USER=your-email@gmail.com
EMAIL_PASS=your-gmail-app-password
EMAIL_RECIPIENT=northstarconsulting@gmail.com

How to get a Gmail app password:

• Enable 2-Step Verification on your Google Account
• Go to myaccount.google.com/apppasswords
• Select Mail and Windows Computer to generate a 16-character password
• Paste that password as EMAIL_PASS

3. Deploy

Push your changes to GitHub and Netlify will automatically build and deploy:

git add .
git commit -m "Setup live deployment for NorthStar site"
git push origin main

Your site will be live within seconds at your-site.netlify.app.

Site Structure

• docs/ - Static HTML, CSS, JS, and favicon (served by GitHub Pages as fallback)
• netlify/functions/submit-lead.js - Serverless endpoint for consultation requests
• site-config.js - Runtime configuration for the lead endpoint
• netlify.toml - Netlify build and function configuration

Lead Submission Flow

1. Chatbot intake - Visitor answers questions in chat, form is prefilled
2. Consultation form - Visitor reviews and submits the form
3. Serverless function - submit-lead.js validates and emails the lead
4. Email notification - NorthStar receives the consultation request

Alternative Deployment Options

GitHub Pages (Static Only)

If you don't want email submission, GitHub Pages can host the static site:

1. Settings → Pages → Source: main / docs/
2. Site will be live at https://bei22002-cpu.github.io/business/

Vercel (Alternative Serverless)

Vercel also supports serverless functions. Update verify.json if switching platforms.

Environment-Free Option

If you prefer not to handle email credentials:

• Deploy to Netlify without the serverless function
• Update site-config.js to set fallbackToEmail: true
• The form will fall back to email client when submitted