Deployment on Vercel or custom Node runtime

Deployment choices affect runtime (Node versus Edge), static asset hosting, environment variables, observability, and who owns scaling. Vercel optimizes Next.js defaults; custom Node or Docker hosting trades convenience for control.

Key operational concerns: separate preview and production env vars, health checks, log aggregation, zero-downtime deploys, and cache purge strategy after releases.

					# Custom Node start after next build
NODE_ENV=production node server.js
				

On interviews: compare managed platform features with self-hosted responsibilities — image optimization, ISR, and edge middleware may need extra setup off-platform.

Common pitfalls: leaking server secrets to client env prefixes, no rollback plan, and deploys without revalidation or CDN purge.

The trade-off is platform velocity versus infrastructure ownership and compliance needs.

Checklist:

• Scope env vars to server versus client.
• Automate preview deployments per branch.
• Monitor cold starts and error rates.
• Document cache behavior on deploy.