DEPLOYMENT.md

Deployment Guide

Complete guide for deploying the Landing Page Contact Form on various platforms.

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1. Vercel (Recommended) ⚡

Setup Time: 2 minutes
Difficulty: ⭐ Easy
Free Tier: Unlimited (personal projects)

Via CLI

npm i -g vercel
vercel login
vercel

Via Dashboard

1. Go to vercel.com/new
2. Import GitHub repository
3. Configure environment variables
4. Deploy

Environment Variables

GITHUB_TOKEN=your_github_token
GITHUB_REPO_OWNER=your_username
GITHUB_REPO_NAME=your_repo

Advantages:

• Auto-deploy on every push to main
• Built-in CDN (99.99% uptime)
• Automatic HTTPS certificate
• Edge Functions optimization

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2. Netlify 🎯

Setup Time: 3 minutes
Difficulty: ⭐ Easy
Free Tier: 100GB bandwidth/month

Via CLI

npm install -g netlify-cli
netlify login
netlify init
netlify deploy --prod

Via Dashboard

1. Go to app.netlify.com
2. New site from Git
3. Connect GitHub repository
4. Build command: npm run build
5. Publish directory: .next
6. Add environment variables

Custom netlify.toml (Optional)

[build]
  command = "npm run build"
  publish = ".next"

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

Advantages:

• Instant rollback
• Built-in forms (alternative to GitHub Issues)
• Split testing
• Serverless functions

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3. Railway 🚂

Setup Time: 5 minutes
Difficulty: ⭐⭐ Medium
Free Tier: $5 credit/month (500 hours)

Via CLI

npm i -g @railway/cli
railway login
railway init
railway up

Via Dashboard

1. Go to railway.app
2. New Project → Deploy from GitHub
3. Select repository
4. Railway auto-detects Next.js
5. Add environment variables

Custom Configuration

Create railway.json:

{
  "$schema": "https://railway.app/railway.schema.json",
  "build": {
    "builder": "NIXPACKS"
  },
  "deploy": {
    "startCommand": "npm start",
    "restartPolicyType": "ON_FAILURE"
  }
}

Advantages:

• Database integration (Postgres, MySQL, Redis)
• Private networking
• Container-based (more control)
• Usage monitoring

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4. Render 🔷

Setup Time: 5 minutes
Difficulty: ⭐⭐ Medium
Free Tier: 750 hours/month (static sites unlimited)

Via Dashboard

1. Go to render.com
2. New → Static Site (or Web Service for SSR)
3. Connect GitHub repository
4. Build Command: npm run build
5. Publish Directory: out (for static) or keep empty (for SSR)
6. Add environment variables

For Static Export

Modify next.config.js:

module.exports = {
  output: 'export',
  images: {
    unoptimized: true
  }
}

Then:

npm run build
# Generates /out folder

Advantages:

• Free SSL certificates
• Custom domains
• Background jobs
• Preview environments

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5. Docker 🐳

Setup Time: 10 minutes
Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐ Advanced
Cost: Depends on hosting provider

Dockerfile

FROM node:18-alpine AS base

# Install dependencies
FROM base AS deps
RUN apk add --no-cache libc6-compat
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci

# Build application
FROM base AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=deps /app/node_modules ./node_modules
COPY . .
RUN npm run build

# Production image
FROM base AS runner
WORKDIR /app
ENV NODE_ENV production

RUN addgroup --system --gid 1001 nodejs
RUN adduser --system --uid 1001 nextjs

COPY --from=builder /app/public ./public
COPY --from=builder --chown=nextjs:nodejs /app/.next/standalone ./
COPY --from=builder --chown=nextjs:nodejs /app/.next/static ./.next/static

USER nextjs
EXPOSE 3000
ENV PORT 3000

CMD ["node", "server.js"]

docker-compose.yml

version: '3.8'
services:
  app:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      - GITHUB_TOKEN=${GITHUB_TOKEN}
      - GITHUB_REPO_OWNER=${GITHUB_REPO_OWNER}
      - GITHUB_REPO_NAME=${GITHUB_REPO_NAME}
    restart: unless-stopped

Commands

# Build image
docker build -t gitforms .

# Run container
docker run -p 3000:3000 --env-file .env gitforms

# With docker-compose
docker-compose up -d

Advantages:

• Total portability
• Consistent environments
• Easy scaling
• Deployable anywhere (AWS, GCP, Azure, DigitalOcean)

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6. AWS Amplify ☁️

Setup Time: 7 minutes
Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐ Advanced
Free Tier: 1000 build minutes/month, 15GB storage

Via Console

1. Go to AWS Amplify Console
2. New app → Host web app
3. Connect GitHub repository
4. Build settings (auto-detected for Next.js)
5. Add environment variables
6. Deploy

amplify.yml (Auto-generated)

version: 1
frontend:
  phases:
    preBuild:
      commands:
        - npm ci
    build:
      commands:
        - npm run build
  artifacts:
    baseDirectory: .next
    files:
      - '**/*'
  cache:
    paths:
      - node_modules/**/*

Advantages:

• AWS infrastructure integration
• CDN via CloudFront
• Custom domain with Route 53
• Branch-based deployments

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🔧 Troubleshooting

Error: "Module not found"

rm -rf node_modules package-lock.json
npm install
npm run build

Error: "GITHUB_TOKEN not found"

Check that environment variables are correctly configured:

echo $GITHUB_TOKEN  # Should not be empty

Build failing on deployment platform

1. Check Node.js version (18+ required)
2. Verify all environment variables are set
3. Check build logs for specific error
4. Ensure npm run build works locally

Form not sending Issues

1. Verify GitHub token has repo scope
2. Check GITHUB_REPO_OWNER and GITHUB_REPO_NAME are correct
3. Ensure Issues are enabled in repository settings
4. Check browser console for errors

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📊 Platform Comparison

Platform	Difficulty	Free Tier	Best For
Vercel	⭐	Unlimited	Quick deployment, Next.js projects
Netlify	⭐	100GB/month	Static sites, forms
Railway	⭐⭐	$5 credit	Full-stack apps with databases
Render	⭐⭐	750h/month	Static + dynamic projects
Docker	⭐⭐⭐	-	Total control, portability
AWS Amplify	⭐⭐⭐	1000 min/month	AWS ecosystem integration

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🚀 Recommended Workflow

1. Development: Local with npm run dev
2. Staging: Vercel preview deployments (automatic)
3. Production: Vercel main branch (automatic)
4. Monitoring: Vercel Analytics (built-in)

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📚 Additional Resources

• Next.js Deployment Documentation
• Vercel Documentation
• Docker Best Practices for Next.js
• GitHub Issues API

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Need help? Open an issue on GitHub