Trying a redesign used to mean duplicating a site: a second site with its own identity, its own hosting, and no way back. Forks replace that.

A branch of your content

A fork branches the site's database instead of copying the site. The site keeps its uuid, its hosting and its public address — only the content moves onto a branch. That makes the work promotable, and reversible.

Promote when it is ready

Promoting commits the fork's content onto the official branch as a new commit. Nothing is force-pushed and nothing is rewritten, so a second computer that syncs afterwards agrees with the first instead of merging your old pages back in.

And undo if it was not

Reverting a promotion restores the previous content, also as a commit going forward. Revert twice and you have redone it.

Forks need database sync switched on, since the fork model is the database repository itself. Site Settings will walk you through it.

Redesigning a live site is now something you can do on a Tuesday afternoon.