Deploy to Vercel

The recommended path. Vercel runs Next.js 16 natively, understands the pnpm + Turborepo monorepo, and needs no code changes. Budget ~30 minutes plus DNS propagation.

Complete the shared prerequisites first (Neon, Stripe, Resend, OAuth apps).

1. Import the project

1. Push the repository to GitHub and import it at vercel.com/new
2. Set Root Directory to apps/web
3. Leave the framework preset on Next.js. apps/web/vercel.json already sets a custom Build Command — cd ../.. && pnpm turbo build --filter=app — so Vercel doesn't fall back to a bare next build, which would skip Prisma client generation. The generated client is gitignored, so without the Turbo build the deploy fails; this isn't optional and needs no manual setup

2. Environment variables

Add these in Project → Settings → Environment Variables (Production). This mirrors apps/web/.env.example:

# App
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL=https://yourdomain.com
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_NAME=YourApp
NEXT_PUBLIC_DOCS_URL=https://docs.yourdomain.com

# Database (Neon pooled connection string)
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://...@ep-*-pooler.*.neon.tech/...

# Better Auth
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET=            # openssl rand -base64 48
BETTER_AUTH_URL=https://yourdomain.com
BETTER_AUTH_TRUSTED_ORIGINS=https://yourdomain.com

# OAuth (optional)
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=
GITHUB_CLIENT_ID=
GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET=

# Stripe
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_live_...   # or sk_test_ while testing
STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET=whsec_... # added after step 5
STRIPE_PRO_PRICE_ID_MONTHLY=price_...
STRIPE_PRO_PRICE_ID_ANNUAL=price_...
STRIPE_ENTERPRISE_PRICE_ID_MONTHLY=price_...
STRIPE_ENTERPRISE_PRICE_ID_ANNUAL=price_...

# Email — with RESEND_API_KEY set, production auto-selects the Resend provider
EMAIL_FROM=noreply@yourdomain.com
RESEND_API_KEY=re_...

# Storage — serverless filesystems are ephemeral; use S3 in production
STORAGE_PROVIDER=s3
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=
AWS_REGION=us-east-1
AWS_S3_BUCKET=your-bucket
AWS_S3_PUBLIC_URL=https://your-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com

STORAGE_PROVIDER=local writes to ./public/uploads, which does not persist on Vercel's serverless filesystem. Use s3 for any real deployment.

Vercel's Hobby plan caps request bodies at 4.5 MB. The kit's upload limit (MAX_FILE_SIZE_MB in packages/utils/storage.ts) is set to 4 MB for this reason.

3. Push the database schema

From your machine, put the unpooled Neon URL in DIRECT_URL in packages/database/.env. Leave Vercel DATABASE_URL as the -pooler string. prisma.config.ts uses DIRECT_URL || DATABASE_URL; the pooler cannot run DDL.

cd packages/database && npx prisma db push

4. Deploy and attach the domain

Trigger the first deploy, then add your domain under Settings → Domains. If the domain differs from what you set in step 2, update NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL, BETTER_AUTH_URL, and BETTER_AUTH_TRUSTED_ORIGINS and redeploy — NEXT_PUBLIC_* values are baked at build time.

5. Stripe webhook and OAuth callbacks

Follow the shared post-deploy configuration: register https://yourdomain.com/api/auth/stripe/webhook, copy the signing secret into STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET, redeploy, and add the OAuth callback URLs.

6. Verify

Run the full verification checklist.

Vercel-specific notes

• Middleware (apps/web/middleware.ts) runs on Vercel's edge runtime. It performs an optimistic getSessionCookie() check with no database access — a missing cookie redirects to sign-in here. It cannot distinguish a valid session from a stale or garbage cookie (any present token string is truthy). Real enforcement happens in the layouts via requireAuth.
• Preview deployments get *.vercel.app URLs that won't match BETTER_AUTH_TRUSTED_ORIGINS; auth flows on previews will be limited unless you add the preview origin.
• Rollback: vercel rollback restores the previous deployment; the schema is managed separately via Prisma, so roll it back deliberately if a deploy included schema changes.