---
title: "Deploy to Vercel"
description: "Build and deploy the dispatcher to Vercel, set the sandbox backend, smoke-test the live routes with curl and eve dev, and find your runs in the dashboard."
canonical_url: "https://vercel.com/academy/building-agents-with-eve/deploy-agent-to-vercel"
md_url: "https://vercel.com/academy/building-agents-with-eve/deploy-agent-to-vercel.md"
docset_id: "vercel-academy"
doc_version: "1.0"
last_updated: "2026-08-29T02:28:26.283Z"
content_type: "lesson"
course: "building-agents-with-eve"
course_title: "Building Agents with eve"
prerequisites:  []
---

<agent-instructions>
Vercel Academy — structured learning, not reference docs.
Lessons are sequenced.
Adapt commands to the human's actual environment (OS, package manager, shell, editor) — detect from project context or ask, don't assume.
The lesson shows one path; if the human's project diverges, adapt concepts to their setup.
Preserve the learning goal over literal steps.
Quizzes are pedagogical — engage, don't spoil.
Quiz answers are included for your reference.
</agent-instructions>

# Deploy to Vercel

# Deploy to Vercel

The agent runs the same way locally and on Vercel. Build it, deploy it, and test the live URL to confirm the dispatcher answers from the hosted environment.

The one production-specific choice is where the sandbox runs, and even that's mostly handled for you. Let's ship it.

## Outcome

The Spoke & Mirror dispatcher runs on Vercel, and you've confirmed it live by hitting its deployed routes.

## Hands-on exercise

**Pick the sandbox backend.** Your agent has a sandbox (it seeds `torque-specs.md` into `/workspace`). Locally that runs on your machine; on Vercel it runs on hosted Vercel Sandbox. One definition covers both, `defaultBackend()` resolves to the right one per environment:

```ts title="agent/sandbox/sandbox.ts"
import { defineSandbox, defaultBackend } from "eve/sandbox";

export default defineSandbox({
  backend: defaultBackend(),
});
```

\*\*Note: Pinning a backend explicitly\*\*

`defaultBackend()` is the portable choice: it picks the best available environment (Vercel Sandbox when hosted on Vercel, then Docker, microsandbox, or just-bash). To pin Vercel unconditionally instead, import its factory from the nested path and use it directly:

```ts
import { vercel } from "eve/sandbox/vercel";
// backend: vercel({ runtime: "node24" })
```

eve ships a pinned factory per backend; check `node_modules/eve/docs/sandbox.mdx` for the set in your installed version.

**Build and deploy.** `eve deploy` runs the supported production workflow: it links the project when needed, installs dependencies, builds the app, and deploys it to Vercel. From the project root:

```bash
npx eve deploy
```

The deployed app serves the exact same health, session, and stream routes you've been hitting since 1.3, plus the web dashboard from 4.1. If you wired up Slack in 4.2, this is the deploy that gives its webhook a real home.

## Try It

Smoke-test the live agent. Health first, it's public, no auth:

```bash
curl https://<your-app>/eve/v1/health
```

```text
{ "ok": true }
```

Now prove the fail-closed behavior from 5.1. With no customer cookie or Vercel OIDC token, the deployed production process rejects the request:

```bash
curl -i -X POST https://<your-app>/eve/v1/session \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"message":"hello"}'
```

```text
HTTP/2 401
{ "ok": false, "code": "unauthorized" }
```

Then drive a real turn as a customer. The same route accepts the server-recognized demo session, returns `202`, and gives you a `sessionId` to stream:

```bash
sid=$(curl -s -X POST https://<your-app>/eve/v1/session \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' -H 'cookie: shop_session=demo-pro' \
  -d '{"message":"what does a full overhaul cost?"}' \
  | sed -E 's/.*"sessionId":"([^"]+)".*/\1/')
curl -sN -H 'cookie: shop_session=demo-pro' \
  "https://<your-app>/eve/v1/session/$sid/stream"
```

Or point the dev TUI at the deployment and talk to it interactively:

```bash
npx eve dev https://<your-app>
```

The production dispatcher keeps its tools and approval gate. Ask it to book the overhaul and the turn still pauses for approval.

\*\*Note: Find your runs in the dashboard\*\*

Once deployed, Vercel auto-detects `eve` as the framework and surfaces an **Agent Runs** tab under your project's Observability view. Each conversation is a trace you can open and walk, every tool call, every approval, every turn. (The tab is gated per team in the current release; if you don't see it, ask your Vercel contact to enable it.)

A `401` on every live request means the fail-closed lock rejected the caller. Send a valid `shop_session` cookie, or use the public `/eve/v1/health` route for a quick check. If `eve build` fails on discovery, read the printed diagnostics and `.eve/diagnostics.json`. A common cause is a tool file that doesn't `export default` its `defineTool`.

## Done-When

- [ ] `agent/sandbox/sandbox.ts` sets a backend (`defaultBackend()` is fine).
- [ ] `eve deploy` builds successfully and ships the app.
- [ ] `curl https://<your-app>/eve/v1/health` returns `ok`.
- [ ] An unauthenticated session request returns `401`, while `shop_session=demo-pro` returns an accepted session ID.
- [ ] A real turn against the deployed URL works (TUI via `eve dev <url>` or `curl` with a session).

## Solution

The only code is the sandbox backend; the rest is one command:

```ts title="agent/sandbox/sandbox.ts"
import { defineSandbox, defaultBackend } from "eve/sandbox";

export default defineSandbox({
  backend: defaultBackend(),
});
```

```bash
npx eve deploy
```

The dispatcher now runs in production with the persona and capabilities you built throughout the course. The final lesson covers the eve directories this shop did not need and when you might use them.


---

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