Deployment

General Guidelines

If you are using Vue CLI along with a backend framework that handles static assets as part of its deployment, all you need to do is make sure Vue CLI generates the built files in the correct location, and then follow the deployment instruction of your backend framework.

If you are developing your frontend app separately from your backend - i.e. your backend exposes an API for your frontend to talk to, then your frontend is essentially a purely static app. You can deploy the built content in the dist directory to any static file server, but make sure to set the correct publicPath.

Previewing Locally

The dist directory is meant to be served by an HTTP server (unless you've configured publicPath to be a relative value), so it will not work if you open dist/index.html directly over file:// protocol. The easiest way to preview your production build locally is using a Node.js static file server, for example serve:

npm install -g serve
# -s flag means serve it in Single-Page Application mode
# which deals with the routing problem below
serve -s dist

Routing with `history.pushState`

If you are using Vue Router in history mode, a simple static file server will fail. For example, if you used Vue Router with a route for /todos/42, the dev server has been configured to respond to localhost:3000/todos/42 properly, but a simple static server serving a production build will respond with a 404 instead.

To fix that, you will need to configure your production server to fallback to index.html for any requests that do not match a static file. The Vue Router docs provide configuration instructions for common server setups.

CORS

If your static frontend is deployed to a different domain from your backend API, you will need to properly configure CORS.

PWA

If you are using the PWA plugin, your app must be served over HTTPS so that Service Worker can be properly registered.

Platform Guides

GitHub Pages

Pushing updates manually

Set correct publicPath in vue.config.js.
If you are deploying to https://<USERNAME>.github.io/, you can omit publicPath as it defaults to "/".
If you are deploying to https://<USERNAME>.github.io/<REPO>/, (i.e. your repository is at https://github.com/<USERNAME>/<REPO>), set publicPath to "/<REPO>/". For example, if your repo name is "my-project", your vue.config.js should look like this:
```
// vue.config.js file to be placed in the root of your repository

module.exports = {
  publicPath: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production'
    ? '/my-project/'
    : '/'
}
```

Inside your project, create deploy.sh with the following content (with highlighted lines uncommented appropriately) and run it to deploy:

#!/usr/bin/env sh

# abort on errors
set -e

# build
npm run build

# navigate into the build output directory
cd dist

# if you are deploying to a custom domain
# echo 'www.example.com' > CNAME

git init
git add -A
git commit -m 'deploy'

# if you are deploying to https://<USERNAME>.github.io
# git push -f git@github.com:<USERNAME>/<USERNAME>.github.io.git master

# if you are deploying to https://<USERNAME>.github.io/<REPO>
# git push -f git@github.com:<USERNAME>/<REPO>.git master:gh-pages

cd -

Using Travis CI for automatic updates

Set correct publicPath in vue.config.js as explained above.
Install the Travis CLI client: gem install travis && travis --login
Generate a GitHub access token with repo permissions.
Grant the Travis job access to your repository: travis env set GITHUB_TOKEN xxx (xxx is the personal access token from step 3.)

Create a .travis.yml file in the root of your project.

language: node_js
node_js:
 - "node"

cache: npm

script: npm run build

deploy:
 provider: pages
 skip_cleanup: true
 github_token: $GITHUB_TOKEN
 local_dir: dist
 on:
   branch: master

Push the .travis.yml file to your repository to trigger the first build.

GitLab Pages

As described by GitLab Pages documentation, everything happens with a .gitlab-ci.yml file placed in the root of your repository. This working example will get you started:

# .gitlab-ci.yml file to be placed in the root of your repository

pages: # the job must be named pages
  image: node:latest
  stage: deploy
  script:
    - npm ci
    - npm run build
    - mv public public-vue # GitLab Pages hooks on the public folder
    - mv dist public # rename the dist folder (result of npm run build)
    # optionally, you can activate gzip support with the following line:
    - find public -type f -regex '.*\.\(htm\|html\|txt\|text\|js\|css\)$' -exec gzip -f -k {} \;
  artifacts:
    paths:
      - public # artifact path must be /public for GitLab Pages to pick it up
  only:
    - master

Typically, your static website will be hosted on https://yourUserName.gitlab.io/yourProjectName, so you will also want to create an initial vue.config.js file to update the BASE_URL value to match your project name (the CI_PROJECT_NAME environment variable contains this value):

// vue.config.js file to be placed in the root of your repository

module.exports = {
  publicPath: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production'
    ? '/' + process.env.CI_PROJECT_NAME + '/'
    : '/'
}

Please read through the docs on GitLab Pages domains for more info about the URL where your project website will be hosted. Be aware you can also use a custom domain.

Commit both the .gitlab-ci.yml and vue.config.js files before pushing to your repository. A GitLab CI pipeline will be triggered: when successful, visit your project's Settings > Pages to see your website link, and click on it.

Netlify

On Netlify, setup up a new project from GitHub with the following settings:
- Build Command: npm run build or yarn build
- Publish directory: dist
Hit the deploy button!

Also checkout vue-cli-plugin-netlify-lambda.

Use history mode on Vue Router

In order to receive direct hits using history mode on Vue Router, you need to redirect all traffic to the /index.html file.

More information on Netlify redirects documentation.

Recomended method

Create a file called netlify.toml in the root of your repository with the following content:

[[redirects]]
  from = "/*"
  to = "/index.html"
  status = 200

Alternative method

Create a file called _redirects under /public with the following content:

# Netlify settings for single-page application
/*    /index.html   200

If you are using @vue/cli-plugin-pwa make sure to exclude the _redirects file from being cached by the service worker. To do so, add the following to your vue.config.js:

// vue.config.js file to be placed in the root of your repository

module.exports = {
  pwa: {
      workboxOptions: {
        exclude: [/_redirects/]
      }
    }
}

Checkout workboxOptions and exclude for more.

Render

Render offers free static site hosting with fully managed SSL, a global CDN and continuous auto deploys from GitHub.

Create a new Static Site on Render, and give Render’s GitHub app permission to access your Vue repo.
Use the following values during creation:
- Build Command: npm run build or yarn build
- Publish directory: dist

That’s it! Your app will be live on your Render URL as soon as the build finishes.

In order to receive direct hits using history mode on Vue Router, you need to add the following rewrite rule in the Redirects/Rewrites tab for your site.

Source: /*
Destination: /index.html
Status Rewrite

Learn more about setting up redirects, rewrites and custom domains on Render.

Amazon S3

See vue-cli-plugin-s3-deploy.

Firebase

Create a new Firebase project on your Firebase console. Please refer to this documentation on how to setup your project.

Make sure you have installed firebase-tools globally:

npm install -g firebase-tools

From the root of your project, initialize firebase using the command:

firebase init

Firebase will ask some questions on how to setup your project.

Choose which Firebase CLI features you want to setup your project. Make sure to select hosting.
Select the default Firebase project for your project.
Set your public directory to dist (or where your build's output is) which will be uploaded to Firebase Hosting.

// firebase.json

{
  "hosting": {
    "public": "dist"
  }
}

Select yes to configure your project as a single-page app. This will create an index.html and on your dist folder and configure your hosting information.

// firebase.json

{
  "hosting": {
    "rewrites": [
      {
        "source": "**",
        "destination": "/index.html"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Run npm run build to build your project.

To deploy your project on Firebase Hosting, run the command:

firebase deploy --only hosting

If you want other Firebase CLI features you use on your project to be deployed, run firebase deploy without the --only option.

You can now access your project on https://<YOUR-PROJECT-ID>.firebaseapp.com or https://<YOUR-PROJECT-ID>.web.app.

Please refer to the Firebase Documentation for more details.

Vercel

Vercel is a cloud platform that enables developers to host Jamstack websites and web services that deploy instantly, scale automatically, and requires no supervision, all with zero configuration. They provide a global edge network, SSL encryption, asset compression, cache invalidation, and more.

Step 1: Deploying your Vue project to Vercel

To deploy your Vue project with a Vercel for Git Integration, make sure it has been pushed to a Git repository.

Import the project into Vercel using the Import Flow. During the import, you will find all relevant options preconfigured for you with the ability to change as needed.

After your project has been imported, all subsequent pushes to branches will generate Preview Deployments, and all changes made to the Production Branch (commonly "master" or "main") will result in a Production Deployment.

Once deployed, you will get a URL to see your app live, such as the following: https://vue-example-tawny.vercel.app/.

Step 2 (optional): Using a Custom Domain

If you want to use a Custom Domain with your Vercel deployment, you can Add or Transfer in your domain via your Vercel account Domain settings.

To add your domain to your project, navigate to your Project from the Vercel Dashboard. Once you have selected your project, click on the "Settings" tab, then select the Domains menu item. From your projects Domain page, enter the domain you wish to add to your project.

Once the domain has been added, you will be presented with different methods for configuring it.

Deploying a fresh Vue project

You can deploy a fresh Vue project, with a Git repository set up for you, with the following Deploy Button:

References:

Stdlib

TODO | Open to contribution.

Heroku

Install Heroku CLI
Create a static.json file:

{
  "root": "dist",
  "clean_urls": true,
  "routes": {
    "/**": "index.html"
  }
}

Add static.json file to git

git add static.json
git commit -m "add static configuration"

Deploy to Heroku

heroku login
heroku create
heroku buildpacks:add heroku/nodejs
heroku buildpacks:add https://github.com/heroku/heroku-buildpack-static
git push heroku master

More info: Getting started with SPAs on Heroku

Surge

To deploy with Surge the steps are very straightforward.

First, you would need to build your project by running npm run build. And if you haven't installed Surge's command line tool, you can simply do so by running the command:

npm install --global surge

Then cd into the dist/ folder of your project and then run surge and follow the screen prompt. It will ask you to set up email and password if it is the first time you are using Surge. Confirm the project folder and type in your preferred domain and watch your project being deployed such as below.

            project: /Users/user/Documents/myawesomeproject/dist/
         domain: myawesomeproject.surge.sh
         upload: [====================] 100% eta: 0.0s (31 files, 494256 bytes)
            CDN: [====================] 100%
             IP: **.**.***.***

   Success! - Published to myawesomeproject.surge.sh

Verify your project is successfully published by Surge by visiting myawesomeproject.surge.sh, vola! For more setup details such as custom domains, you can visit Surge's help page.

Bitbucket Cloud

As described in the Bitbucket documentation you need to create a repository named exactly <USERNAME>.bitbucket.io.
It is possible to publish to a subfolder of the main repository, for instance if you want to have multiple websites. In that case, set correct publicPath in vue.config.js.
If you are deploying to https://<USERNAME>.bitbucket.io/, you can omit publicPath as it defaults to "/".
If you are deploying to https://<USERNAME>.bitbucket.io/<SUBFOLDER>/, set publicPath to "/<SUBFOLDER>/". In this case, the directory structure of the repository should reflect the url structure, for instance, the repository should have a /<SUBFOLDER> directory.

Inside your project, create deploy.sh with the following content and run it to deploy:

#!/usr/bin/env sh

# abort on errors
set -e

# build
npm run build

# navigate into the build output directory
cd dist

git init
git add -A
git commit -m 'deploy'

git push -f git@bitbucket.org:<USERNAME>/<USERNAME>.bitbucket.io.git master

cd -

Docker (Nginx)

Deploy your application using nginx inside of a docker container.

Install docker

Create a Dockerfile file in the root of your project.

FROM node:latest as build-stage
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm install
COPY ./ .
RUN npm run build

FROM nginx as production-stage
RUN mkdir /app
COPY --from=build-stage /app/dist /app
COPY nginx.conf /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

Create a .dockerignore file in the root of your project
Setting up the .dockerignore file prevents node_modules and any intermediate build artifacts from being copied to the image which can cause issues during building.
```
**/node_modules
**/dist
```

Create a nginx.conf file in the root of your project

Nginx is an HTTP(s) server that will run in your docker container. It uses a configuration file to determine how to serve content/which ports to listen on/etc. See the nginx configuration documentation for an example of all of the possible configuration options.

The following is a simple nginx configuration that serves your vue project on port 80. The root index.html is served for page not found / 404 errors which allows us to use pushState() based routing.

user  nginx;
worker_processes  1;
error_log  /var/log/nginx/error.log warn;
pid        /var/run/nginx.pid;
events {
  worker_connections  1024;
}
http {
  include       /etc/nginx/mime.types;
  default_type  application/octet-stream;
  log_format  main  '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] "$request" '
                    '$status $body_bytes_sent "$http_referer" '
                    '"$http_user_agent" "$http_x_forwarded_for"';
  access_log  /var/log/nginx/access.log  main;
  sendfile        on;
  keepalive_timeout  65;
  server {
    listen       80;
    server_name  localhost;
    location / {
      root   /app;
      index  index.html;
      try_files $uri $uri/ /index.html;
    }
    error_page   500 502 503 504  /50x.html;
    location = /50x.html {
      root   /usr/share/nginx/html;
    }
  }
}

Build your docker image

docker build . -t my-app
# Sending build context to Docker daemon  884.7kB
# ...
# Successfully built 4b00e5ee82ae
# Successfully tagged my-app:latest

Run your docker image
This build is based on the official nginx image so log redirection has already been set up and self daemonizing has been turned off. Some other default settings have been setup to improve running nginx in a docker container. See the nginx docker repo for more info.
```
docker run -d -p 8080:80 my-app
curl localhost:8080
# <!DOCTYPE html><html lang=en>...</html>
```

Build Targets

Troubleshooting

Deployment #

General Guidelines #

Previewing Locally #

Routing with history.pushState #

CORS #

PWA #

Platform Guides #

GitHub Pages #

Pushing updates manually #

Using Travis CI for automatic updates #

GitLab Pages #

Netlify #

Use history mode on Vue Router #

Recomended method #

Alternative method #

Render #

Amazon S3 #

Firebase #

Vercel #

Step 1: Deploying your Vue project to Vercel #

Step 2 (optional): Using a Custom Domain #

Deploying a fresh Vue project #

References: #

Stdlib #

Heroku #

Surge #

Bitbucket Cloud #

Docker (Nginx) #