Migrate from Vercel to Self-Hosted

Most Next.js apps migrate to Temps in under 30 minutes. This guide covers what transfers as-is, what needs a small adjustment, and the exact steps to cut over your domain with zero downtime.

What transfers without changes

The following work identically on Temps:

Static pages (SSG) and server-side rendering (SSR)
API routes and Route Handlers
App Router and Pages Router
Middleware (redirect/rewrite logic)
Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR)
Image optimization
Environment variables

What needs an alternative

Vercel-proprietary APIs need to be swapped before you migrate:

Vercel Feature	Replacement
Vercel KV	Redis (self-hosted or Upstash)
Vercel Postgres	Any PostgreSQL (Neon, Supabase, self-hosted)
Vercel Blob	S3-compatible storage (Cloudflare R2, MinIO)
`@vercel/analytics`	Temps Analytics (built-in, zero config)
Speed Insights	Temps monitoring (built-in)
Edge Runtime	Node.js runtime

If your app doesn't use any of these, you can migrate with no code changes.

Pre-migration checklist

Before starting, confirm:

You have SSH access to a VPS (Ubuntu 22.04+ recommended) or Temps is already installed
You control the DNS for your domain
You have your Vercel environment variables exported (see Step 1)
Any Vercel-specific packages are swapped or removed

Step 1: Export environment variables

Three ways to do this

1
Open your project in the Vercel Dashboard.
2
Go to Settings then Environment Variables.
3
Download the variables so you can import them into Temps.

# Via Vercel CLI
vercel env pull .env.local

Or export manually from Vercel Dashboard → Project → Settings → Environment Variables.

Step 2: Configure Next.js for self-hosting

Add standalone output mode to next.config.ts if it isn't already set:

const nextConfig = {
  output: "standalone",
};

export default nextConfig;

This produces a self-contained bundle that runs anywhere Node.js is installed — no Vercel-specific runtime required.

Step 3: Deploy to Temps

Three ways to do this

1
Go to Projects then click New Project.
2
Select your repository and the main branch.
3
Click Deploy — Temps auto-detects Next.js and sets the build and start commands.

# Install Temps on your server if not already installed
curl -fsSL https://temps.sh/deploy.sh | bash

Then connect your repository:

Open the Temps console and go to Projects → New Project
Select your repository and the main branch
Click Deploy — Temps auto-detects Next.js and sets the correct build and start commands

Add your environment variables under Project → Settings → Environment Variables before the first deploy, or the build may fail.

Step 4: Verify before cutting over

Once the first deploy succeeds, your app is reachable at a Temps-provided preview URL (e.g. my-app.temps.app). Verify:

Pages load correctly
API routes respond
Auth flows work end-to-end
Environment-dependent features function as expected

Only proceed to DNS cutover after this verification passes.

Step 5: Cut over DNS

Three ways to do this

1
Open Project then Settings then Domains and click Add Domain.
2
Temps shows the DNS records to add (an A record or CNAME).
3
Update your DNS registrar — propagation takes 1–5 minutes at a TTL of 60 seconds or less.

Go to Project → Settings → Domains → Add Domain in the Temps console
Temps shows the DNS records to add (A record or CNAME)
Update your DNS registrar — propagation takes 1–5 minutes when your TTL is 60 seconds or less
Temps automatically provisions a TLS certificate via Let's Encrypt

Set your DNS TTL to 60 seconds a few hours before cutting over. This limits how long any cached records point to Vercel during the transition.

Rollback plan

If something goes wrong after cutting DNS:

Point your DNS back to Vercel's IP/CNAME — your Vercel deployment is still live until you delete it
Investigate the issue on Temps using Project → Logs
Re-deploy after fixing the issue, then cut DNS again

Keep your Vercel project active for at least 48 hours after a successful migration before removing it.

Migrate from Vercel to Self-Hosted

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