deploying-to-production_skill

Overview

This skill automates creating a GitHub repository and deploying a Next.js website to Vercel, streamlining the path from local project to live production site. It includes pre-deployment validation, scripts to create and push a repo, Vercel linking and deployment, plus post-deploy verification steps. Use it to speed up repeatable site launches and enforce a consistent deploy checklist.

How this skill works

The workflow runs a build and validation checklist, then executes scripts in the project’s scripts/ directory to create a private GitHub repository and push your code. A separate script links the project to Vercel and deploys to production, returning the deployment URL. After deployment the skill guides you through manual checks (page load, navigation, Core Web Vitals, SEO meta) and points to logs and settings for troubleshooting.

When to use it

• Launching a new Next.js website and you need a repeatable deploy process
• Setting up version control and CI/CD with GitHub and Vercel
• Pushing code to production or preparing a site to go live
• When a user mentions ‘deploy’, ‘GitHub’, ‘Vercel’, or ‘publish’
• Enforcing a pre-deploy checklist before production release

Best practices

• Run npm run build locally and fix all errors before creating the repo
• Ensure required environment variables are defined in Vercel after first deploy
• Follow the project naming convention (lowercase, hyphens) for consistency
• Verify Core Web Vitals and SEO meta tags as part of post-deploy checks
• Use GitHub CLI and Vercel CLI authenticated sessions to avoid script failures

Example use cases

• Create and push a new Next.js project to a private GitHub repo and deploy it to Vercel in one flow
• Automate production deployment as part of a release checklist for small web teams
• Standardize deployment steps across multiple projects to reduce human error
• Quickly re-deploy after fixes by running the Vercel deploy script and rechecking logs
• Onboard a new site by following the step-by-step pre-deploy and post-deploy checklist