Vercel Deploy

Vercel Deploy

End-to-end Vercel deployment via CLI with token-based authentication.

Prerequisites

• Vercel CLI installed (npm install -g vercel or npx vercel)
• A valid Vercel access token (from vercel.com/account/tokens)
• Project ready to deploy (build passing)

Token Management

Where tokens live

• Store VERCEL_TOKEN=vcp_... in your .env or secrets file (e.g. ~/.env.secrets, .env.local)
• Keep a single source of truth; update it whenever a token is rotated

Token lifecycle

• Tokens expire — when you get "The specified token is not valid", generate a fresh one
• Fresh token → update your env file, then redeploy

Deployment

Standard deploy (linked project)

cd /path/to/project
npx vercel --prod --yes --token $VERCEL_TOKEN

This auto-detects Next.js settings, links the project, and deploys to production.

First-time deploy (no .vercel directory)

The CLI auto-creates .vercel/project.json and links to the Vercel project. On first deploy it also auto-connects the GitHub repository.

Deploy output

• Inspect URL: https://vercel.com/<team>/<project>/<deploy-id> — build logs
• Production URL: https://<project>-<hash>-<team>.vercel.app
• Alias: https://<project>.vercel.app (if configured)

Verification

curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" https://<project>.vercel.app
# Expect: 200

A 200 only proves the site is up. When the question is whether a specific commit/design is live, compare local commit time/hash, remote branch state, Vercel production deploy timestamp, and live HTML/classes before answering. See references/local-vs-live-deploy-verification.md.

Common Errors

Large CLI Uploads and UNKNOWN Deploys

For projects with many local files, direct CLI deploy can hit Vercel's 15k file upload limit or create a production deployment record that remains UNKNOWN. In that case:

• First run the normal local app build (npm run build, pnpm build, etc.) to separate code correctness from Vercel packaging.
• Check git status --short and avoid uploading untracked helper files or build caches.
• Add or update .vercelignore for .next, node_modules, local reports, screenshots, and other non-source artifacts when appropriate.
• Retry direct deploy with vercel deploy --prod --yes --archive=tgz --token "$VERCEL_TOKEN" if the file count limit is the only blocker.
• If vercel inspect <deployment-host> reports UNKNOWN, do not call it published. Inspect the canonical alias (vercel inspect <project>.vercel.app) and curl -I the live URL.
• vercel build is not always equivalent to npm run build for App Router projects. If it fails while the normal build succeeds, treat it as a Vercel packaging path to debug, not as proof the app is broken.

See references/large-cli-upload-and-unknown-deploy.md for a concrete transcript pattern.

API Route Triage

When a deployed page shows a JSON parse error like Unexpected token 'A'... or an invite page says Invite Invalid, check the runtime before assuming the frontend is broken.

• First confirm the route response with curl -i https://<project>.vercel.app/api/<route>.
• Then inspect logs with vercel logs --project <project> --token "$VERCEL_TOKEN" --since 24h --expand --level error.
• If logs show FUNCTION_INVOCATION_FAILED or ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND, fix the serverless function before touching the UI.
• Remember that a frontend res.json() call will fail if the API returns Vercel's plain-text error page instead of JSON.

See references/api-function-triage.md for a concrete reproduction and log pattern.

Finding the Live Deploy

When asked to find the live deploy for a project, separate local intent from public reality:

• Check .vercel/project.json for projectId and orgId.
• Check deployment manifests and ship scripts for intended domains and aliases.
• Fetch the custom domain's live HTML to verify what platform/content it actually serves.
• If Vercel API access is unavailable, report the verified domain state and label any generated Vercel URL as unconfirmed.

See references/find-live-deploy.md for the full lookup pattern.

Token-only Direct Deploys

When working from a non-interactive runner (CI, cron, remote shell), use vercel deploy --prod --token "$VERCEL_TOKEN" --yes --no-color, then query the Vercel deployments API from .vercel/project.json if the CLI suppresses the URL. Do not claim the custom domain changed until you independently verify the public domain content.

See references/token-direct-deploy.md for the command sequence and pitfalls.

GitHub Integration

When gh CLI is authenticated and a repo exists, Vercel auto-connects the GitHub repository on first deploy. This enables:

• Auto-deploy on push (if configured in Vercel dashboard)
• Preview deployments for PRs
• Build cache reuse across deployments

Once .vercel/project.json exists, subsequent deploys reuse the link — no login needed, just --token.

GitHub push auto-deploy fallback

If direct Vercel CLI deploy is blocked and the user points out that GitHub push should trigger Vercel, switch to the GitHub path immediately:

• Check git remote -v before blaming deploy tooling. No remote means there is nothing to push yet.
• Check gh auth status, but prefer an existing SSH remote/key for your project when possible.
• Commit only build-relevant files, exclude bulky local artifacts, then push the branch that Vercel watches.
• Treat Could not resolve host: github.com as network/DNS permission trouble, not a Vercel or repo diagnosis.
• After push, verify the Vercel deployment or live domain before saying it deployed.

See references/github-auto-deploy.md for the full fallback sequence and reporting pattern.

Deploy without interactive login (token-only)

# Works even without `vercel login` — token flag handles auth
npx vercel --prod --yes --token $VERCEL_TOKEN

The .vercel directory persists between deploys. First deploy creates it (auto-links project), subsequent deploys are instant uploads.

Full Workflow Example

# 1. Build and verify locally
cd /path/to/my-project && npm run build

# 2. Deploy to production
npx vercel --prod --yes --token $VERCEL_TOKEN

# 3. Verify
curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" https://my-project.vercel.app