Skill: Vercel Deploy#

When to activate (automatically, without prompting)#

• any mention of Vercel, landing page, or site on vercel.app
• task "update site", "deploy", "fix landing"
• editing an HTML file in a project folder with .vercel/project.json

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Auth flow (before anything else)#

bash

vercel whoami 2>&1

Authorized → proceed.

Not authorized → one-time setup:

→ In Claude Code (has a browser):

bash

vercel login

→ In OpenClaw or any headless agent:

1. Tell the user:

   "Open vercel.com/account/tokens → Create Token → copy it and send it here. You only need to do this once."

2. Once received, verify:

bash

export VERCEL_TOKEN=<token>
vercel whoami

1. Store securely — do NOT write the token to ~/.zshrc or any file. Keep it in env for this session only, or ask the user to add it to their secrets manager.

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Creating or editing HTML files#

CRITICAL: Never output HTML in the response text.

Always write directly to a file using the Write/Edit tool:

• ✅ Write tool → index.html → deploy
• ❌ Print HTML in response → copy-paste → deploy

Reason: large HTML files exceed the 32k output token limit and Claude hangs mid-generation. Writing to a file has no such limit.

If the file is very large (>300 lines), build it in logical sections using Edit tool rather than rewriting from scratch.

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Pre-deploy checklist (required)#

1. Make ALL changes first#

❌ ANTI-PATTERN: deploy after each individual edit ✅ Rule: all edits in file first → one deploy

2. Check for .vercel/project.json#

bash

ls .vercel/project.json

File exists → proceed to deploy.

File does not exist → first deploy, Vercel will create the project automatically:

bash

vercel deploy --yes --prod
# Vercel creates the project and .vercel/project.json on first run

3. Verify changes are actually in the file#

bash

grep -c "expected string" index.html

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Deploy recipe#

bash

# Deploy (run from project folder)
vercel deploy --yes --prod 2>&1 | grep -E "https://|Error"

# If custom alias was not assigned automatically — set it manually:
# For personal accounts (no --scope needed):
vercel alias set <deploy-url> <alias>.vercel.app

# For team accounts only:
vercel alias set <deploy-url> <alias>.vercel.app --scope YOUR_TEAM_SCOPE

Note: script -q /dev/null suppresses interactive prompts on macOS but breaks on Linux. Use plain vercel deploy instead — --yes flag handles prompts cross-platform.

Post-deploy verification (required)#

bash

curl -s https://<alias>.vercel.app | grep "expected string"
# 200 + expected string = ✅ done

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Removing SSO (if site is locked behind auth)#

bash

PROJECT_ID=$(python3 -c "import json; print(json.load(open('.vercel/project.json'))['projectId'])")
TOKEN=$(python3 -c "import json; print(json.load(open('$HOME/Library/Application Support/com.vercel.cli/auth.json'))['token'])")

# For personal accounts:
curl -s -X PATCH "https://api.vercel.com/v9/projects/$PROJECT_ID" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"ssoProtection":null,"passwordProtection":null,"trustedIps":null}'

# For team accounts — add teamId:
curl -s -X PATCH "https://api.vercel.com/v9/projects/$PROJECT_ID?teamId=YOUR_TEAM_ID" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"ssoProtection":null,"passwordProtection":null,"trustedIps":null}'

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Final output (always)#

After a successful deploy, the last message to the user must be the public URL — nothing else:

text

✅ https://<alias>.vercel.app

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❌ Anti-patterns (from practice)#

What went wrongHow to do it rightGenerated HTML in response text (hit 32k token limit)Always write HTML directly to file using Write/Edit toolDeployed from home directory (wrong CWD)Always deploy from the project folder with .vercel/project.jsonMultiple deploys for separate editsAll edits → one deployDidn't verify file actually changed before deployinggrep before deployingDidn't verify after deploycurl on the live URL after every deployUsed --scope on a personal account--scope is for team accounts onlyUsed script -q /dev/null on LinuxUse plain vercel deploy --yes insteadStored token in ~/.zshrcKeep token in env only, never write to filesStarted with partial understandingRead source fully first, make a diff, then apply all edits

Gotchas#

• --name is deprecated — don't use it
• vercel project rm doesn't support --yes — interactive only
• vercelAuthentication is NOT supported in API v9 — use ssoProtection: null
• After vercel deploy --prod the default alias is assigned automatically, custom alias is not (always verify)
• First deploy on a new project: no .vercel/project.json yet — just run vercel deploy --yes --prod, it creates the project automatically