vercel-cli

name: vercel-cli description: Vercel CLI expert guidance. Use when deploying, managing environment variables, linking projects, viewing logs, querying metrics, managing domains, or interacting with the Vercel platform from the command line. metadata: priority: 4 docs: - "https://vercel.com/docs/cli" sitemap: "https://vercel.com/sitemap/docs.xml" pathPatterns: - 'vercel.json' - 'vercel.ts' - '.vercel/**' - '.vercelignore' - 'now.json' bashPatterns: - '^\svercel(?:\s|$)' - '^\svc(?:\s|$)' - '\bnpx\s+vercel\b' - '\bpnpm\s+dlx\s+vercel\b' - '\bbunx\s+vercel\b' - '\byarn\s+dlx\s+vercel\b' - '\bnpx\s+@vercel/config\b' promptSignals: phrases: - "check deployment" - "check deploy" - "deployment status" - "deploy status" - "vercel logs" - "vercel metrics" - "deployment logs" - "deploy logs" - "vercel inspect" - "is it deployed" - "deploy failing" - "deploy failed" - "deployment error" - "check vercel" - "vercel status" allOf: - [check, deployment] - [check, deploy] - [vercel, status] - [vercel, logs] - [vercel, metrics] - [deploy, error] - [deploy, failed] - [deploy, stuck] anyOf: - "deployment" - "deploy" - "vercel" - "production" noneOf: - "terraform" - "aws deploy" - "heroku" minScore: 6 retrieval: aliases: - vercel command line - vc cli - deploy command - vercel terminal intents: - deploy from cli - link project - manage domains - view logs from terminal entities: - vercel CLI - vercel deploy - vercel env - vercel link - vercel logs - vercel metrics chainTo:

pattern: '"functions"\s*:\s*\{|"maxDuration"\s*:|"memory"\s*:'
targetSkill: vercel-functions
message: 'Functions configuration detected in vercel.json — loading Vercel Functions guidance for runtime options, streaming, and Fluid Compute.'
skipIfFileContains: '"crons"\s*:'

- pattern: '"redirects"\s*:\s*[|"rewrites"\s*:\s*[|"headers"\s*:\s*[' targetSkill: routing-middleware message: 'Routing rules in vercel.json — loading Routing Middleware guidance for platform-level request interception patterns.'

Vercel CLI Skill

The Vercel CLI (vercel or vc) deploys, manages, and develops projects on the Vercel platform from the command line. Use vercel <command> -h for full flag details on any command.

Critical: Project Linking

Commands must be run from the directory containing the .vercel folder (or a subdirectory of it). How .vercel gets set up depends on your project structure:

• .vercel/project.json: Created by vercel link. Links a single project. Fine for single-project repos, and can work in monorepos if there's only one project.
• .vercel/repo.json: Created by vercel link --repo. Links a repo that may contain multiple projects. Always a good idea when any project has a non-root directory (e.g., apps/web).

Running from a project subdirectory (e.g., apps/web/) skips the "which project?" prompt since it's unambiguous.

When something goes wrong, check how things are linked first — look at what's in .vercel/ and whether it's project.json or repo.json. Also verify you're on the right team with vercel whoami — linking while on the wrong team is a common mistake.

Quick Start

npm i -g vercel
vercel login
vercel link              # single project
# OR
vercel link --repo       # monorepo
vercel pull
vercel dev        # local development
vercel deploy     # preview deployment
vercel --prod     # production deployment

Decision Tree

Use this to route to the correct reference file:

• Deploy → references/deployment.md
• Local development → references/local-development.md
• Environment variables → references/environment-variables.md
• CI/CD automation → references/ci-automation.md
• Domains or DNS → references/domains-and-dns.md
• Projects or teams → references/projects-and-teams.md
• Logs, metrics, debugging, or accessing preview deploys → references/monitoring-and-debugging.md
• Blob storage → references/storage.md
• Integrations (databases, storage, etc.) → references/integrations.md
• Access a preview deployment → use vercel curl (see references/monitoring-and-debugging.md)
• CLI doesn't have a command for it → use vercel api as a fallback (see references/advanced.md)
• Node.js backends (Express, Hono, etc.) → references/node-backends.md
• Monorepos (Turborepo, Nx, workspaces) → references/monorepos.md
• Bun runtime → references/bun.md
• Feature flags → references/flags.md
• Advanced (API, webhooks) → references/advanced.md
• Global flags → references/global-options.md
• First-time setup → references/getting-started.md

Anti-Patterns

• Wrong link type in monorepos with multiple projects: vercel link creates project.json, which only tracks one project. Use vercel link --repo instead. When things break, check .vercel/ first.
• Letting commands auto-link in monorepos: Many commands implicitly run vercel link if .vercel/ doesn't exist. This creates project.json, which may be wrong. Run vercel link (or --repo) explicitly first.
• Linking while on the wrong team: Use vercel whoami to check, vercel teams switch to change.
• Forgetting --yes in CI: Required to skip interactive prompts.
• Using vercel deploy after vercel build without --prebuilt: The build output is ignored.
• Hardcoding tokens in flags: Use VERCEL_TOKEN env var instead of --token.
• Disabling deployment protection: Use vercel curl instead to access preview deploys.