---
title: "Vercel Deployment"
description: "Deploy Inbox Zero on Vercel using Neon and Upstash integrations"
---

This guide covers a managed setup on Vercel using the Neon and Upstash integrations.
To use other databases, see [Environment Variables](/hosting/environment-variables) for more details.

## 1. Fast path with the CLI

If you have the Inbox Zero CLI installed, the fastest path is:

```bash
inbox-zero setup-vercel
```

The command will:

- link `apps/web` to a Vercel project
- provision Neon and Upstash Redis through Vercel Marketplace integrations
- generate the required app secrets
- seed the Vercel environment variables
- optionally trigger `vercel deploy --prod`

If you already provisioned one of the integrations, rerun with `--skip-neon` or `--skip-upstash`.

## 2. Deploy on Vercel manually

Click here to deploy on Vercel:

[![Deploy on Vercel](https://vercel.com/button)](https://vercel.com/new/clone?repository-url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Felie222%2Finbox-zero&root-directory=apps%2Fweb&env=AUTH_SECRET%2CINTERNAL_API_KEY%2CEMAIL_ENCRYPT_SECRET%2CEMAIL_ENCRYPT_SALT%2CMICROSOFT_WEBHOOK_CLIENT_STATE%2CDEFAULT_LLMS%2CLLM_API_KEY)

<Warning>
  The deploy button only pre-fills the secrets listed below. Your first Vercel build
  will usually fail until a Postgres database is attached and `DATABASE_URL` exists.
  That is expected. Create a free Neon database from Vercel Storage, then redeploy.
</Warning>

Set the following environment variables:

```bash
AUTH_SECRET= # https://generate-secret.vercel.app/32
INTERNAL_API_KEY= # https://generate-secret.vercel.app/32
EMAIL_ENCRYPT_SECRET= # https://generate-secret.vercel.app/32
EMAIL_ENCRYPT_SALT= # https://generate-secret.vercel.app/16
MICROSOFT_WEBHOOK_CLIENT_STATE= # https://generate-secret.vercel.app/32

# LLM:
DEFAULT_LLMS= # provider:model, e.g. openai:gpt-5.4-mini
LLM_API_KEY=
```

For secret generation you can also use `openssl rand -base64 32` on macOS or Linux.

To find your LLM API key, see [LLM Setup](/hosting/llm-setup).

<Tip>
  For the full list of environment variables, see [Environment Variables](/hosting/environment-variables). We will set more environment variables later in the guide.
</Tip>

## 3. Neon PostgreSQL Database in Vercel

Neon is a PostgreSQL database provider that offers a free tier which is enough for personal use cases.

1. In your Vercel project, open `Storage`.
2. Click `Create Database`.
3. Click `Neon`.

Vercel injects Neon connection variables automatically.

After Neon is connected, Vercel adds `DATABASE_URL`. Redeploy after that first-time setup.

![Neon option in Vercel Storage.](/images/self-hosting/vercel/neon.png)

## 4. Upstash Redis Database in Vercel

Upstash is a Redis database provider that offers a free tier which is enough for personal use cases.

1. In your Vercel project, open `Storage`.
2. Click `Create Database`.
3. Click `Upstash`.

Vercel injects Upstash connection variables automatically.

## 5. Set other environment variables

Once Vercel assigns your project domain (for example `https://your-project.vercel.app`), set:

Go to Project `Settings` -> `Environment Variables` and add:

```bash
NEXT_PUBLIC_BASE_URL=https://your-project.vercel.app
```

Set Google or Microsoft environment variables based on the guides:

- [Google OAuth](/hosting/google-oauth)
- [Microsoft OAuth](/hosting/microsoft-oauth)
- [Google PubSub](/hosting/google-pubsub)

## 6. Redeploy and verify

1. Trigger a new Vercel deploy.
2. Confirm build completes.
3. Visit your project domain and verify it works.
4. Sign in and connect an email account.