Vercel Deployment Skill

Overview

This skill provides complete guidance for deploying any type of application to Vercel. It covers single-project deployments, monorepo configurations, serverless functions, edge functions, and all supported frameworks.

Quick Reference

Deployment Type	Reference File
Deployment strategies	references/deployment-strategies.md
Framework-specific guides	references/framework-guides.md
Python/FastAPI backends	references/python-serverless.md
Monorepo setup	references/monorepo-configuration.md
Environment variables	references/environment-variables.md
Edge cases & troubleshooting	references/edge-cases-troubleshooting.md
CLI commands	references/cli-reference.md

Workflow

Step 1: Determine Deployment Strategy

First, identify the project structure:

Single Project?          → Standard deployment (auto-detected)
Monorepo?               → Multi-project or Turborepo setup
Static Site?            → Static hosting (no functions)
API Backend?            → Serverless functions
Full-Stack?             → Framework-specific (Next.js, Nuxt, etc.)

Action: Read references/deployment-strategies.md for detailed guidance.

Step 2: Choose Framework Configuration

Vercel auto-detects most frameworks. For custom configurations:

Framework	Auto-Detected	Custom Config Needed
Next.js	Yes	Rarely
React (Vite/CRA)	Yes	Sometimes
Vue/Nuxt	Yes	Rarely
Python/FastAPI	Partial	Yes
Static HTML	Yes	No

Action: Read references/framework-guides.md for framework-specific instructions.

Step 3: Configure vercel.json (If Needed)

Use templates from assets/templates/ based on your needs:

• vercel.nextjs.json — Next.js projects
• vercel.static.json — Static sites
• vercel.python-api.json — Python/FastAPI backends
• vercel.monorepo-frontend.json — Monorepo frontend
• vercel.monorepo-backend.json — Monorepo backend

Step 4: Set Up Environment Variables

Action: Read references/environment-variables.md for:

• Production vs Preview vs Development environments
• Sensitive vs Public variables
• Shared variables across projects

Step 5: Deploy

# Via CLI
vercel              # Preview deployment
vercel --prod       # Production deployment

# Via Git (automatic)
git push origin main  # Triggers production deploy

Step 6: Verify & Troubleshoot

Action: If issues occur, read references/edge-cases-troubleshooting.md.

Decision Tree

START
  │
  ├─► Is it a monorepo?
  │     ├─► YES → Read references/monorepo-configuration.md
  │     │         └─► Create separate Vercel projects per app
  │     │
  │     └─► NO → Continue
  │
  ├─► What's the backend?
  │     ├─► Node.js → Auto-detected, use API routes
  │     ├─► Python → Read references/python-serverless.md
  │     ├─► Go/Rust → Use serverless functions
  │     └─► None → Static deployment
  │
  ├─► What's the frontend?
  │     ├─► Next.js → Zero-config, auto-detected
  │     ├─► React (Vite) → Set outputDirectory
  │     ├─► Vue/Nuxt → Zero-config
  │     └─► Static HTML → Zero-config
  │
  └─► Deploy!

Common Patterns

Pattern 1: Next.js Full-Stack (Most Common)

project/
├── app/              # App Router
├── pages/api/        # API Routes (serverless)
├── public/
├── package.json
└── next.config.js

No vercel.json needed. Just push to Git.

Pattern 2: React + Separate Backend

Frontend Project (Vercel Project #1):
└── frontend/
    ├── src/
    ├── package.json
    └── vercel.json (optional)

Backend Project (Vercel Project #2):
└── backend/
    ├── api/index.py
    ├── requirements.txt
    └── vercel.json

Pattern 3: Static Site

project/
├── index.html
├── styles.css
└── script.js

Zero-config. Vercel serves static files automatically.

Pattern 4: Python API Only

backend/
├── api/
│   └── index.py      # FastAPI app
├── requirements.txt
└── vercel.json

Assets

Templates (assets/templates/)

Template	Use Case
vercel.nextjs.json	Next.js with custom config
vercel.static.json	Static sites
vercel.python-api.json	Python/FastAPI backend
vercel.react-vite.json	React with Vite
vercel.monorepo-frontend.json	Monorepo frontend project
vercel.monorepo-backend.json	Monorepo backend project
vercel.edge-functions.json	Edge function configuration

Examples (examples/)

Example	Description
nextjs-fullstack/	Complete Next.js deployment
react-python-monorepo/	Monorepo with React + FastAPI
static-site/	Simple static deployment
python-api/	Standalone Python API

Quick Commands

# Install Vercel CLI
npm i -g vercel

# Login
vercel login

# Deploy (preview)
vercel

# Deploy (production)
vercel --prod

# Link to existing project
vercel link

# Link all projects in monorepo
vercel link --repo

# Pull environment variables
vercel env pull

# Add environment variable
vercel env add SECRET_KEY production

# View logs
vercel logs https://your-project.vercel.app

# List deployments
vercel ls

# Rollback (promote old deployment)
vercel promote <deployment-url>

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when the user wants to:

• Deploy any application to Vercel
• Configure vercel.json
• Set up a monorepo on Vercel
• Deploy Python/FastAPI backends
• Troubleshoot Vercel deployment issues
• Understand Vercel's serverless architecture
• Configure environment variables
• Set up custom domains
• Implement CI/CD with Vercel