Get Started- Complete documentation overview

Deploy ShipSafe to production.

Overview

This section covers everything you need to deploy ShipSafe to production, from initial preparation to monitoring and maintenance.

What's covered:

  • Deployment preparation
  • Vercel deployment (recommended)
  • Environment setup
  • Security configuration
  • Monitoring and maintenance

Deployment Guides

Getting Started

Initial deployment steps:

  • Pre-deployment checklist
  • Environment preparation
  • Service configuration
  • Testing before deployment
  • Deployment process overview

Start here for your first deployment.

Vercel Deployment

Deploy to Vercel (recommended):

  • Vercel account setup
  • Connect repository
  • Configure environment variables
  • Deploy your app
  • Custom domain setup
  • Post-deployment verification

Recommended for Next.js applications.

Environment Setup

Configure production environment:

  • Production environment variables
  • Firebase production setup
  • Stripe production setup
  • Security best practices
  • Environment variable management

Essential for production configuration.

Security Checklist

Production security configuration:

  • Security verification steps
  • HTTPS verification
  • Security headers check
  • Rate limiting verification
  • Audit logging setup
  • Security testing

Critical before going live.

Monitoring

Monitor your deployment:

  • Error tracking setup
  • Performance monitoring
  • Audit logging
  • Analytics integration
  • Alert configuration
  • Maintenance practices

Important for production operations.

Deployment Checklist

Pre-Deployment

  • All environment variables configured
  • Firebase configured for production
  • Stripe configured for production
  • Domain configured
  • Security headers verified
  • Error tracking set up
  • Build succeeds locally
  • Tests pass (if applicable)

Deployment

  • Deploy to staging first (recommended)
  • Verify staging deployment
  • Test all features
  • Deploy to production
  • Verify production deployment
  • Test production features

Post-Deployment

  • Monitor error logs
  • Check performance metrics
  • Verify security headers
  • Test critical user flows
  • Set up alerts
  • Document deployment

Deployment Platforms

Vercel (Recommended)

Why Vercel:

  • Zero-config Next.js deployment
  • Automatic HTTPS
  • Edge functions
  • Built-in analytics
  • Easy environment variable management

See: Vercel Deployment Guide

Other Platforms

ShipSafe can be deployed to:

  • Netlify - Similar to Vercel
  • Railway - Modern hosting platform
  • AWS - Using Amplify or custom setup
  • Google Cloud - Using Cloud Run
  • Self-hosted - Using Docker

Environment Configuration

Required Variables

Firebase:

  • NEXT_PUBLIC_FIREBASE_API_KEY
  • NEXT_PUBLIC_FIREBASE_AUTH_DOMAIN
  • NEXT_PUBLIC_FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID
  • FIREBASE_CLIENT_EMAIL
  • FIREBASE_PRIVATE_KEY
  • FIREBASE_DATABASE_URL

Stripe:

  • STRIPE_SECRET_KEY (use sk_live_ in production)
  • STRIPE_PUBLIC_KEY (use pk_live_ in production)
  • STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET
  • STRIPE_PRICE_STARTER
  • STRIPE_PRICE_PRO

Application:

  • NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL (production domain)
  • APP_DOMAIN (production domain)

See: Environment Setup for complete list

Common Deployment Issues

Build Fails

Solutions:

  • Check build logs for errors
  • Verify all environment variables are set
  • Test build locally first
  • Check Node.js version matches

Environment Variables Not Loading

Solutions:

  • Verify variables are set in platform
  • Check variable names match exactly
  • Redeploy after adding variables
  • Verify variable format (especially private keys)

Domain Not Working

Solutions:

  • Verify DNS configuration
  • Check domain is added to platform
  • Verify SSL certificate is issued
  • Wait for DNS propagation

Post-Deployment

Verification Steps

  1. Test critical flows:

    • User signup/login
    • Payment checkout
    • Protected pages
    • API endpoints

  2. Check security:

    • HTTPS is enabled
    • Security headers are set
    • Rate limiting works
    • CSRF protection works

  3. Monitor:

    • Error logs
    • Performance metrics
    • User activity
    • Payment processing

Related Documentation

Quick Reference

Essential Deployment Steps

  1. Getting Started - Prepare for deployment
  2. Vercel Deployment - Deploy to Vercel
  3. Environment Setup - Configure production
  4. Security Checklist - Verify security
  5. Monitoring - Set up monitoring

Deployment Commands

# Build locally
npm run build

# Test production build
npm start

# Deploy (Vercel)
vercel --prod

Ready to deploy? Start with Getting Started!