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Deploy to Vercel skill: what it does and how to install it

The deploy to Vercel skill lets Claude Code, Codex and claude.ai ship your app as a preview by git push, the Vercel CLI or a no-login script. How to set it up.

By the Kipt team · Updated 24 October 2026

Source: vercel-labs/agent-skills · Maintainer: Vercel · License: MIT (per the repo README; no LICENSE file in the repo) · Checked: 24 October 2026

What is the deploy to Vercel skill?

The deploy to Vercel skill teaches Claude Code, Codex and other agents to deploy any project to Vercel and hand back the link. It looks at your git remote, your .vercel/ folder and your CLI login, then chooses git push, vercel deploy or a no-login fallback. It is for developers who want "ship this" to work from a chat without walking the agent through the Vercel CLI.

It lives in the deploy-to-vercel folder of vercel-labs/agent-skills, Vercel's official skill collection. The SKILL.md description reads: "Deploy applications and websites to Vercel. Use when the user requests deployment actions like "deploy my app", "deploy and give me the link", "push this live", or "create a preview deployment"."

As of 24 October 2026, its skills.sh page listed about 167,800 installs (snapshot, 24 October 2026). The skill is at version 3.0.0 in its frontmatter and was last changed in March 2026.

What does it do?

The skill is model-invoked: phrases like "deploy my app", "push this live" or "create a preview deployment" can load it. Its first rule is printed in bold: "Always deploy as preview (not production) unless the user explicitly asks for production." Its stated goal is to move you toward a project linked to Vercel with git-push deploys.

It starts with four checks: a git remote, a .vercel/project.json or .vercel/repo.json file, vercel whoami, and vercel teams list --format json. It warns the agent not to run vercel link, vercel ls or vercel project inspect in an unlinked folder to detect state, because they prompt or link as a side effect.

Then it picks one of five paths:

Your project's state What the agent does
Linked, has a git remote Asks before pushing, then commits and pushes; Vercel builds from the push
Linked, no git remote vercel deploy [path] -y --no-wait, then vercel inspect for status
Not linked, CLI logged in Asks which team, runs vercel link --repo (or plain vercel link), then deploys
CLI not set up npm install -g vercel, vercel login, link, deploy
claude.ai or Codex sandbox, no login Runs a bundled script that returns a preview URL and a claim URL

If you belong to several teams, the agent lists the team slugs and asks once, then passes --scope <team-slug> on every later command. The Vercel CLI global options document --scope for exactly this. The vercel link docs mark --repo as alpha and note it requires projects that use the Git integration.

What's in the folder:

  • SKILL.md: the decision flow, agent-specific notes and troubleshooting.
  • resources/deploy.sh: the claude.ai fallback script.
  • resources/deploy-codex.sh: the Codex fallback script, which returns JSON with previewUrl and claimUrl.
  • Archive.zip: an archive stored inside the folder.

The fallback scripts detect the framework from package.json, pack the project without node_modules, .git and .env files, and upload it. The skill also tells the agent not to curl the deployed URL to check it, only to return the link.

How do you install it?

The skills.sh page gives this command. The skills CLI matches --skill against the name in the SKILL.md frontmatter, which here is the same as the folder name:

npx skills add https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-skills --skill deploy-to-vercel

Add -g to install it for every project, or -a claude-code to target Claude Code. Globally, it lands in ~/.claude/skills/deploy-to-vercel/, which is also the path the SKILL.md expects for its fallback script in Claude Code. In a project it goes in .claude/skills/deploy-to-vercel/, the standard Claude Code skill location.

Codex and Cursor read the same SKILL.md format; see Codex skills and Cursor skills. The skill has a dedicated Codex section, so it is built to run there too.

claude.ai. The skill has a claude.ai branch that calls its script from /mnt/skills/user/deploy-to-vercel/. The repo also stores a deploy-to-vercel.zip next to the folder. Anthropic's help article explains how to upload a skill ZIP under Customize, Skills, and says code execution must be turned on.

How do you use it?

Ask from your project folder in plain words. Example prompts (suggestions, not quotes from the repo):

  • Deploy this app to Vercel and give me the preview link.
  • Create a preview deployment of the current branch.
  • Link this repo to my acme team on Vercel and deploy it.
  • Deploy to production. (only when you mean it)
  • In claude.ai: Build a one-page site for my bakery and deploy it so I can share the link.

Requirements depend on the path. The CLI paths need the Vercel CLI and a Vercel account. The git-push path needs a project already connected to a Git repository on Vercel. The no-login fallback needs only network access from the sandbox.

Expect the agent to stop and ask in two places: which team to use (when you have more than one) and whether it may commit and push.

Tips and limits

From the SKILL.md and Vercel's docs, not from testing:

  • The first deploy of a new project is production. The vercel deploy docs say "The first deployment of a new project is always a production deployment, even when you omit --prod." The skill's preview default applies to later deploys.
  • git add . stages everything. The git-push path commits with git add .. Check your .gitignore before you approve the push.
  • The fallback sends your code to Vercel-run endpoints. deploy.sh posts to claude-skills-deploy.vercel.com and deploy-codex.sh to codex-deploy-skills.vercel.sh. On 24 October 2026 the skills.sh page showed Gen Agent Trust Hub: Pass, Socket: Pass and Snyk: Warn. Snyk's audit dated 14 September 2026 flagged these uploads as one medium-risk issue, W012: "Unverifiable external dependency detected (runtime URL that controls agent)".
  • claude.ai may block the network. The skill tells you to add *.vercel.com to the allowed domains at claude.ai/settings/capabilities if the upload fails.
  • Codex may need escalated network access for the deploy command only, not for the command -v vercel check.
  • The repo README lags. It still documents vercel-deploy-claimable, the older claude.ai-only skill that was removed in the same March 2026 commit that added this one.

The Vercel CLI now also has its own vercel deploy --temporary option for deploying without logging in, which prints a claim URL. The skill does not use it; its fallback relies on the bundled scripts.

Save it in your Kipt library

In Kipt, open Skills and paste the skill's GitHub folder link into the import box. Kipt reads the SKILL.md and the resources/ scripts; for a repo with many skills, like this one, it shows a list to pick from. You can also drop the folder or a .zip. Your skills live in your own private GitHub repo and install into Claude Code or Codex with one command:

npx skills add https://github.com/<you>/<repo>.git --all -g

The MIT License lets you keep a copy as long as the notice stays with it. Kipt is not affiliated with Vercel.

Similar skills

Questions

What is the deploy to Vercel skill?

deploy-to-vercel is an official Agent Skill in Vercel's vercel-labs/agent-skills repo. It teaches a coding agent to check your project's state, pick the best way to deploy it to Vercel, and return the deployment URL. It deploys as a preview unless you explicitly ask for production.

How do I install the deploy-to-vercel skill?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-skills --skill deploy-to-vercel, the command on its skills.sh page. Add -g to install it for all projects. For claude.ai, upload the skill folder as a ZIP under Customize, Skills, with code execution turned on.

Can the skill deploy without a Vercel account?

Yes, as a last resort. In the claude.ai or Codex sandbox, when the Vercel CLI can't be installed or logged in, it runs a bundled script that uploads your project and returns a preview URL plus a claim URL. You open the claim URL to transfer the deployment to your own Vercel account.

Will the skill push my code or deploy to production on its own?

The SKILL.md tells the agent to ask before any git push and to deploy as a preview unless you explicitly request production. Note that Vercel treats the first deployment of a new project as production even without --prod, according to the Vercel CLI docs.

Is the deploy-to-vercel skill safe to install?

On 24 October 2026 its skills.sh page showed Pass from Gen Agent Trust Hub and Socket and Warn from Snyk. Snyk's medium finding concerns the fallback scripts, which upload a project archive to two Vercel-hosted endpoints, claude-skills-deploy.vercel.com and codex-deploy-skills.vercel.sh.

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