Vercel
A hosting platform that automatically builds and deploys your website whenever you push code changes, making your site live on the internet within minutes.
Vercel is a cloud platform that handles the entire deployment pipeline for modern websites. When you push code to GitHub, Vercel automatically builds your site, optimizes it, and serves it from a global network of servers so visitors anywhere in the world get fast load times. It supports all major web frameworks, provides preview URLs for every code change, and manages SSL certificates and custom domains automatically.
The Simple Version
Imagine you save a document, and it instantly becomes a published webpage. That’s roughly what Vercel does. It watches your GitHub repository, and every time you push changes, it automatically builds your site and puts it live on the internet. No manual uploading, no FTP, no server management.
Why It Matters
Vercel removes the friction between writing code and having a live website. Without it, deploying a site means managing servers, configuring build pipelines, and handling SSL certificates. Vercel handles all of that. You push code, and it’s live.
It also provides preview deployments for branches, so you can test changes on a real URL before they go to your production site.
How It’s Used on This Site
scottkrukowski.com is hosted on Vercel. Every push to the main branch on GitHub triggers an automatic build and deployment. The site is usually live within about a minute of pushing code. The domain points to Vercel via DNS, and hosting is free at this scale.
Try It
Vercel offers a generous free tier for personal projects.
Related Articles
How I wired up Google Analytics 4, Search Console, a sitemap, OG tags, and a favicon. What each piece actually does, why it matters, and how I used Claude to implement all of it without writing a single line by hand.
How a glossary of technical terms for non-technical readers grew out of the same AI workflow that builds the site itself. Content collections, structured data, and Claude Code doing the heavy lifting.
How two plain-text files turned an AI coding assistant into a persistent, self-improving build system. The architecture behind scottkrukowski.com, explained for non-engineers.
A non-developer's walkthrough of building a professional website using Claude Code, Astro, and AI-assisted development. From rapid scaffold to production deployment.
Related Terms
Browse the Full Dictionary