Getting Started

There are two common ways to ship your first project: connecting a Git repository in the dashboard, or deploying straight from the CLI. Both end with a live URL.

Option A — Deploy from Git (dashboard)

1. Push your project to GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket.
2. In the Vercel dashboard, choose Add New → Project and import the repository.
3. Vercel detects the framework and pre-fills the build settings. Adjust the build command, output directory, or environment variables if needed.
4. Click Deploy.

From then on, every push triggers a deployment automatically: pull requests get preview URLs and merges to your production branch go live.

Option B — Deploy from the CLI

First install the CLI (see the CLI overview for all install methods):

npm i -g vercel

Then, from your project directory, the full first-deploy sequence looks like this:

# 1. Link your local directory to a Vercel project
vercel link

# 2. Pull environment variables for local development
vercel env pull .env.local

# 3. Develop locally (use your framework's dev command, or vercel dev)
vercel dev

# 4. Deploy a preview
vercel deploy

# 5. Inspect / verify the preview
vercel logs <preview-deployment-url>

# 6. Deploy to production
vercel deploy --prod

Running vercel with no arguments is the same as vercel deploy — it's the only command that works without a subcommand.

Non-interactive / CI

In CI or any non-interactive environment, add --yes to skip prompts:

vercel deploy --prod --yes

See Deploying from the CLI for the full set of deploy options.

Add a custom domain

Once you have a project, point a domain at it:

vercel domains add example.com
vercel domains inspect example.com

Domain setup, DNS records, and verification are covered in Domains and DNS.

What to learn next

• How it works — the architecture behind the magic
• Deployment workflow — preview first, then promote to production safely
• Environment variables — managing secrets and config
• Functions — running backend logic
• Configuration — the vercel.json file