Deploying to Production

Once your content is ready, deploying to production takes just a few steps. This guide covers building, environment setup, and deployment options.

Building for Production

Run the production build:

pnpm build

This generates an optimized build in the .next/ directory. The build process will:

• Pre-render all static pages
• Generate the XML sitemap and RSS feed
• Optimize images and fonts
• Bundle and minify JavaScript and CSS

Environment Variables

Set these in your hosting platform's environment settings:

| Variable | Purpose | |----------|---------| | NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL | Your production URL (used for sitemap, OG tags) | | GOOGLE_SITE_VERIFICATION | Google Search Console verification code |

Deploying to Vercel

The fastest option for Next.js sites:

1. Push your repository to GitHub
2. Import the project at vercel.com/new
3. Vercel detects Next.js automatically and configures the build
4. Set your environment variables in the Vercel dashboard
5. Deploy

Every push to your main branch triggers a new deployment automatically.

Other Hosting Options

This template works with any platform that supports Next.js:

• Netlify — Use the Next.js runtime plugin
• AWS Amplify — Supports Next.js App Router
• Self-hosted — Run pnpm start behind a reverse proxy

Post-Deployment Checklist

After your first deployment:

• [ ] Verify your site loads at your custom domain
• [ ] Check /sitemap.xml is accessible
• [ ] Test /feed.xml in an RSS reader
• [ ] Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console
• [ ] Test social sharing previews with Open Graph debuggers
• [ ] Confirm dark mode works in production

Performance

The template is optimized for performance out of the box. Run a Lighthouse audit on your deployed site to confirm scores. Aim for 90+ across all categories.