Create a Netlify deploy via the REST API (POST /api/v1/sites/{site_id}/deploys) using a personal access token

Documented steps

1. Auth: Personal access token (PAT) sent as Authorization: Bearer <token>; PAT is created under Netlify UI > Applications > Personal access tokens
2. Generate a PAT: Netlify UI > Applications > Personal access tokens > New access token > name it, set an expiration, click Generate token, and copy it immediately (it is not shown again)
3. ZIP method (simplest, single request): curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/zip" -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" --data-binary "@website.zip" https://api.netlify.com/api/v1/sites/{site_id}/deploys (use the site's UUID or its *.netlify.app subdomain as {site_id}); you can also POST the zip to /api/v1/sites to create a new site and deploy in one call
4. File-digest method step 1 — create the deploy manifest: curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/json" https://api.netlify.com/api/v1/sites/{site_id}/deploys -d '{"files": {"/index.html": "<sha1>"}, "functions": {"hello-world": "<sha256>"}}'
5. Read the response's required and required_functions arrays — these list which SHA1/SHA256 hashes Netlify doesn't already have and still needs uploaded
6. File-digest step 2 — upload each required file: curl -X PUT -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" --data-binary "@index.html" https://api.netlify.com/api/v1/deploys/{deploy_id}/files/index.html
7. File-digest step 3 — upload each required function (must be zipped): curl -X PUT -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" --data-binary "@hello-world.zip" "https://api.netlify.com/api/v1/deploys/{deploy_id}/functions/hello-world?runtime=js" (runtime is js or go)
8. Poll deploy status: curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" https://api.netlify.com/api/v1/deploys/{deploy_id} and check the state field progresses preparing -> prepared -> uploading -> uploaded -> ready
9. Optionally set "draft": true in the initial POST body to create a draft deploy that doesn't affect the published production URL, or "async": true if the whole request is expected to exceed 30 seconds
10. Official docs: https://docs.netlify.com/api-and-cli-guides/api-guides/get-started-with-api/ ; https://docs.netlify.com/deploy/create-deploys/