Vercel Deploy Integration

Overview

Deploy Vercel applications to production using CLI, API, and Git-triggered workflows. Covers deployment promotion, instant rollback, rolling releases, multi-region function configuration, and deploy hooks for headless CMS integration.

Prerequisites

• Vercel project linked and configured
• Production environment variables set
• Custom domain configured (optional)
• VERCEL_TOKEN for API-based deployments

Instructions

Step 1: Production Deploy Methods

# Method 1: CLI direct production deploy
vercel --prod

# Method 2: Promote a preview deployment to production
vercel promote https://my-app-preview-xxx.vercel.app

# Method 3: API-based deployment
curl -X POST "https://api.vercel.com/v13/deployments" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $VERCEL_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "my-app",
    "target": "production",
    "gitSource": {
      "type": "github",
      "repoId": "123456789",
      "ref": "main",
      "sha": "'$(git rev-parse HEAD)'"
    }
  }'

# Method 4: Deploy Hook (for CMS-triggered rebuilds)
curl -X POST "https://api.vercel.com/v1/integrations/deploy/prj_xxx/hook_xxx"

Step 2: Instant Rollback

# Roll back to the previous production deployment (no rebuild)
vercel rollback

# Roll back to a specific deployment
vercel rollback dpl_xxxxxxxxxxxx

# Verify the rollback
vercel ls --prod
curl -s https://yourdomain.com/api/health | jq .

# Via API — promote a known-good deployment
curl -X POST "https://api.vercel.com/v9/projects/my-app/promote" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $VERCEL_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"deploymentId": "dpl_known_good_id"}'

Key points:

• Instant rollback swaps production traffic without rebuilding
• The rolled-back deployment retains its original environment variables
• All production domains immediately point to the rolled-back deployment

Step 3: Rolling Releases (Gradual Rollout)

Configure rolling releases in the dashboard under Settings > Rolling Releases:

// vercel.json — rolling release config
{
  "rollingRelease": {
    "enabled": true,
    "stages": [
      { "targetPercentage": 10, "duration": 300 },
      { "targetPercentage": 50, "duration": 600 },
      { "targetPercentage": 100 }
    ]
  }
}

This routes 10% of traffic to the new deployment for 5 minutes, then 50% for 10 minutes, then 100%. If errors spike during any stage, rollback instantly.

Step 4: Multi-Region Function Configuration

// vercel.json — deploy functions to specific regions
{
  "regions": ["iad1", "sfo1", "cdg1", "hnd1"],
  "functions": {
    "api/user.ts": {
      "memory": 1024,
      "maxDuration": 30
    },
    "api/heavy-compute.ts": {
      "memory": 3008,
      "maxDuration": 60,
      "regions": ["iad1"]
    }
  }
}

Available regions:

Step 5: Deploy Hooks (CMS Triggers)

Create deploy hooks in Settings > Git > Deploy Hooks:

# Create via dashboard, then trigger with POST
curl -X POST "https://api.vercel.com/v1/integrations/deploy/prj_xxx/hook_xxx"

# Common CMS integrations:
# Contentful — webhook URL → Vercel deploy hook
# Sanity — GROQ listener → deploy hook
# Strapi — lifecycle hook → deploy hook

Step 6: Deployment Monitoring

# List recent production deployments
vercel ls --prod --limit=5

# Check deployment state
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $VERCEL_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.vercel.com/v6/deployments?target=production&limit=5&projectId=prj_xxx" \
  | jq '.deployments[] | {uid, url, state, createdAt}'

# Monitor deployment logs in real-time
vercel logs https://yourdomain.com --follow

Deploy Lifecycle

git push main
  → Vercel builds (BUILDING)
    → Build succeeds (READY)
      → Traffic routes to new deployment
        → Old deployment kept for instant rollback

Output

• Production deployment live via CLI, API, or Git push
• Instant rollback configured to previous deployment
• Rolling releases for gradual traffic shifting
• Function regions optimized for user geography
• Deploy hooks for CMS-triggered rebuilds

Error Handling

Resources

• Deploying to Vercel
• Instant Rollback
• Rolling Releases
• Promoting Deployments
• Deploy Hooks
• Function Regions

Next Steps

For webhook integration, see vercel-webhooks-events.