# How can I use Bitbucket Pipelines with Vercel?

**Author:** Lee Robinson

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​[Vercel for Bitbucket](https://vercel.com/docs/deployments/git/vercel-for-bitbucket) automatically deploys your Bitbucket projects with [Vercel](https://vercel.com/), providing [Preview Deployment URLs](https://vercel.com/docs/concepts/deployments/preview-deployments#preview-urls), and automatic [Custom Domain](https://vercel.com/docs/concepts/projects/custom-domains) updates.

For advanced use-cases, you can use Vercel with Bitbucket Pipelines as your CI/CD provider to generate Preview Deployments for every `git` push and deploy to Production when code is merged into the `main` branch.

This approach is useful for developers who want full control over their CI/CD pipeline, as well as Bitbucket Data Center users, who can’t leverage Vercel’s built-in [git integration](https://vercel.com/docs/concepts/git/vercel-for-bitbucket).

You can [view the completed example here](https://github.com/vercel/examples/tree/main/ci-cd/bitbucket-pipelines) or follow this guide to get started.

## Building Your Application

You can build your application locally (or in a Pipeline) without giving Vercel access to the source code through `vercel build`. Vercel automatically detects your frontend framework and generates a `.vercel/output` folder conforming to the [Build Output API specification](https://vercel.com/docs/build-output-api/v3).

`vercel build` allows you to build your project within your own CI setup, whether it be Bitbucket Pipelines or your own in-house CI, and upload _only_ those build artifacts (and not the source code) to Vercel to create a deployment.

## Configuring Bitbucket Pipelines for Vercel

`vercel deploy --prebuilt` skips the build step on Vercel and uploads the previously generated `.vercel/output` folder from the Bitbucket Pipeline.

Let’s create our Pipeline by creating a new file `bitbucket-pipelines.yml`:

`image: node:16.16.0 pipelines: branches: feature/*: - step: name: Install Vercel CLI, Pull Vercel Environment Information, Build Project Artifacts and Deploy Project Artifacts to Vercel script: - npm install --global vercel - vercel pull --yes --environment=preview --token=$VERCEL_TOKEN - vercel build --token=$VERCEL_TOKEN - vercel deploy --prebuilt --token=$VERCEL_TOKEN main: - step: name: Install Vercel CLI, Pull Vercel Environment Information, Build Project Artifacts and Deploy Project Artifacts to Vercel script: - npm install --global vercel - vercel pull --yes --environment=production --token=$VERCEL_TOKEN - vercel build --prod --token=$VERCEL_TOKEN - vercel deploy --prebuilt --prod --token=$VERCEL_TOKEN`

This pipeline has two triggers:

- One that creates preview environments on commits to branches prefixed with `feature/`
  
- Another that creates production environments on commits to the `main` branch
  

Finally, let’s add the required values from Vercel as secured environment variables in Bitbucket:

1. Retrieve your [Vercel Access Token](https://vercel.com/guides/how-do-i-use-a-vercel-api-access-token)
   
2. Install the [Vercel CLI](https://vercel.com/cli) and run `vercel login`
   
3. Inside your folder, run `vercel link` to create a new Vercel project
   
4. Inside the generated `.vercel` folder, save the `projectId` and `orgId` from the `project.json`
   
5. Inside Bitbucket, add `VERCEL_TOKEN`, `VERCEL_ORG_ID`, and `VERCEL_PROJECT_ID` as [secured environment variables](https://support.atlassian.com/bitbucket-cloud/docs/variables-and-secrets/).
   

## Deploying Your Vercel Application with Bitbucket Pipelines

Now that your Vercel application is configured with Bitbucket Pipelines, you can try out the workflow:

- Create a new pull request to your Bitbucket repository
  
- Bitbucket Pipelines will recognize the change and use the Vercel CLI to build your application
  
- The Action uploads the build output to Vercel and creates a Preview Deployment
  
- When the pull request is merged, a Production build is created and deployed
  

Every pull request will now automatically have a Preview Deployment attached. If the pull request needs to be rolled back, you can revert and merge the PR and Vercel will start a new Production build back to the old git state.

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