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:

Region	Location	Code
Washington, D.C.	US East	iad1
San Francisco	US West	sfo1
Paris	Europe	cdg1
Tokyo	Asia	hnd1
Sydney	Australia	syd1
S. Paulo	South America	gru1
London	Europe	lhr1

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

Error	Cause	Solution
DEPLOYMENT_BLOCKED	Deployment freeze or branch protection	Disable freeze in Settings or use —force
Promotion fails	Preview deployment has different env vars	Verify env vars match between preview and production
Rolling release stuck	Error threshold exceeded	Fix the code, then restart the rollout
Deploy hook returns 404	Hook deleted or project ID wrong	Recreate the hook in Settings > Git
Region not available	Plan doesn’t support multi-region	Upgrade to Pro or Enterprise

Resources

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

Next Steps

For webhook integration, see vercel-webhooks-events.