Tutorial: Set Up a Deployment Pipeline

Create a complete CI/CD pipeline for your AutoDeployBase project.

Overview

We'll set up:

GitHub Actions for CI
Automated testing
Database migrations
Staging and production deployments
Vercel + PostgreSQL

Prerequisites

GitHub repository
Vercel account
PostgreSQL database (Vercel Postgres or Neon)

Step 1: Create the Project

npx autodeploybase init my-app \
  --framework next \
  --archetype saas \
  --database postgresql \
  --plugins github-actions

cd my-app
git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"

Step 2: Configure GitHub Secrets

Go to your GitHub repo → Settings → Secrets → Actions

Add these secrets:

Secret	Description
`VERCEL_TOKEN`	Vercel API token
`VERCEL_ORG_ID`	Vercel organization ID
`VERCEL_PROJECT_ID`	Vercel project ID
`DATABASE_URL`	Production database URL
`DATABASE_URL_STAGING`	Staging database URL
`JWT_SECRET`	JWT secret key

Get Vercel IDs

vercel link
cat .vercel/project.json

Step 3: CI Workflow

.github/workflows/ci.yml
name: CI

on:
  push:
    branches: [main, develop]
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]

env:
  NODE_VERSION: '20'

jobs:
  lint:
    name: Lint
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: ${{ env.NODE_VERSION }}
          cache: 'npm'
      
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm run lint

  typecheck:
    name: Type Check
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: ${{ env.NODE_VERSION }}
          cache: 'npm'
      
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npx prisma generate
      - run: npm run typecheck

  test:
    name: Test
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    
    services:
      postgres:
        image: postgres:16
        env:
          POSTGRES_USER: test
          POSTGRES_PASSWORD: test
          POSTGRES_DB: test
        ports:
          - 5432:5432
        options: >-
          --health-cmd pg_isready
          --health-interval 10s
          --health-timeout 5s
          --health-retries 5
    
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: ${{ env.NODE_VERSION }}
          cache: 'npm'
      
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npx prisma generate
      
      - name: Run migrations
        run: npx prisma migrate deploy
        env:
          DATABASE_URL: postgresql://test:test@localhost:5432/test
      
      - name: Run tests
        run: npm test -- --coverage
        env:
          DATABASE_URL: postgresql://test:test@localhost:5432/test
          JWT_SECRET: test-secret-for-ci
      
      - name: Upload coverage
        uses: codecov/codecov-action@v3
        with:
          files: ./coverage/lcov.info

  build:
    name: Build
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    needs: [lint, typecheck, test]
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: ${{ env.NODE_VERSION }}
          cache: 'npm'
      
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npx prisma generate
      - run: npm run build

Step 4: Staging Deployment

.github/workflows/deploy-staging.yml
name: Deploy Staging

on:
  push:
    branches: [develop]

jobs:
  deploy:
    name: Deploy to Staging
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    environment: staging
    
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'
          cache: 'npm'
      
      - run: npm ci
      
      - name: Run migrations
        run: npx prisma migrate deploy
        env:
          DATABASE_URL: ${{ secrets.DATABASE_URL_STAGING }}
      
      - name: Deploy to Vercel
        uses: amondnet/vercel-action@v25
        with:
          vercel-token: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_TOKEN }}
          vercel-org-id: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_ORG_ID }}
          vercel-project-id: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_PROJECT_ID }}
          # No --prod flag = preview deployment
        env:
          VERCEL_ENV: staging

Step 5: Production Deployment

.github/workflows/deploy-production.yml
name: Deploy Production

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  deploy:
    name: Deploy to Production
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    environment: production
    
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'
          cache: 'npm'
      
      - run: npm ci
      
      - name: Run migrations
        run: npx prisma migrate deploy
        env:
          DATABASE_URL: ${{ secrets.DATABASE_URL }}
      
      - name: Deploy to Vercel
        uses: amondnet/vercel-action@v25
        with:
          vercel-token: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_TOKEN }}
          vercel-org-id: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_ORG_ID }}
          vercel-project-id: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_PROJECT_ID }}
          vercel-args: '--prod'
      
      - name: Notify Slack
        uses: slackapi/slack-github-action@v1
        with:
          channel-id: 'deployments'
          slack-message: 'Production deployed: ${{ github.sha }}'
        env:
          SLACK_BOT_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.SLACK_BOT_TOKEN }}

Step 6: Database Migration Workflow

For manual migrations:

.github/workflows/migrate.yml
name: Database Migration

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      environment:
        description: 'Environment'
        required: true
        type: choice
        options:
          - staging
          - production

jobs:
  migrate:
    name: Run Migrations
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    environment: ${{ inputs.environment }}
    
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'
          cache: 'npm'
      
      - run: npm ci
      
      - name: Run migrations
        run: npx prisma migrate deploy
        env:
          DATABASE_URL: ${{ inputs.environment == 'production' && secrets.DATABASE_URL || secrets.DATABASE_URL_STAGING }}
      
      - name: Verify
        run: npx prisma db pull --force
        env:
          DATABASE_URL: ${{ inputs.environment == 'production' && secrets.DATABASE_URL || secrets.DATABASE_URL_STAGING }}

Step 7: Preview Deployments for PRs

.github/workflows/preview.yml
name: Preview Deployment

on:
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, synchronize]

jobs:
  preview:
    name: Deploy Preview
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
      - name: Deploy Preview
        uses: amondnet/vercel-action@v25
        id: deploy
        with:
          vercel-token: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_TOKEN }}
          vercel-org-id: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_ORG_ID }}
          vercel-project-id: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_PROJECT_ID }}
      
      - name: Comment PR
        uses: actions/github-script@v7
        with:
          script: |
            github.rest.issues.createComment({
              issue_number: context.issue.number,
              owner: context.repo.owner,
              repo: context.repo.repo,
              body: '🚀 Preview deployed: ${{ steps.deploy.outputs.preview-url }}'
            })

Step 8: Vercel Configuration

vercel.json
{
  "framework": "nextjs",
  "buildCommand": "prisma generate && next build",
  "regions": ["iad1"],
  "env": {
    "DATABASE_URL": "@database-url",
    "JWT_SECRET": "@jwt-secret"
  },
  "functions": {
    "api/**/*.ts": {
      "maxDuration": 30
    }
  }
}

Workflow Diagram

┌─────────────┐     ┌─────────────┐     ┌─────────────┐
│  Developer  │────▶│   GitHub    │────▶│   Vercel    │
│   Push      │     │   Actions   │     │  Deploy     │
└─────────────┘     └─────────────┘     └─────────────┘
                           │
                           ▼
                    ┌─────────────┐
                    │    Tests    │
                    │   Lint      │
                    │   Build     │
                    └─────────────┘
                           │
              ┌────────────┴────────────┐
              ▼                         ▼
       ┌─────────────┐           ┌─────────────┐
       │   Staging   │           │ Production  │
       │  (develop)  │           │   (main)    │
       └─────────────┘           └─────────────┘

Monitoring

Add monitoring after deployment:

- name: Health Check
  run: |
    sleep 30
    curl -f ${{ steps.deploy.outputs.preview-url }}/api/health || exit 1

Rollback

For quick rollback:

# List deployments
vercel ls

# Rollback to previous
vercel rollback

Or in workflow:

- name: Rollback on failure
  if: failure()
  run: vercel rollback --token ${{ secrets.VERCEL_TOKEN }}

Overview​

Prerequisites​

Step 1: Create the Project​

Step 2: Configure GitHub Secrets​

Get Vercel IDs​

Step 3: CI Workflow​

Step 4: Staging Deployment​

Step 5: Production Deployment​

Step 6: Database Migration Workflow​

Step 7: Preview Deployments for PRs​

Step 8: Vercel Configuration​

Workflow Diagram​

Monitoring​

Rollback​