Deploy To Vercel

What This Skill Does

This skill deploys projects to Vercel, prioritizing a setup that links the project with git-push deploys. It guides users through team selection and uses the Vercel CLI to deploy projects as previews, unless a production deployment is explicitly requested. The skill aims to streamline the deployment process and ensure best practices.

When to Use

• Deploy a new web project to Vercel.
• Update an existing Vercel deployment.
• Deploy a project to a specific Vercel team.
• Set up git-push deployments for continuous integration.
• Troubleshoot Vercel deployment issues.
• Verify Vercel CLI installation and authentication.

Key Features

• Detects project state (git remote, Vercel linking).Handles team selection for multi-team users.
• Deploys as preview by default.
• Uses Vercel CLI for deployment.
• Supports both single project and repo-based linking.
• Avoids deprecated commands like vercel link.

Deploy to Vercel

Deploy any project to Vercel. Always deploy as preview (not production) unless the user explicitly asks for production.

The goal is to get the user into the best long-term setup: their project linked to Vercel with git-push deploys. Every method below tries to move the user closer to that state.

Step 1: Gather Project State

Run all four checks before deciding which method to use:

1. Check for a git remote

git remote get-url origin 2>/dev/null

1. Check if locally linked to a Vercel project (either file means linked) cat .vercel/project.json 2>/dev/null || cat .vercel/repo.json 2>/dev/null

2. Check if the Vercel CLI is installed and authenticated vercel whoami 2>/dev/null

3. List available teams (if authenticated) vercel teams list --format json 2>/dev/null

Team selection

If the user belongs to multiple teams, present all available team slugs as a bulleted list and ask which one to deploy to. Once the user picks a team, proceed immediately to the next step — do not ask for additional confirmation.

Pass the team slug via --scope on all subsequent CLI commands (vercel deploy, vercel link, vercel inspect, etc.):

vercel deploy [path] -y --no-wait --scope <team-slug>

If the project is already linked (.vercel/project.json or .vercel/repo.json exists), the org Id in those files determines the team — no need to ask again. If there is only one team (or just a personal account), skip the prompt and use it directly.

About the .vercel/ directory: A linked project has either: .vercel/project.json — created by vercel link (single project linking). Contains project Id and org Id. .vercel/repo.json — created by vercel link --repo (repo-based linking). Contains org Id, remote Name, and a projects array mapping directories to Vercel project IDs.

Either file means the project is linked. Check for both.

Do NOT use vercel project inspect, vercel ls, or vercel link to detect state in an unlinked directory — without a .vercel/ config, they will interactively prompt (or with --yes, silently link as a side-effect). Only vercel whoami is safe to run anywhere.

Step 2: Choose a Deploy Method

Linked (.vercel/ exists) + has git remote → Git Push

This is the ideal state. The project is linked and has git integration.

Ask the user before pushing. Never push without explicit approval: This project is connected to Vercel via git. I can commit and push to trigger a deployment. Want me to proceed?

Commit and push: git add . git commit -m "deploy: <description of changes>" git push Vercel automatically builds from the push. Non-production branches get preview deployments; the production branch (usually main) gets a production deployment.

Retrieve the preview URL. If the CLI is authenticated: sleep 5 vercel ls --format json The JSON output has a deployments array. Find the latest entry — its url field is the preview URL.

If the CLI is not authenticated, tell the user to check the Vercel dashboard or the commit status checks on their git provider for the preview URL.

Linked (.vercel/ exists) + no git remote → vercel deploy

The project is linked but there's no git repo. Deploy directly with the CLI.

vercel deploy [path] -y --no-wait

Use --no-wait so the CLI returns immediately with the deployment URL instead of blocking until the build finishes (builds can take a while). Then check on the deployment status with:

vercel inspect <deployment-url>

For production deploys (only if user explicitly asks): vercel deploy [path] --prod -y --no-wait

Not linked + CLI is authenticated → Link first, then deploy

The CLI is working but the project isn't linked yet. This is the opportunity to get the user into the best state.

Ask the user which team to deploy to. Present the team slugs from Step 1 as a bulleted list. If there's only one team (or just a personal account), skip this step.

Once a team is selected, proceed directly to linking. Tell the user what will happen but do not ask for separate confirmation: Linking this project to <team name> on Vercel. This will create a Vercel project to deploy to and enable automatic deployments on future git pushes.

If a git remote exists, use repo-based linking with the selected team scope: vercel link --repo --scope <team-slug> This reads the git remote URL and matches it to existing Vercel projects that deploy from that repo. It creates .vercel/repo.json. This is much more reliable than vercel link (without --repo), which tries to match by directory name and often fails when the local folder and Vercel project are named differently.

If there is no git remote, fall back to standard linking: vercel link --scope <team-slug> This prompts the user to select or create a project. It creates .vercel/project.json.

Then deploy using the best available method:

• If a git remote exists → commit and push (see git push method above)
• If no git remote → vercel deploy [path] -y --no-wait --scope , then vercel inspect to check status

Not linked + CLI not authenticated → Install, auth, link, deploy

The Vercel CLI isn't set up at all.

Install the CLI (if not already installed): npm install -g vercel

Authenticate: vercel login The user completes auth in their browser. If running in a non-interactive environment where login is not possible, skip to the no-auth fallback below.

Ask which team to deploy to — present team slugs from vercel teams list --format json as a bulleted list. If only one team / personal account, skip. Once selected, proceed immediately.

Link the project with the selected team scope (use --repo if a git remote exists, plain vercel link otherwise): vercel link --repo --scope <team-slug> # if git remote exists vercel link --scope <team-slug> # if no git remote

Deploy using the best available method (git push if remote exists, otherwise vercel deploy -y --no-wait --scope , then vercel inspect to check status).

No-Auth Fallback — claude.ai sandbox

When to use: Last resort when the CLI can't be installed or authenticated in the claude.ai sandbox. This requires no authentication — it returns a Preview URL (live site) and a Claim URL (transfer to your Vercel account).

bash /mnt/skills/user/deploy-to-vercel/resources/deploy.sh [path]

Arguments: path - Directory to deploy, or a .tgz file (defaults to current directory)

Examples:

Deploy current directory

bash /mnt/skills/user/deploy-to-vercel/resources/deploy.sh

Deploy specific project bash /mnt/skills/user/deploy-to-vercel/resources/deploy.sh /path/to/project

Deploy existing tarball bash /mnt/skills/user/deploy-to-vercel/resources/deploy.sh /path/to/project.tgz

The script auto-detects the framework from package.json, packages the project (excluding node_modules, .git, .env), uploads it, and waits for the build to complete.

Tell the user: "Your deployment is ready at [preview Url]. Claim it at [claim Url] to manage your deployment."

No-Auth