5 Common Vercel Mistakes That New Developers Make (And How to Avoid Them)

Deploying your first project on Vercel can feel like a rite of passage for new developers. The platform is designed for simplicity and speed, but it’s easy to trip over some common pitfalls that can derail your deployment process. Trust me, I've been there. Here are five mistakes that many new developers make on Vercel and how you can avoid them.

1. Ignoring Environment Variables

What Happens

New developers often overlook the importance of environment variables, leading to broken builds or, worse, exposing sensitive information.

How to Avoid It

Set up your environment variables correctly in the Vercel dashboard. Always use the "Environment Variables" section to store sensitive keys.

Expected Output

If configured properly, your app will access the environment variables seamlessly during build and runtime.

Troubleshooting

If you notice that your app isn't behaving as expected, double-check your environment variables. Ensure they are set up correctly and that you are using the right variable names in your code.

2. Not Using the Correct Build Settings

What Happens

Misconfiguring build settings can lead to failed deployments or unexpected behavior in production.

How to Avoid It

Take a moment to review the build settings in your project configuration. Set the correct framework preset and adjust build commands if you are using custom setups.

Expected Output

Your app should build successfully without errors. You can verify this in the deployment logs.

What’s Next

If you’re using a static site generator, ensure you have the right output directory specified, as this can also lead to issues.

3. Overlooking CORS Issues

What Happens

Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) errors can arise when your Vercel app tries to access resources from different origins, leading to blocked requests.

How to Avoid It

Set up your API or server to allow requests from your Vercel domain. You can often configure CORS settings directly in the API service you are using.

Expected Output

Requests should succeed without CORS errors, allowing your app to function as intended.

Troubleshooting

If you still encounter CORS issues, check the response headers in your browser's developer tools to ensure that the correct CORS headers are being sent.

4. Forgetting to Optimize Images

What Happens

New developers often upload images without optimization, leading to slower load times and increased bandwidth costs.

How to Avoid It

Use Vercel’s built-in image optimization features or external tools like ImageMagick or TinyPNG to compress images before uploading them.

Expected Output

Your website will load faster and consume less bandwidth, improving user experience and potentially lowering costs.

Limitations

Keep in mind that while Vercel optimizes images, it may not support every image format, so check the documentation for specifics.

5. Not Monitoring Performance

What Happens

Failing to monitor your app's performance can lead to undetected issues that degrade user experience over time.

How to Avoid It

Integrate monitoring tools such as Sentry or LogRocket to keep an eye on performance and errors. Vercel also provides analytics tools to help track metrics.

Expected Output

You’ll gain insights into your app's performance, allowing for timely optimizations and bug fixes.

What’s Next

Set up alerts in your monitoring tools to notify you of any performance issues as they arise.

Conclusion: Start Here

If you're new to Vercel, start by carefully reviewing these common mistakes and implementing the solutions we discussed. Properly setting up your environment variables, build settings, CORS policies, image optimizations, and performance monitoring will save you a lot of headaches down the line. Avoiding these pitfalls will not only improve your deployment experience but also lead to a better product for your users.

What We Actually Use: In our projects, we always set environment variables correctly, monitor our apps with Sentry, and optimize images before deployment. This approach has significantly reduced our deployment headaches.