# Build brief — a focused alternative to Vercel > **Verdict:** Partly, if you narrow it · **Buildability:** 58/100 · **Category:** Hosting > **Source:** https://www.canitbevibecoded.com/vercel > Independent editorial assessment from Can It Be Vibe Coded? Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or derived from Vercel. Verify current pricing and capabilities before acting. ## Context **Vercel** — Frontend cloud for deploying Next.js and web apps from Git. It currently costs $20/mo. You can deploy to a VPS or self-host PaaS, but Vercel's edge network, preview deployments, CI/CD, observability, and Next.js integration are the paid value. This brief describes a focused, single-operator replacement for the part of Vercel that is genuinely reproducible. It is deliberately narrower than the product it replaces, and it says so in writing. Build the useful core; do not pretend to have rebuilt the rest. ## What you are building Use a VPS/PaaS, connect git webhooks, build/deploy branches, provision HTTPS, and add preview URLs. - Build a focused single-user workflow with real persistence, search, and export. - A responsive interface with real empty, loading, success, and error states. ## Requirements ### Functional - VPS/cloud account. - Domain/DNS. - CI/CD. - Reverse proxy. - SSL. - Monitoring. - Backups. ### Non-functional - Accessibility: semantic markup, labelled controls, visible focus, and reduced-motion support. - Security: server-side secrets, validated input, and no credentials in the client bundle. - Reliability: retries with backoff on external calls, and a clear failure state when a provider is down. - Portability: the operator can export their data and leave without losing it. ## Implementation brief Build me a git-push deploy pipeline for my own VPS to replace Vercel. Requirements: - Target: one VPS running Caddy. Each app lives in /srv/apps// with a systemd service and a Caddyfile entry. - A bare git repo per app on the VPS with a post-receive hook: check out to releases/, run npm ci && npm run build, health-check the new process, flip a current symlink, restart the systemd unit. Keep the last 5 releases. - Deploying is git push vps main; the hook streams build output back to my terminal. A failed build or health check leaves the live release untouched. - rollback : re-point the symlink to the previous release and restart, under 10 seconds. - newapp : scaffolds the bare repo, systemd unit, and Caddy block, then reloads Caddy. HTTPS is automatic via Caddy. - Secrets: each app reads /srv/apps//shared/.env, symlinked into every release, never committed. - No accounts, no telemetry, no dashboard; logs via journalctl -u . - Out of scope: per-branch preview deployments, edge/CDN, autoscaling, and a web UI. One VPS, main branch only. - README: server prerequisites, DNS records, and an honest note that I am now the platform team, budget time for the first 2am breakage. ## Delivery standard - Inspect the repository first, then write a short implementation plan before writing code. - Deliver the smallest complete end-to-end workflow first; every primary control must work against persisted data. - Use real validation and storage; never substitute fake dashboards, decorative controls, hard-coded success states, or mock integrations. - Include responsive layouts plus genuine empty, loading, success, validation, and failure states. - Keep secrets server-side in environment variables, provide .env.example, and never commit credentials or user data. - Add structured logs around every external call and return actionable errors without leaking sensitive details. - Write unit tests for the core logic and one automated test of the main user journey. - Finish with a README covering setup, architecture, data location, backups, tests, deployment, and known limitations. ## Acceptance criteria - [ ] A clean install starts the app using only the README and .env.example. - [ ] The primary journey works from first visit through saved result, reload, edit, export, and deletion where applicable. - [ ] Invalid input, missing configuration, provider failure, and an empty database each have a usable state. - [ ] The interface works at 390px and 1440px, is keyboard navigable, and shows visible focus on every control. - [ ] Tests, type checking, linting, and a production build all pass with no ignored failures. - [ ] No part of the interface implies a live integration, security guarantee, or scale capability that was not actually built and verified. ## Non-goals Do not build these, and do not claim to have replaced them: - Edge/CDN performance. - Preview deployments. - Scaling. - Observability. - Reliability at the vendor's scale is an operations problem, not a prompt. - The last 20 percent is sync, migration fidelity, speed, and edge cases. ## What you still own after launch - Run migrations, backups, restores, and dependency updates. - Test the critical journey after every model, API, or hosting change. - Monitor failures and fix the edge cases a first prompt will miss. ## Risk **Operational risk.** The code is achievable; dependable data, integrations, and ongoing operations are the real cost. Editorial confidence in this assessment: high. No independent one-shot implementation is linked yet. ## Prior art Working open-source software you can read, fork, or borrow from before starting: - [Coolify](https://github.com/coollabsio/coolify) — Open-source self-hosted Heroku/Vercel-like deployment platform --- Generated by [Can It Be Vibe Coded?](https://www.canitbevibecoded.com) · Full report: https://www.canitbevibecoded.com/vercel