Vercel API: Deployments, Environment Variables, and Domains

Overview

Vercel exposes a REST API and CLI for full programmatic control of deployments, environment variables, domains, and edge config. Use the CLI for interactive ops; use the REST API for automation.

Authentication

# CLI login
vercel login

# REST API — Bearer token (generate at vercel.com/account/tokens)
Authorization: Bearer <token>

Core CLI Commands

# Deploy current directory
vercel                     # Preview deployment
vercel --prod              # Production deployment

# Project management
vercel ls                  # List projects
vercel inspect <url>       # Deployment details
vercel logs <url>          # Stream logs

# Environment variables
vercel env add NAME production     # Add env var
vercel env ls                      # List all env vars
vercel env rm NAME production      # Remove env var
vercel env pull .env.local         # Pull env vars to local file

# Domains
vercel domains add example.com     # Add domain
vercel domains ls                  # List domains

# Rollback
vercel rollback [deployment-url]   # Rollback to previous

Environment Variables API

// List env vars for a project
const vars = await fetch(
  "https://api.vercel.com/v9/projects/{projectId}/env",
  { headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${token}` } }
).then(r => r.json());

// Create env var
await fetch("https://api.vercel.com/v10/projects/{projectId}/env", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${token}`,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    key: "MY_API_KEY",
    value: "secret-value",
    type: "encrypted",           // "plain" | "encrypted" | "secret"
    target: ["production", "preview", "development"],
  }),
});

Deployments API

// List deployments
const deploys = await fetch(
  "https://api.vercel.com/v6/deployments?projectId={id}&limit=20",
  { headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${token}` } }
).then(r => r.json());

// Trigger a deployment (from Git)
await fetch("https://api.vercel.com/v13/deployments", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${token}`, "Content-Type": "application/json" },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    name: "my-project",
    gitSource: {
      type: "github",
      repoId: "123456",
      ref: "main",
    },
    target: "production",
  }),
});

// Get deployment status
const deploy = await fetch(
  "https://api.vercel.com/v13/deployments/{deploymentId}",
  { headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${token}` } }
).then(r => r.json());
// deploy.readyState: "QUEUED" | "BUILDING" | "READY" | "ERROR"

vercel.json Configuration

{
  "buildCommand": "npm run build",
  "outputDirectory": ".next",
  "installCommand": "npm ci",
  "framework": "nextjs",
  "regions": ["iad1"],
  "headers": [
    {
      "source": "/api/(.*)",
      "headers": [{ "key": "Cache-Control", "value": "no-store" }]
    }
  ],
  "rewrites": [
    { "source": "/old-path", "destination": "/new-path" }
  ],
  "redirects": [
    { "source": "/old", "destination": "/new", "permanent": true }
  ],
  "crons": [
    { "path": "/api/cron/daily", "schedule": "0 8 * * *" }
  ]
}

Domains API

// Add domain to project
await fetch("https://api.vercel.com/v10/projects/{projectId}/domains", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${token}`, "Content-Type": "application/json" },
  body: JSON.stringify({ name: "example.com" }),
});

// Verify domain
const check = await fetch(
  "https://api.vercel.com/v6/domains/{domain}/config",
  { headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${token}` } }
).then(r => r.json());
// check.misconfigured: bool — true means DNS not yet propagated

GitHub Actions Integration

name: Deploy to Vercel
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Deploy
        run: |
          npm install -g vercel
          vercel pull --yes --environment=production --token=${{ secrets.VERCEL_TOKEN }}
          vercel build --prod --token=${{ secrets.VERCEL_TOKEN }}
          vercel deploy --prebuilt --prod --token=${{ secrets.VERCEL_TOKEN }}
        env:
          VERCEL_ORG_ID: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_ORG_ID }}
          VERCEL_PROJECT_ID: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_PROJECT_ID }}

Edge Config

Low-latency key-value store read at the edge before your function runs:

import { get } from "@vercel/edge-config";

export async function middleware(request: NextRequest) {
  const maintenanceMode = await get<boolean>("maintenanceMode");
  if (maintenanceMode) {
    return NextResponse.rewrite(new URL("/maintenance", request.url));
  }
}

Update via REST API — changes propagate in milliseconds globally.