Vercel Account Setup

Yep, another account. I promise this one earns its spot. By the end of this lesson you'll have Vercel hooked up to GitHub and you'll know your way around the dashboard.

Creating Your Account#

Good news, Vercel lets you sign up with an account you already have.

Step 1. Go to Vercel#

Open your browser and head to vercel.com. Click the "Sign Up" button in the top right corner.

Step 2. Choose GitHub#

You'll see options to sign up with GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, or email. Click "Continue with GitHub."

You already made a GitHub account earlier in this course, so this is the easy route. It also lets Vercel get at your repositories, which you'll need in a minute anyway.

Step 3. Authorize Vercel#

GitHub will ask if you want to let Vercel into your account. Click "Authorize Vercel." That lets Vercel see your repositories and deploy code from them.

Step 4. Pick a Plan#

Vercel will ask which plan you want. Pick "Hobby" for now. It's free and it has everything you need to learn.

Connecting GitHub Repositories#

Your account exists now. Next, let's double check that Vercel can actually see your repositories.

Step 1. Open Settings#

Click your profile picture in the top right, then click "Settings."

Step 2. Go to Git Integration#

In the left sidebar, click "Git Integration" or "Connected Accounts."

Step 3. Check GitHub Connection#

You should see GitHub listed with a green checkmark. That means the connection is working.

Step 4. Adjust Repository Access#

If you want Vercel to see ALL your repositories, you might need to tweak the permissions. Click "Configure" next to GitHub and pick one of these.

• All repositories (easiest)
• Only select repositories (more control)

For learning, "All repositories" is totally fine.

Tour of the Dashboard#

Let's look around at what you'll see when you log in.

The Overview Page#

This is home base. It shows you a few things.

• Your projects - All the sites you've deployed
• Recent activity - Your latest deployments
• Quick actions - Buttons to add new projects or import from Git

Since you're brand new, it'll be empty. Tumbleweeds. That's okay! We'll add a project in the next lesson.

The Top Navigation#

Up at the very top you'll find these.

• Vercel logo - Click to go home
• Search - Find projects quickly
• Notifications - Alerts about your deployments
• Profile menu - Your account and settings

The Sidebar#

Over on the left side there's this.

• Overview - Your main dashboard
• Projects - List of all your projects
• Storage - Optional data storage features
• Settings - Account and team settings

Project View (Coming Soon)#

Once you deploy a project, you'll also see these.

• Production URL - Your live website address
• Deployments - Every version you've deployed
• Analytics - How your site is performing
• Settings - Configuration for that project

Understanding Vercel Teams#

You might notice Vercel talking about "teams." Here's the deal.

• Personal Account - Just you, for personal projects
• Team - A shared workspace for collaborating with others

For now you'll stick with your personal account. Teams come into play when you're working on the same projects with other people.

Dashboard vs. CLI#

Vercel gives you two ways to work.

1. Dashboard - The website you're looking at now
2. CLI - A command line tool for your terminal

Most beginners start with the dashboard because it's visual and easy to follow, so that's what this module sticks to. The CLI is great once you're more comfortable... but you don't NEED it.

TL;DR#

• Sign up for Vercel with your GitHub account
• Pick the free Hobby plan for personal projects
• Make sure Vercel can see your GitHub repositories
• The dashboard is where you'll manage all your deployments
• You can change settings and permissions whenever you want

What's Next?#

Now for the fun part. In the next lesson you'll deploy your first project to Vercel and watch it go live on the internet.