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The Vercel importer reads one Vercel project and creates one Symplax app from it on your server, building from the same GitHub repository. Nothing in Vercel is changed or deleted.

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Before you start

  • Connect a server to Symplax and make sure it is online.
  • Connect the GitHub account that owns the project’s repository. Symplax builds from GitHub only.

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Get a Vercel token

In Vercel, open your account Settings, then Tokens, then Create. Scope it to your personal account if you can.
Vercel has no read-only token, so this token can change your Vercel account as well as read it. Symplax only reads from it, but delete the token in Vercel once the import is done.
Symplax stores the token encrypted. You can remove it at any time with Disconnect.

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Import a project

1

Open Integrations

Click Integrations in the sidebar. On the Vercel card, click Connect and import.
2

Connect Vercel

Paste the token into API token and click Connect.
3

Choose a project

Pick the project. If you have many, use the search box.
4

Review what will be created

Check the app and the Will not come across list carefully. Fill in Secrets to supply if you have the values (see below).
5

Choose a server and import

Pick the server and click Import this project. The first build starts straight away.

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What comes across

  • The GitHub repository and the project’s production branch.
  • The root directory and the build command.
  • Production environment variables. Variables that start with NEXT_PUBLIC_ or VITE_ are also passed to the build, so they reach the browser. See Environment variables.
The app listens on port 3000, since Vercel never states a port. Symplax works out how to build and run the app from the repository, the same way as any GitHub deploy.

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Secrets

Vercel stores Sensitive variables as write-only: it does not give the values back to anyone, including you. They appear under Secrets to supply with one field each. Fill in what you have to hand. Anything left blank arrives unset and is listed after the import.

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Variables that are left out

  • Preview, development and branch-specific variables. Only production is imported.
  • Vercel’s system variables, and keys starting with VERCEL, TURBO_ or NX_DAEMON.
  • Any value that points at a *.vercel.app or *.vercel.sh address. These are listed as unset so you can give them the new address.

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What does not come across

Rewrites and redirects in vercel.json stop working. Only Vercel reads that file. Your build succeeds and the app runs, but any URL that relied on a rewrite or redirect breaks. The review lists the routes it found. Move them into your app or framework config before you switch traffic. The same goes for a vercel.ts config, which Symplax cannot read ahead of time.

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Projects that cannot be imported

The review refuses a project, with the reason, if it:
  • has no Git repository connected,
  • builds from GitLab or Bitbucket,
  • runs several services or microfrontends behind one domain (import each service as its own app instead),
  • is built only as serverless functions, for example a Go, Rust or Ruby functions project. These need rewriting as an app with a server and a port.
If Vercel does not say what framework the project uses, Symplax works it out from the repository. A folder of serverless functions rather than an app will build with nothing to run.

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After importing

1

Watch the first build

The app shows Building now, watch the log.
2

Fill in unset variables

Set any secrets and variables listed as unset on the app’s Variables tab, then redeploy.
3

Replace vercel.json routing

Test every route that relied on a rewrite or redirect.
4

Recreate cron jobs

Add each Vercel cron as a cron job on the app.
5

Move your domain and delete the token

When everything works on the *.symplax.app address, point your DNS at the server, add the domain, and delete the Vercel token.