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Vercel with Astro

Vercel suits an Astro site that is mostly static and partly not. The pages are built and served as files; the handful of routes that have to do something when they are asked become functions, without the rest of the site paying for them. The setup work is deciding which routes those are and being explicit about it.

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Vercel integrations like this usually take 2–4 days

How the handoff works.

  1. 01

    Push

    A commit, on a branch

  2. 02

    Build

    Pages prerendered, routes split out

  3. 03

    Preview

    A URL for the branch, before release

    Key handoff

  4. 04

    Promote

    The reviewed build becomes production

  5. 05

    Verify

    Redirects and routes requested on the real domain

Why this is the key handoff

Static by default, dynamic on purpose. The adapter decides what is a file and what is a function. Everything prerendered is served from the CDN; what is left runs per request, and keeping that list short is the whole performance argument.

Three things that commonly go wrong.

  1. 01

    Which routes are static is a decision, not a default

    Astro's adapter prerenders what it can and leaves the rest to run per request. A page that quietly opts out becomes a function invoked on every visit, which is slower and costs money, and nothing on the page looks any different. Worth auditing what actually got prerendered after the first deploy.

  2. 02

    Preview deployments are a leak if nobody thinks about them

    Every branch gets a public URL. That is the feature, and it means unreleased copy, client names and pricing are reachable by anyone with the link until protection is turned on. Decide before the first branch, not after somebody shares one.

  3. 03

    The config is a second place URLs are decided

    Redirects and headers live in the project config rather than in the site, so a migration's redirect list and the site's own routes are maintained apart and can disagree. Generating them from one source is worth the small amount of work it takes.

What is included.

  • Static pages served from the CDN

  • Server routes as functions, where a page needs one

  • Redirects and headers declared in the project config

  • Preview deployments per branch, for review before release

  • Scheduled rebuilds where the site publishes on a calendar

Wire up something else?

Reach out and see if we are a good fit.

Get in touch

Currently booking two to four weeks out.