Set up Vercel observability with runtime logs, analytics, log drains, and OpenTelemetry tracing. Use when implementing monitoring for Vercel deployments, setting up log drains, or configuring alerting for function errors and performance. Trigger with phrases like "vercel monitoring", "vercel metrics", "vercel observability", "vercel logs", "vercel alerts", "vercel tracing".
Configure comprehensive observability for Vercel deployments using built-in analytics, runtime logs, log drains to external providers, OpenTelemetry integration, and custom instrumentation. Covers the full observability stack from function-level metrics to end-user experience monitoring.
In the Vercel dashboard:
// For Next.js — add the analytics component
// src/app/layout.tsx
import { Analytics } from '@vercel/analytics/react';
import { SpeedInsights } from '@vercel/speed-insights/next';
export default function RootLayout({ children }) {
return (
<html>
<body>
{children}
<Analytics />
<SpeedInsights />
</body>
</html>
);
}
Install: npm install @vercel/analytics @vercel/speed-insights
# View runtime logs via CLI
vercel logs https://my-app.vercel.app --follow
# Filter by level
vercel logs https://my-app.vercel.app --level=error
# View logs via API
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $VERCEL_TOKEN" \
"https://api.vercel.com/v2/deployments/dpl_xxx/events?limit=50&direction=backward" \
| jq '.[] | {timestamp: .created, level: .level, message: .text}'
Runtime logs include:
console.log/warn/error output from functions// lib/logger.ts — structured JSON logging
interface LogEntry {
level: 'info' | 'warn' | 'error';
message: string;
requestId?: string;
duration?: number;
[key: string]: unknown;
}
export function log(entry: LogEntry): void {
// Vercel captures console output as runtime logs
const output = JSON.stringify({
...entry,
timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
region: process.env.VERCEL_REGION,
env: process.env.VERCEL_ENV,
});
switch (entry.level) {
case 'error': console.error(output); break;
case 'warn': console.warn(output); break;
default: console.log(output);
}
}
// Usage in API route:
export async function GET(request: Request) {
const requestId = crypto.randomUUID();
const start = Date.now();
try {
const data = await fetchData();
log({ level: 'info', message: 'Fetched data', requestId, duration: Date.now() - start });
return Response.json(data);
} catch (error) {
log({ level: 'error', message: 'Data fetch failed', requestId, error: String(error) });
return Response.json({ error: 'Internal error', requestId }, { status: 500 });
}
}
Configure log drains to send all Vercel logs to your logging provider:
In dashboard: Settings > Log Drains > Add
Supported providers:
| Provider | Type | Setup |
|---|---|---|
| Datadog | HTTP | API key + site URL |
| Axiom | HTTP | API token + dataset |
| Sentry | HTTP | DSN |
| Custom | HTTP/NDJSON | Any HTTPS endpoint |
| Grafana Loki | HTTP | Push URL + auth |
Log drain delivers:
# Create a log drain via API
curl -X POST "https://api.vercel.com/v2/integrations/log-drains" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $VERCEL_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"name": "my-datadog-drain",
"type": "json",
"url": "https://http-intake.logs.datadoghq.com/api/v2/logs",
"headers": {"DD-API-KEY": "your-datadog-api-key"},
"sources": ["lambda", "edge", "build", "static"]
}'
// instrumentation.ts (Next.js 13.4+)
import { NodeSDK } from '@opentelemetry/sdk-node';
import { OTLPTraceExporter } from '@opentelemetry/exporter-trace-otlp-http';
import { getNodeAutoInstrumentations } from '@opentelemetry/auto-instrumentations-node';
export function register() {
const sdk = new NodeSDK({
traceExporter: new OTLPTraceExporter({
url: process.env.OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT,
}),
instrumentations: [getNodeAutoInstrumentations()],
serviceName: 'my-vercel-app',
});
sdk.start();
}
// next.config.js
module.exports = {
experimental: {
instrumentationHook: true,
},
};
npx @sentry/wizard@latest -i nextjs
// sentry.client.config.ts
import * as Sentry from '@sentry/nextjs';
Sentry.init({
dsn: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_SENTRY_DSN,
environment: process.env.VERCEL_ENV,
release: process.env.VERCEL_GIT_COMMIT_SHA,
tracesSampleRate: process.env.VERCEL_ENV === 'production' ? 0.1 : 1.0,
});
| Metric | Source | Alert Threshold |
|---|---|---|
| Error rate | Runtime logs | > 1% of requests |
| P95 function latency | Vercel Analytics | > 2s |
| Cold start frequency | Runtime logs | > 20% of invocations |
| Build success rate | Build logs | Any failure |
| Core Web Vitals (LCP) | Speed Insights | > 2.5s |
| Edge cache hit rate | Static logs | < 80% |
| Error | Cause | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| Logs missing | Log retention expired (1hr free, 30d with Plus) | Enable log drains for persistence |
| Analytics not tracking | Missing <Analytics /> component | Add to root layout |
| Log drain not receiving | Wrong URL or auth headers | Test the endpoint directly with curl |
| Sentry not capturing errors | DSN not set in production env | Add NEXT_PUBLIC_SENTRY_DSN to Production scope |
| OTEL traces missing | instrumentation.ts not loaded | Enable instrumentationHook in next.config.js |
For incident response, see vercel-incident-runbook.