vercel-cli

name

vercel-cli

description

Deploy, manage, inspect, and troubleshoot Vercel projects from the command line. Use for Vercel deployments, projects and teams, environment variables, domains and DNS, logs, metrics, usage, activity, alerts, firewall rules, cache, cron jobs, deploy hooks, Edge Config, feature flags, integrations, connectors, Blob storage, microfrontends, rolling releases, custom environments, Sandbox, agent/MCP setup, preview access, local development, or `vercel api` fallback.

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> --help for full flag details on any command.

The installed CLI help is the source of truth for obscure or newly added flags. If a command example here is not enough, check vercel <command> --help before acting instead of guessing.

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
• Rolling releases, deploy hooks, cron jobs, cache, git connection, Edge Config, redirects, custom environments → references/project-infra.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, activity, performance, preview access, or production debugging → references/monitoring-and-debugging.md
• Alerts, usage, contracts, billing purchases, tokens, telemetry, or CLI upgrades → references/platform-ops.md
• Blob storage → references/storage.md
• Integrations (databases, storage, etc.) → references/integrations.md
• Connectors (vercel connect) → references/connectors.md
• Routing rules → references/routing.md
• Firewall (WAF rules, IP blocks, rate limiting) → references/firewall.md
• Access a preview deployment → use vercel curl (see references/monitoring-and-debugging.md)
• CLI command is unavailable or output is missing required fields → use vercel api after first-class CLI paths are unavailable or insufficient (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
• Microfrontends → references/microfrontends.md
• Sandbox → references/sandbox.md
• Agent, MCP, skills discovery, or AI Gateway → references/agent-and-ai.md
• Advanced (API, webhooks, oauth apps) → 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 non-interactive flags in CI/agent runs: Use --non-interactive when you need prompt-free behavior, and add --yes only for commands that require confirmation.
• 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.
• Using vercel api too early: Prefer first-class CLI commands when they expose the needed data or mutation.