Setting Up Vercel

Vercel turns the code you downloaded from your dashboard into a live website. You'll drop the unzipped folder onto Vercel, paste the two Supabase values from the previous page, add your license key, and click Deploy.

Two minutes.

Before you start

Make sure you have:

  • A Vercel account (vercel.com) — the email signup is fine.
  • Your ARK zip downloaded and unzipped. Sign in to your dashboard, open the product, and click Download Your Code. Unzip the file somewhere easy to find (your Desktop or ~/Downloads is fine). You'll upload the resulting folder in Step 2.
  • The Project URL and anon key from the Supabase page saved in your notes.

1. Sign in to Vercel

  1. Go to vercel.com.
  2. Click Sign Up (or Log In if you have an account). Email signup is easiest — GitHub or Google work too.

2. Upload your ARK folder

  1. Go to vercel.com/new.
  2. Scroll to the Deploy without Git option (Vercel also calls this Import from a folder or Upload directory depending on the UI version — they're the same thing).
  3. Drag the unzipped ark-<product>-v<version>/ folder from your computer onto the drop zone. Vercel uploads it and detects the framework automatically.
  4. If you don't see a drop zone, look for Clone Template → Upload at the bottom of the page. Same outcome.

3. Configure the project

Vercel shows a Configure Project screen.

  • Project Name: Vercel suggests one based on the folder. Change it if you want — this becomes your Vercel URL (my-crm.vercel.app).
  • Framework Preset: Vercel auto-detects this. It should say Next.js. If it doesn't, set it to Next.js manually.
  • Root Directory: leave as ./ (the default).
  • Build and Output Settings: leave as defaults.

4. Add environment variables

This is the most important step. Vercel needs to know your Supabase URL, your Supabase anon key, and your ARK license key.

Click Environment Variables to expand that section.

For each variable below, type the Name in the left field and paste the Value in the right field, then click Add.

NameValue
VITE_SUPABASE_URLYour Supabase Project URL (e.g., https://abcdefghijklmnop.supabase.co)
VITE_SUPABASE_ANON_KEYYour Supabase anon public key (the long eyJ... string)
VITE_ARK_LICENSE_KEYYour license key from the purchase email (e.g., ARK-A1B2-C3D4-E5F6-G7H8)

If the product needs additional variables (e.g., a Slack token for Pulse, or a Resend key for Comms), the product's specific Installation page lists them. For the basic ARK setup, the three above are enough.

See Environment Variables for the full reference.

5. Deploy

Click the big Deploy button at the bottom.

Vercel installs dependencies, builds the site, and deploys it. This usually takes 1–2 minutes. You'll see a build log scrolling. When it finishes, you'll see fireworks and a screenshot of your live site.

Click Visit (or Continue to Dashboard then Visit) to open the site.

6. Note your live URL

You'll see a URL like https://my-crm.vercel.app (or https://my-crm-corey-12345.vercel.app if Vercel added a suffix).

Save this URL. You need it for two things:

  1. To add it as the Site URL in Supabase (see the Supabase page).
  2. To bind your license key — your license activates against this domain on first load.

Optional: connect a custom domain

If you own a domain (e.g., crm.acme.com):

  1. In Vercel, go to your project → Settings → Domains.
  2. Click Add Domain, type your domain, click Add.
  3. Vercel shows you DNS records to add at your registrar (a CNAME or A record). Add them, save, wait a few minutes for DNS to propagate.
  4. Once verified, your site is live at the custom domain too.

Optional: deploy from GitHub instead (subscribers)

If you have an active ARK subscription and you've connected GitHub on your account page, ARK can deliver your fingerprinted code as a private repo under arkteams/<product>-<shortcode> with automatic update PRs. In that case you can skip the upload flow above and use Vercel's standard Import Git Repository path instead:

  1. From vercel.com/new, pick Import Git Repository.
  2. Click Adjust GitHub App Permissions, select your ARK repo, save, and click Import next to it.
  3. Configure the project exactly as in Step 3 above, add the same three environment variables, and click Deploy.

Pushes to your repo trigger Vercel rebuilds automatically, so merging an update PR ships the change in one click.

What you should have now

  • A live Vercel deployment at a *.vercel.app URL
  • Three environment variables set in Vercel
  • The site loads (even if it shows a "missing tables" error — that's the next page)

Next: Running the Database Schema