--- title: Promoting a preview deployment to production product: vercel url: /docs/deployments/promote-preview-to-production canonical_url: "https://vercel.com/docs/deployments/promote-preview-to-production" last_updated: 2026-05-28 type: how-to prerequisites: - /docs/deployments related: - /docs/cli/project-linking - /docs/environment-variables - /docs/deployments/rollback-production-deployment - /docs/cli/promote - /docs/cli/inspect summary: Test a preview deployment and promote it to production using the CLI. install_vercel_plugin: npx plugins add vercel/vercel-plugin --- # Promoting a preview deployment to production Use this guide to verify a preview deployment and promote it to production. You'll find the right deployment, test it, and promote it to serve production traffic. ## Related pages > **For AI agents:** Follow these links to understand how this page connects to the rest of the Vercel ecosystem. For the full cross-link map (inbound, outbound, prerequisites, and semantic neighbors), see the .graph.md link below. - [How to use a non-default branch for production deployments on Vercel](https://vercel.com/kb/guide/can-i-use-a-non-default-branch-for-production?from=related&source_path=%2Fdocs%2Fdeployments%2Fpromote-preview-to-production&source_site=vercel-docs&relationship=related) — Learn how to set a non-default branch for production on Vercel. Open the Production environment, change branch tracking, - [Full-stack previews on Vercel](https://vercel.com/kb/guide/full-stack-preview-deployments-on-vercel?from=related&source_path=%2Fdocs%2Fdeployments%2Fpromote-preview-to-production&source_site=vercel-docs&relationship=related) — Learn how to use full-stack previews for your Vercel projects. Deploy Next.js, FastAPI, and a containerized Go service t - [Promoting Deployments](https://vercel.com/docs/deployments/promoting-a-deployment?from=related&source_path=%2Fdocs%2Fdeployments%2Fpromote-preview-to-production&source_site=vercel-docs&relationship=related) — Learn how to promote deployments to production on Vercel. - [Stage and manually promote deployments to production](https://vercel.com/changelog/stage-and-manually-promote-deployments-to-production?from=related&source_path=%2Fdocs%2Fdeployments%2Fpromote-preview-to-production&source_site=vercel-docs&relationship=related) - [Can you deploy based on tags/releases on Vercel?](https://vercel.com/kb/guide/can-you-deploy-based-on-tags-releases-on-vercel?from=related&source_path=%2Fdocs%2Fdeployments%2Fpromote-preview-to-production&source_site=vercel-docs&relationship=related) — Learn how to deploy based on tags/releases on Vercel. - [Deploying a project from the CLI](https://vercel.com/docs/projects/deploy-from-cli?from=related&source_path=%2Fdocs%2Fdeployments%2Fpromote-preview-to-production&source_site=vercel-docs&relationship=related) — Set up and deploy a Vercel project using the CLI, from linking to production. - [Performing a rolling release deployment](https://vercel.com/docs/rolling-releases/rolling-release-deployment?from=related&source_path=%2Fdocs%2Fdeployments%2Fpromote-preview-to-production&source_site=vercel-docs&relationship=related) — Gradually roll out a production deployment using traffic stages, monitoring, and automated abort. - [Deploying Projects from Vercel CLI](https://vercel.com/docs/cli/deploying-from-cli?from=related&source_path=%2Fdocs%2Fdeployments%2Fpromote-preview-to-production&source_site=vercel-docs&relationship=related) — Learn how to deploy your Vercel Projects from Vercel CLI using the vercel or vercel deploy commands. - [vercel deploy](https://vercel.com/docs/cli/deploy?from=related&source_path=%2Fdocs%2Fdeployments%2Fpromote-preview-to-production&source_site=vercel-docs&relationship=related) — Learn how to deploy your Vercel projects using the vercel deploy CLI command. Full cross-link map for this page: [/docs/deployments/promote-preview-to-production.graph.md](/docs/deployments/promote-preview-to-production.graph.md?from=related&source_path=%2Fdocs%2Fdeployments%2Fpromote-preview-to-production&source_site=vercel-docs&relationship=graph) > **💡 Note:** This guide requires a [linked Vercel project](/docs/cli/project-linking). Run > `vercel link` in your project directory if you haven't already. ## Quick reference Use this block when you already know what you're doing and want the full command sequence. Use the steps below for context and checks. ```bash filename="terminal" # 1. Find preview deployments vercel list --status READY # 2. Inspect the target deployment vercel inspect # 3. Test the preview deployment vercel curl /api/health --deployment vercel httpstat / --deployment # 4. Check for errors vercel logs --deployment --level error --limit 50 # 5. Promote to production (--yes skips confirmation prompt) vercel promote --yes vercel promote status # 6. Verify production vercel logs --environment production --level error --since 5m vercel httpstat / ``` ## 1. Find the preview deployment List recent deployments that have finished building and are ready to serve traffic: ```bash filename="terminal" vercel list --status READY ``` This shows all READY deployments with their URLs, timestamps, and Git branches. Find the preview deployment you want to promote. To filter by a specific environment: ```bash filename="terminal" vercel list --environment preview ``` ## 2. Inspect the deployment Confirm that the deployment built successfully and check its metadata: ```bash filename="terminal" vercel inspect ``` This shows the Git commit, branch, build duration, and function configuration. Verify it matches the code you expect to promote. To check the build logs for any warnings: ```bash filename="terminal" vercel inspect --logs ``` ## 3. Test the preview deployment Use `vercel curl` to send requests to the preview deployment. This automatically handles deployment protection, so you can test protected preview deployments: ```bash filename="terminal" vercel curl /api/health --deployment ``` Check the response status and body. For critical routes, test multiple endpoints: ```bash filename="terminal" vercel curl / --deployment vercel curl /api/users --deployment ``` To check response timing and verify there are no performance regressions: ```bash filename="terminal" vercel httpstat / --deployment ``` ## 4. Check for errors Review the deployment's logs for any errors that occurred during testing or from other traffic: ```bash filename="terminal" vercel logs --deployment --level error --limit 50 ``` To expand truncated error messages and see full stack traces: ```bash filename="terminal" vercel logs --deployment --level error --expand ``` If the output is clean, the deployment is safe to promote. ## 5. Promote to production Promote the preview deployment to production. This triggers a new production build using the same source code: ```bash filename="terminal" vercel promote ``` > **💡 Note:** Promoting a preview deployment to production triggers a complete rebuild with > production [environment variables](/docs/environment-variables). If you have > different variables set for preview and production, the production values will > be used in the new build. For non-interactive environments (CI/CD or automation), add `--yes` to skip the confirmation prompt: ```bash filename="terminal" vercel promote --yes ``` Monitor the promotion progress: ```bash filename="terminal" vercel promote status ``` By default, the CLI waits up to three minutes for the promotion to complete. To change the timeout: ```bash filename="terminal" vercel promote --timeout 5m ``` ## 6. Verify production After the promotion completes, confirm that production is serving traffic correctly: ```bash filename="terminal" vercel logs --environment production --level error --since 5m ``` Check that the production domain responds with the expected content: ```bash filename="terminal" vercel httpstat / ``` ## When the promotion causes issues If you discover a problem after promoting, roll back by pointing production at a previous deployment: ```bash filename="terminal" vercel rollback ``` This restores the deployment you specify. See [Rolling back a production deployment](/docs/deployments/rollback-production-deployment) for a full recovery workflow. ## Related - [vercel promote](/docs/cli/promote) - [vercel inspect](/docs/cli/inspect) - [vercel curl](/docs/cli/curl) - [vercel logs](/docs/cli/logs) - [Rolling back a production deployment](/docs/deployments/rollback-production-deployment) --- [View full sitemap](/docs/sitemap)