Deployment

Deploy to production in minutes. Auth is already configured\u2014just set your production environment variables and go live.

Prerequisites

Before deploying, ensure you have:

• Completed local development setup
• Convex account and project
• Vercel account (free tier works)
• Domain name (optional but recommended)
• Resend account for emails
• All environment variables documented

Deployment Steps

Post-Deployment

Set Up Email Domain

For production emails, configure your domain in Resend:

1. Add domain in Resend dashboard
2. Add DNS records provided by Resend
3. Verify domain
4. Update EMAIL_FROM to use your domain

Configure Billing (Optional)

If using Autumn for payments:

1. Set up Autumn account
2. Get production API key
3. Add AUTUMN_API_KEY to Vercel
4. Test payment flows

Set Up Monitoring (Optional)

Configure Sentry for error tracking:

1. Create Sentry project
2. Get DSN from Sentry dashboard
3. Configure in these files:
   • instrumentation.ts (client-side)
   • sentry.edge.config.ts (edge runtime)
   • sentry.server.config.ts (server-side)

Environment Variables Checklist

Required for production:

• BETTER_AUTH_SECRET (new, secure value)
• BETTER_AUTH_URL (your domain)
• NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL (your domain)
• SITE_URL (your domain)
• CONVEX_DEPLOYMENT (production)
• NEXT_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL (production)
• NEXT_PUBLIC_CONVEX_SITE_URL (production)
• PASSKEY_RP_ID (your domain)
• RESEND_API_KEY (production key)
• EMAIL_FROM (verified domain)
• AUTUMN_API_KEY (required for organizations)

Optional:

• Configure Sentry in code files (if using monitoring)

Continuous Deployment

Vercel automatically redeploys when you push to your main branch:

git add .
git commit -m "Update feature"
git push origin main

Vercel will:

1. Detect the push
2. Start new build
3. Run tests (if configured)
4. Deploy automatically
5. Notify you of status

Troubleshooting

Build Fails

Check:

• Build logs in Vercel dashboard
• All dependencies in package.json
• TypeScript errors locally
• Environment variables set correctly

Common issues:

• Missing environment variables
• TypeScript errors
• Dependency conflicts

Authentication Not Working

Verify:

• BETTER_AUTH_SECRET is set and different from dev
• BETTER_AUTH_URL matches your actual URL
• Convex environment variables match
• Cookies are not blocked (HTTPS required)

Emails Not Sending

Check:

• RESEND_API_KEY is production key
• Domain is verified in Resend
• EMAIL_FROM uses verified domain
• DNS records are configured
• Check Resend logs

Passkeys Not Working

Ensure:

• Using HTTPS (not HTTP)
• PASSKEY_RP_ID matches domain
• Domain doesn't have port number
• Browser supports WebAuthn

Database Connection Issues

Verify:

• Convex deployment is active
• All three Convex URLs are correct
• Convex environment variables set
• Check Convex dashboard logs

Performance Optimization

Enable Edge Runtime (Optional)

For better performance, use Edge Runtime where possible:

// app/api/some-route/route.ts
export const runtime = 'edge';

Optimize Images

Next.js automatically optimizes images. Use the Image component:

import Image from 'next/image';

<Image
  src="/logo.png"
  alt="Logo"
  width={200}
  height={200}
/>

Enable Compression

Vercel automatically enables compression. No configuration needed.

Security Best Practices

1. HTTPS Only: Never use HTTP in production
2. Strong Secrets: Generate with openssl rand -base64 32
3. Different Secrets: Dev and prod must be different
4. Environment Variables: Never commit to git
5. CORS: Configure appropriately for your domain
6. Rate Limiting: Consider adding rate limiting
7. Security Headers: Vercel sets these by default
8. Regular Updates: Keep dependencies updated

Scaling

Unstack Pro scales automatically on Vercel and Convex:

• Serverless Functions: Auto-scale with traffic
• Edge Network: Global CDN automatically
• Convex: Scales automatically
• No Infrastructure: Fully managed

Backup Strategy

Database Backups

Convex automatically backs up your data. To export:

1. Go to Convex dashboard
2. Settings → Export
3. Download backup

Code Backups

Your code is already backed up in GitHub. Ensure:

• Regular commits
• Protected main branch
• Pull request reviews
• Tagged releases

Monitoring

Vercel Analytics

Enable in Vercel dashboard for:

• Page views
• Performance metrics
• User analytics

Convex Logs

Monitor in Convex dashboard:

• Function calls
• Error rates
• Performance
• Data changes

Sentry (Optional)

For error tracking:

• Catches runtime errors
• Tracks error trends
• User impact analysis
• Source maps for debugging

Support

If issues persist:

1. Check Vercel Docs
2. Check Convex Docs
3. Check Better Auth Docs
4. Review GitHub issues
5. Contact support

Next Steps

After deployment:

• Test all features thoroughly
• Set up monitoring
• Configure backup schedule
• Plan for scaling
• Document custom changes
• Train team on admin panel
• Set up staging environment (optional)