Plainform

Learn how to deploy your Plainform application to Vercel.

Goal

By the end of this recipe, you'll have deployed your application to Vercel with automatic deployments.

Prerequisites

A working Plainform installation
GitHub repository with your code
Vercel account (free tier works)

Steps

Connect to Vercel

Go to vercel.com and sign in
Click Add New → Project
Import your GitHub repository
Vercel will auto-detect Next.js settings

Configure Environment Variables

Add your environment variables in Vercel:

Go to Settings → Environment Variables
Add all variables from your .env.local:
- DATABASE_URL
- CLERK_SECRET_KEY
- STRIPE_SECRET_KEY
- STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET
- RESEND_API_KEY
- All other required variables

Never commit .env.local to Git. Add environment variables directly in Vercel dashboard.

Deploy

Click Deploy and wait for the build to complete. Vercel will:

Install dependencies
Run npm run build
Deploy your application
Provide a production URL

Configure Custom Domain (Optional)

Add a custom domain:

Go to Settings → Domains
Add your domain
Update DNS records as instructed
Wait for SSL certificate provisioning

Update Webhook URLs

Update webhook URLs in your integrations:

Stripe:

Go to Stripe Dashboard → Webhooks
Update endpoint URL to https://yourdomain.com/api/stripe/webhook

Clerk:

Go to Clerk Dashboard → Webhooks
Update URLs to use your production domain

Automatic Deployments

Vercel automatically deploys when you push to GitHub:

Production: Pushes to main branch
Preview: Pushes to other branches

Common Issues

Build Fails

Check build logs in Vercel dashboard
Verify all environment variables are set
Ensure npm run build works locally

Environment Variables Not Working

Redeploy after adding new variables
Check variable names match exactly
Ensure no trailing spaces in values

Database Connection Fails

Verify DATABASE_URL is correct
Check database allows connections from Vercel IPs
Run migrations after deployment

Next Steps

Database Migrations - Run migrations in production

Vercel Deployment - Vercel deployment guide
Next.js Deployment - Next.js deployment docs

Deploy Vercel