CLI Overview

Installing and updating the Vercel CLI, global options shared by every command, and a map of the full command surface.

The Vercel CLI lets you deploy and manage projects from your terminal. Running vercel with no subcommand deploys the current directory — it's the only command that works without a subcommand. Everything else is vercel <command>.

Installing

npm i -g vercel
# or
pnpm i -g vercel
# or
yarn global add vercel

On Windows you can also grab an installer from the Vercel CLI releases on GitHub. Check your version with:

vercel --version

Updating

npm i -g vercel@latest

Vercel also ships experimental native CLI binaries; the npm package remains the standard install.

Authenticating

vercel login      # sign in
vercel logout     # sign out
vercel whoami     # show the current account

See Account and project commands for teams and tokens.

Global options

These flags work on (nearly) every command:

Option	Meaning
`--cwd <dir>`	Run as if started in a different working directory
`--scope <slug>`	Run under a specific team/account scope
`--token <token>`	Authenticate with a token (CI use)
`--yes`	Skip confirmation prompts (non-interactive)
`--debug`	Verbose output for troubleshooting
`--no-color`	Disable colored output
`--global-config <dir>`	Use a custom global config directory
`--local-config <file>`	Use a specific `vercel.json`
`--help`	Show help for a command

For CI/CD, the common pattern is a project-scoped token plus --yes:

vercel deploy --prod --token="$VERCEL_TOKEN" --yes

The command surface

The CLI is large. Grouped by what you'll actually reach for:

Build & deploy → see Deploying

deploy (alias: bare vercel), build, dev, pull, link, redeploy

Environment & config → see Environment variables

env, pull

Domains & routing → see Domains and routing

domains, dns, certs, alias, redirects, routes

Managing deployments → see Managing deployments

list, inspect, logs, promote, rollback, remove, rolling-release

Account, team & project → see Account and project

login, logout, whoami, teams, switch, tokens, project, link

Other notable commands

crons, certs, blob, edge-config, firewall, git, integration, cache, bisect, init, open, guidance, mcp, sandbox, skills. Run vercel help <command> for any of them.

Tip: vercel deploy --guidance prints suggested next-step commands after a deploy — a handy way to discover relevant commands for post-deploy tasks.

Project linking

Most commands operate on a linked project — a local directory associated with a Vercel project via the .vercel/ directory. Link with:

vercel link

Linking is project-specific. Running vercel link in a subdirectory of an already-linked project still links to the same project; to deploy separate parts of a monorepo as separate projects, link from each one's own root.

CLI Overview

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