---
title: Custom error pages
product: vercel
url: /docs/custom-error-pages
type: how-to
prerequisites:
[]
related:
- /docs/errors/FUNCTION_INVOCATION_TIMEOUT
- /docs/errors/FUNCTION_THROTTLED
- /docs/headers/request-headers
- /docs/errors
summary: Learn how to configure custom error pages for 5xx server errors on Vercel.
install_vercel_plugin: npx plugins add vercel/vercel-plugin
---
# Custom error pages
> **🔒 Permissions Required**: Custom error pages
Custom error pages let you replace Vercel's platform error pages with your own branded experience. These include errors like [function invocation timeouts](/docs/errors/FUNCTION_INVOCATION_TIMEOUT) or [when your functions are throttled](/docs/errors/FUNCTION_THROTTLED).
Custom error pages help you:
- **Maintain brand consistency**: Keep your visual identity intact even during platform outages
- **Improve user experience**: Provide helpful messaging, support links, or status page references
- **Reduce user confusion**: Guide users on what to do next instead of showing a technical error
## How it works
When you deploy your project, Vercel automatically scans your build output for error pages and configures routes to cover all platform errors. For most cases, you only need to create a single `500` error page. Vercel automatically uses it as the fallback for all platform errors, so you don't need to design a separate page for each error type.
If a custom error page exists for a specific status code, Vercel uses it; otherwise, it falls back to your `500` error page if one exists.
## Error page tokens
You can include request IDs and error codes in your error pages using metadata tokens. When Vercel serves a custom error page, it replaces these tokens with actual values.
| Token | Description |
| ----------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `::vercel:REQUEST_ID::` | Matches the [`x-vercel-id`](/docs/headers/request-headers#x-vercel-id) header value |
| `::vercel:ERROR_CODE::` | The [error code](/docs/errors) (e.g., `FUNCTION_INVOCATION_TIMEOUT`) |
> **💡 Note:** Vercel strongly recommends embedding these tokens to help users reference a specific request when contacting support.
## Getting started
Custom error pages must be static files in your build output. Common approaches include:
- Static HTML files (e.g., `500.html`, `504.html`)
- Framework error pages (Next.js App Router: `app/500/page.tsx`, Pages Router: `pages/500.tsx`)
- Files in your public directory
For example, you can create a custom error page by adding a static `500.html` file to your project's `public` directory:
```html filename="public/500.html"
Something went wrong
Something went wrong
We're working on it. Please try again later.
Request ID: ::vercel:REQUEST_ID::
Error: ::vercel:ERROR_CODE::
```
Deploy your project, and Vercel will serve this page for all platform errors.
For example, if you add only two custom error pages (`500.html` and `504.html`), the routing behavior will be as follows:
| Error | Destination |
| --------- | ---------------------- |
| 500 | `/500.html` |
| 501...503 | `/500.html` (fallback) |
| 504 | `/504.html` |
| 505...511 | `/500.html` (fallback) |
### Examples
- [Custom error pages with App Router](https://github.com/vercel/examples/tree/main/cdn/custom-error-pages-app-dir/)
- [Custom error pages with public directory](https://github.com/vercel/examples/tree/main/cdn/custom-error-pages-public-dir/)
## Limits
- Custom error pages must be static. Since these pages handle platform errors, they can't rely on server-side rendering or dynamic content that might also fail.
---
[View full sitemap](/docs/sitemap)