Migrate to Vercel from other platforms or re-architecture existing Vercel deployments. Use when migrating from Netlify, AWS, or Cloudflare to Vercel, or when re-platforming an existing Vercel application. Trigger with phrases like "migrate to vercel", "vercel migration", "switch to vercel", "netlify to vercel", "aws to vercel", "vercel replatform".
Migrate applications to Vercel from Netlify, AWS (Lambda/CloudFront/S3), Cloudflare Workers, or traditional hosting. Covers configuration mapping, DNS cutover, feature parity validation, and incremental migration with the strangler fig pattern.
!vercel --version 2>/dev/null || echo 'Vercel CLI not installed'
!cat package.json 2>/dev/null | jq -r '.name // "no package.json"' 2>/dev/null || echo 'N/A'
From Netlify:
| Netlify |
|---|
| Vercel Equivalent |
|---|
netlify.toml | vercel.json |
_redirects / _headers | vercel.json redirects/headers |
Netlify Functions (netlify/functions/) | API routes (api/) |
| Netlify Edge Functions | Edge Middleware or Edge Functions |
NETLIFY_ENV | VERCEL_ENV |
| Deploy previews | Preview deployments (automatic) |
| Branch deploys | Branch preview URLs |
// Netlify _redirects → vercel.json
// FROM: /old-page /new-page 301
// TO:
{
"redirects": [
{ "source": "/old-page", "destination": "/new-page", "permanent": true }
]
}
// Netlify _headers → vercel.json
// FROM: /* X-Frame-Options: DENY
// TO:
{
"headers": [
{
"source": "/(.*)",
"headers": [
{ "key": "X-Frame-Options", "value": "DENY" }
]
}
]
}
From AWS (Lambda + CloudFront + S3):
| AWS | Vercel Equivalent |
|---|---|
| Lambda functions | Serverless Functions (api/) |
| Lambda@Edge | Edge Functions / Middleware |
| CloudFront distributions | Automatic CDN |
| S3 static hosting | public/ directory |
| API Gateway | Automatic routing |
| CloudFront behaviors | vercel.json rewrites |
| AWS SAM/CDK | vercel.json |
| Secrets Manager | Environment Variables |
// AWS Lambda handler → Vercel Function
// FROM:
export const handler = async (event) => {
return { statusCode: 200, body: JSON.stringify({ hello: 'world' }) };
};
// TO:
import type { VercelRequest, VercelResponse } from '@vercel/node';
export default function handler(req: VercelRequest, res: VercelResponse) {
res.status(200).json({ hello: 'world' });
}
From Cloudflare Workers/Pages:
| Cloudflare | Vercel Equivalent |
|---|---|
| Workers | Edge Functions |
| Pages Functions | API routes |
| KV | Vercel KV or Edge Config |
| R2 | Vercel Blob |
| D1 | Vercel Postgres |
wrangler.toml | vercel.json |
# Create Vercel project
vercel link
# Move function files to api/ directory
mkdir -p api
# Convert each function to Vercel format
# Install Vercel types
npm install --save-dev @vercel/node
# Export from current platform, add to Vercel
# Netlify:
netlify env:list --json | jq -r '.[] | "\(.key)=\(.values[0].value)"' > .env.migration
# Add each to Vercel with proper scoping
while IFS='=' read -r key value; do
echo "$value" | vercel env add "$key" production preview development
done < .env.migration
# Verify
vercel env ls
Route traffic incrementally from old platform to Vercel:
// Phase 1: Route /api/* to Vercel, keep everything else on old platform
// On old platform, add a rewrite/proxy:
// /api/* → https://my-app.vercel.app/api/*
// Phase 2: Move static pages to Vercel
// Update DNS for staging subdomain first:
// staging.example.com → cname.vercel-dns.com
// Phase 3: Move production
// Update DNS A record: example.com → 76.76.21.21
# Add domain to Vercel
vercel domains add example.com
# Verify domain ownership
vercel domains inspect example.com
# DNS records to set:
# Apex domain (example.com):
# A → 76.76.21.21
#
# Subdomain (www.example.com):
# CNAME → cname.vercel-dns.com
#
# Or transfer nameservers to Vercel:
# NS → ns1.vercel-dns.com
# NS → ns2.vercel-dns.com
# Wait for DNS propagation (check with dig)
dig example.com A +short
# Should return 76.76.21.21
# SSL certificate auto-provisions after DNS verification
# Compare old and new deployments
# Test all routes
for path in "/" "/about" "/api/health" "/api/users"; do
echo "=== $path ==="
echo "Old:"
curl -sI "https://old.example.com${path}" | head -3
echo "New:"
curl -sI "https://my-app.vercel.app${path}" | head -3
done
# Compare headers
diff <(curl -sI https://old.example.com/ | sort) \
<(curl -sI https://my-app.vercel.app/ | sort)
# Check redirects still work
curl -sI https://my-app.vercel.app/old-page | grep Location
| Step | Validated |
|---|---|
| All functions converted to Vercel format | Required |
| Environment variables migrated with correct scoping | Required |
| Redirects and headers ported to vercel.json | Required |
| DNS configured and SSL provisioned | Required |
| Preview deployment tested end-to-end | Required |
| Performance baseline compared (old vs new) | Recommended |
| Monitoring and alerting configured | Required |
| Rollback plan documented (DNS revert) | Required |
| Old platform kept running during validation period | Recommended |
| Error | Cause | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| Function format mismatch | AWS/Netlify handler signature | Convert to (req, res) or Web API format |
| Missing env var after migration | Not added to correct environment | Re-add with vercel env add |
| DNS not resolving | Propagation delay | Wait 24-48 hours, check with dig |
| SSL not provisioning | DNS records incorrect | Verify A/CNAME records match Vercel's requirements |
| 404 on migrated routes | Different path conventions | Add rewrites in vercel.json |
For advanced troubleshooting, see vercel-advanced-troubleshooting.