1. Introduction

Brief Explanation of The Tutorial's Goal

The goal of this tutorial is to teach you how to set up Continuous Deployment (CD) for your Next.js application. Continuous Deployment is a software development strategy where code changes are automatically built, tested, and prepared for a release to production.

What The User Will Learn

By the end of this tutorial, you will be able to create a workflow that automatically deploys your code updates to your live site. We will use Vercel, a cloud platform for static sites and Serverless Functions, for our CD pipeline.

Prerequisites

• Basic knowledge of JavaScript and Next.js
• A GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket account
• A Vercel account

2. Step-by-Step Guide

Setting up Your Next.js Application

1. Create a new Next.js app by running npx create-next-app@latest
2. Push your code to a Git provider (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket)

Setting Up Your Vercel Account and Project

1. Sign up or log in to your Vercel account
2. Click on "New Project"
3. Import the git repository where you have pushed your Next.js code
4. Vercel automatically detects that it's a Next.js app and sets up the build settings for you

Enabling Continuous Deployment

1. Every time you push to your chosen branch, Vercel will create a new deployment and the URL will be shown in your dashboard
2. For production deployment, select the "Production Branches" option and specify the branch you want to deploy

3. Code Examples

Unfortunately, this tutorial does not require code snippets because the process mainly involves navigating through user interfaces and setting up configurations on Vercel.

4. Summary

In this tutorial, you learned how to set up Continuous Deployment for a Next.js application using Vercel. You learned how to create a new Next.js application, push your code to a Git provider, set up a new project on Vercel, and enable Continuous Deployment for your project.

Next Steps for Learning

Now that you have set up Continuous Deployment for your Next.js application, you can explore more about Vercel's features such as environment variables, serverless functions, and more.

Additional Resources

• Next.js Documentation
• Vercel Documentation

5. Practice Exercises

1. Basic: Create a basic Next.js application and set up Continuous Deployment with Vercel.
2. Intermediate: Add some environment variables to your Next.js application and make sure they are correctly used in your deployed application.
3. Advanced: Set up a staging environment in Vercel. This should be a separate environment from production where you can test your changes before deploying to production.

Solutions With Explanations

1. Follow the steps in the tutorial.
2. Follow the guide on environment variables in Vercel.
3. Follow the guide on deployment environments in Vercel.

Tips For Further Practice

Try setting up Continuous Deployment for other JavaScript frameworks, such as React or Vue. The process will be similar but with some nuances related to the specific framework.