Exclude Files from Deployments with .vercelignore

The .vercelignore file can be used to specify files and directories that should be excluded from the deployment process when using Vercel. This file works similarly to a .gitignore file, but it is specific to Vercel.

The .vercelignore file should be placed in the root directory of your project and should contain a list of files and directories, one per line, that should be excluded from deployment. For example, to prevent an /image directory and /private.html file within a project from being uploaded to Vercel, you would add them to the .vercelignore file like this:

image
private.html

A typical .vercelignore file assumes all files are allowed and each entry is a pattern to ignore. Alternatively, you can ignore all files and each entry is a pattern to allow.

Add a wildcard /* as the first line in .vercelignore to ensure all directories and files in the project root are ignored. The following lines must then start with a ! to invert the ignore action and ensure the directory or file is allowed.

# Ignore everything (folders and files) on root only
/*
!api
!vercel.json
!*.html

Aside from the default exclusions, all files within your project are uploaded to Vercel if no source path is specified to be excluded in a .vercelignore configuration file

The complete list of files and directories excluded by default can be found in the ignored files and folders documentation.

The use of a .vercelignore configuration file allows you to keep private files safe and also makes your deployment faster by uploading only the essential files. Non-targeted files are prevented from being deployed and served on Vercel.

If you have a monorepo, a .vercelignore in the project root directory always takes precedence over one that is defined at the root level. If there is no .vercelignore to be found at the project level, Vercel will use the .vercelignore at the root level.