Maximize Vercel’s FREE Plan: Enable Auto Deployment for All Members

October 3, 2024

This content originally appeared on HackerNoon and was authored by Syed Muhammad Yaseen

\ Earlier, Vercel’s free pricing plan allowed multiple members to commit changes that would automatically deploy. However, this feature has recently changed, and now only the project creator can trigger deployments.

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\ To enable this feature for each additional member, a fee of $20 will be charged.

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Bypass the Charge with a GitHub Action

\ You can create a GitHub Action that performs an empty commit, triggering Vercel to deploy automatically. Here’s how:

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Step 1: Create the Workflow File

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Inside your repository, navigate to the .github/workflows directory. If the workflows folder doesn’t exist, create it.

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Add a file named auto-empty-commit.yml.

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Step 2: Add the Script

\ Paste the following code into auto-empty-commit.yml:

name: Auto Empty Commit

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - 'master' # Trigger on pushes to the master branch
      # - '**' # Uncomment to trigger on pushes to any branch

permissions:
  contents: write # Allow write access to repository contents

jobs:
  empty_commit:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Checkout Repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v2

      - name: Get the Latest Commit Branch
        id: get_branch
        run: echo "branch=$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)" >> $GITHUB_ENV

      - name: Create Empty Commit
        run: |
          git config --local user.name "example" # Replace with your name
          git config --local user.email "example@example.com" # Replace with your email
          git commit --allow-empty -m "Auto commit after push"
          git push origin ${{ env.branch }}
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

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Customization

Branch Configuration: Modify the on.push.branches section to specify which branch will trigger this action.

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Git User Configuration: Update the Git user name and email in the Create Empty Commit step with the credentials of the member who created the project on Vercel.

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Final Steps

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Commit your changes and push them to your repository.

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Now, when a commit is made, the action will create an empty commit, triggering Vercel to deploy automatically.

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You’ll know the deployment status by the commit icons: a cross indicates the deployment failed, while a check shows successful deployment.