Deployment & Infrastructure 🚀

Next.js can run almost anywhere. Choose the platform that fits your latency, compliance, and team needs.

Deployment Targets 🎯

• Vercel: zero-config builds, edge functions, image optimization built-in.
• AWS: deploy to Lambda (serverless) via SST/Serverless Framework, or ECS/EKS for containers.
• Cloudflare Pages/Workers: run edge-first App Router apps.
• Custom Node + Nginx: build once (next build), serve via next start behind reverse proxy.
• Docker: multi-stage builds (install deps, build, copy .next).

CI/CD ⚙️

• GitHub Actions / GitLab CI / CircleCI: run tests, lint, next build.
• Cache .next/cache or pnpm/npm caches for faster builds.
• Preview environments per PR (Vercel, Netlify, AWS Amplify).
• Manage secrets via GH secrets, AWS Parameter Store, Doppler.
• Deploy strategies: blue-green, canary, feature flags.

Environment Management 🌱

• .env.local (ignored) for local secrets; .env.production for build-time config.
• Use NEXT_PUBLIC_ prefix for client-exposed vars.
• For runtime config, read from process env in server components or route handlers; consider config services for multi-region.

Analogy: deployment is launching rockets—pick the right launchpad (platform), run preflight checks (CI), and manage fuel/oxygen (env vars) to avoid mid-flight surprises.