vercel-cli

name

vercel-cli

description

Deploy, manage, inspect, and troubleshoot Vercel projects from the command line. Use for Vercel deployments, build failures, projects and teams, environment variables, domains and DNS, logs, metrics, Speed Insights, Core Web Vitals, request traces, usage, activity, alerts, firewall rules, cache, cron jobs, deploy hooks, Edge Config, feature flags, integrations, connectors, Blob storage, Container Registry (VCR), microfrontends, rolling releases, custom environments, Sandbox, agent/MCP setup, OAuth apps, 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.

Parse only stdout for URLs and JSON. Warnings, progress, and --help print to stderr; merge streams only when searching help text. Some help commands exit 2 after printing usage, so treat printed usage as a successful help read.

In agent/non-interactive mode, many commands report errors and required confirmations as a single JSON object on stdout with status, reason, hint, and next (runnable follow-up commands). Prefer a suggested next command over composing a retry only after confirming that it preserves the user's intended target and authorization; do not automatically run linking, authentication, or mutation follow-ups. Read commands such as list, logs, inspect, and api keep their normal output shape.

Critical: Project Linking

Project context depends on the command's working directory. Before a consequential read or mutation, run vercel project inspect --non-interactive from the intended directory and confirm the reported owner and project. This command resolves only existing context in non-interactive mode; stop on link_required or a target mismatch instead of linking automatically.

Many project-aware commands also accept --project <name-or-id> with --scope <team> for an explicit, one-command target. Confirm that target and scope preserve the user's intent before using them.

• <cwd>/.vercel/project.json: Created by vercel link. This exact working-directory link wins over a repository link. The CLI does not generally inherit a root project.json when run from an arbitrary subdirectory.
• <repo-root>/.vercel/repo.json: Created by vercel link --repo. The CLI selects the deepest project directory that contains the working directory.
• Unmatched repository path: If no repo mapping contains the working directory, interactive repo resolution prompts among the configured projects. Non-interactive repo resolution currently selects the only configured project or remains unresolved when multiple choices exist. Commands that set up projects may then enter a linking flow, so non-interactive mode is not generally fail-closed.

Being inside an app directory is not proof that the intended project was selected. Check the resolved project explicitly, especially when a repo mapping does not cover that directory.

vercel whoami --format json identifies the authenticated user and effective team; plain non-TTY vercel whoami prints only the username. Neither verifies the linked project. Read-only project commands can still require login or team SAML re-authentication and open a browser/device flow. Ask the user to complete that flow deliberately before continuing.

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, redeploy, forced builds, no-cache builds, or deployment source/provenance → 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
• Build failures, deployment errors, logs, metrics, Speed Insights, Core Web Vitals, 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
• Container Registry (vercel vcr: repositories, images, tags, docker/podman/buildah login, push/pull) → references/container-registry.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
• Captured request traces (vercel traces, including --open / --view) → references/advanced.md
• Vercel Apps / OAuth apps (vercel oauth-apps) → references/advanced.md
• Advanced (vercel api fallback, 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.
• Assuming an app subdirectory determines the project: Verify with vercel project inspect --non-interactive; an unmatched repo path can currently fall back to the sole configured project in non-interactive mode.
• Using vercel whoami as linked-project verification: vercel whoami --format json reports authentication and team context, not the selected project.
• Forgetting non-interactive flags in plain CI runs: detected agents get --non-interactive by default, but plain CI does not — pass it explicitly there, and add --yes only for commands that require confirmation.
• Using vercel deploy after vercel build without --prebuilt: The build output is ignored.
• Using vercel redeploy for no-cache rebuilds: vercel redeploy does not expose a no-cache flag; use vercel deploy --force without --with-cache when you need a fresh deployment that does not retain build cache.
• 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.