Deploying a Next.js app on Vercel: A step-by-step guide

Tutorial 2 of 5

1. Introduction

This tutorial aims to guide you through the deployment of a Next.js application on Vercel. By the end of this tutorial, you will be able to deploy your Next.js application to Vercel from your Git repository, and understand how Vercel builds and deploys your application.

You will learn:
- How to connect your Git repository to Vercel
- How to deploy your Next.js application on Vercel

Prerequisites:
- Basic knowledge of Next.js
- A Next.js app to deploy
- A GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket account

2. Step-by-Step Guide

2.1 Setup Vercel

Firstly, you need to set up your Vercel account. Follow these steps:

  1. Visit the Vercel website and click on "Sign Up" if you don't already have an account.
  2. You can sign up using your GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket account. This will also help you to quickly import your repositories.

2.2 Connect Your Repository

After setting up your Vercel account, it's time to connect your repository. Here's how:

  1. On the Vercel dashboard, click on "New Project".
  2. You will see a list of your repositories. Choose the repo for the Next.js app you want to deploy.
  3. Click "Import" at the bottom of the page. Vercel will automatically detect that your app is a Next.js app.

2.3 Deploy Your Application

Now let's deploy your application:

  1. On the "Import Git Repository" page, you can leave the settings as they are.
  2. Click "Deploy". Vercel will now build and deploy your app.

3. Code Examples

Due to the nature of this tutorial, there are no code snippets to provide since most of the work revolves around the use of the Vercel platform itself. However, you can refer to the official Next.js documentation for examples of Next.js apps that you can build and deploy.

4. Summary

In this tutorial, we have learned how to deploy a Next.js application on Vercel. We first set up our Vercel account, then we connected our Git repository to Vercel, and finally, we deployed our application.

For further learning, you could look into how to use the Vercel CLI to manage your deployments, or how to set up custom domains for your deployments.

5. Practice Exercises

Exercise 1: Try deploying a Next.js app with a different build command.

Solution: In the "Import Git Repository" page, you can change the "Build Command". For example, if you have a script in your package.json named "build:prod", you could change the build command to "npm run build:prod".

Exercise 2: Try setting up a custom domain for your deployment.

Solution: In your project settings on Vercel, you can go to the "Domains" section and add a custom domain. You'll need to verify the domain and configure your DNS settings as instructed by Vercel.

Exercise 3: Try setting environment variables for your deployment.

Solution: In your project settings on Vercel, you can go to the "Environment Variables" section and add your environment variables. These will be available in your app at build time and runtime, depending on the type of environment variable you add.