How do I integrate Prerender with Netlify?

TL;DR

Connect Prerender to your Netlify site by installing the Prerender extension from the Netlify Extensions marketplace and adding your Prerender token to the extension settings. No code changes are required — the extension handles request routing directly. Setup takes about 10 minutes, and you'll need an active Prerender account to retrieve your token.

Step 1: Create a Prerender account and copy your token

1. If you don't have a Prerender account yet, sign up at prerender.io/partners/netlify and choose a plan.
2. Log in to your Prerender dashboard and go to Security & Access → Prerender Token.
3. Copy your token — you'll add it to the extension in Step 4.

Step 2: Open Extensions in the Netlify dashboard

1. Log in to your Netlify account.
2. Go to Extensions in the Netlify UI.

Step 3: Install the Prerender extension and choose your site

1. Search for "Prerender.io Extension" and click Install Extension.
   
2. Choose the site you want to enable Prerender on and confirm the installation.

After installation, three controls become available for the selected site:

• Disable Extension — removes Prerender functionality globally for this site
• Enable Prerendering — toggles prerendering on or off per site, while keeping the extension installed
• Prerender API Token — input field for your Prerender token
  

Step 4: Enable prerendering and add your token

1. Check Enable Prerendering to activate prerendering for this site.
2. Paste your Prerender token from Step 1 into the Prerender API Token field.
3. Save the settings.
   

    

Step 5: Verify your integration

Confirm that Prerender is correctly intercepting AI crawler and search engine requests before you consider the setup complete.

Follow the steps in How do I verify my Prerender integration? to test your setup.

If you don't see Prerender headers in the verification output, check that Enable Prerendering is toggled on and that your token is saved correctly in the extension settings.

Understanding the extension controls

The Prerender extension exposes two controls that behave differently — it's important to understand the distinction:

Disable Extension (red button)
Turns off the entire extension for the site. Prerender is removed from the request flow entirely. Use this if you want to fully remove Prerender from a Netlify site without uninstalling the extension.

Enable Prerendering (checkbox)
A per-site runtime toggle. The extension stays installed, but prerendering is turned on or off for that site. Use this to temporarily pause prerendering — for example, during site maintenance — without removing the extension.

For more configuration options, including cache management and rendering settings, go to your Prerender dashboard.

Related articles

• What integrations are available for Prerender?
• How do I verify my Prerender integration?
• How can I integrate Prerender if I'm using a hosting platform that doesn't allow direct server access?
• Plan options and how to find the best plan