VERCEL_URL - dynamic Convex env | Convex Community | Page 1

old mesa Dec 13, 2024, 6:00 PM

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Hey there! I need to figure out the best way to handle VERCEL_URL. We are constructing clerk invitations in our Convex functions and need to generate a redirect url for the invitations. We want this to work for our preview deploys and prod. Prod is easy technically as it's a static domain and we could just explicitly set VERCEL_URL in the dashboard, but this doesn't work for previews.

So what is the best/easiest option for setting this in Convex during Vercel deployments? Thank you!

brave mangoBOT Dec 13, 2024, 6:00 PM

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Thanks for posting in #1088161997662724167.
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old mesa Dec 13, 2024, 6:03 PM

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Alternatively I guess we could pass it as an argument to our functions from the client, since VERCEL_URL is automatically set there. Easier... thoughts? EDIT: I really don't like this approach actually... would involve passing it down in so many cases (any endpoint that fires a notification action, etc.).

modern jay Dec 13, 2024, 6:33 PM

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Are you using Convex preview deploys, so every preview deploy gets its own deployment?

old mesa Dec 13, 2024, 6:33 PM

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Yes that's right

modern jay Dec 13, 2024, 6:34 PM

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Cool, so one way would be setting the environment variable in your preview deploy build script, like npx convex env set VERCEL_URL $VERCEL_URL (I think that syntax is right?)

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ie take whatever the value of $VERCEL_URL is in the build environment and set that value in the preview Convex deployment (once its been provisioned)

old mesa Dec 13, 2024, 6:35 PM

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OK perfect thank you Tom! I will try this. 😄

modern jay Dec 13, 2024, 6:36 PM

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A similar approach would be some kind of initializaiton script, a mutation that sets one configuration data in a table

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but you could have more custom logic around this than envvars

old mesa Dec 13, 2024, 6:37 PM

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Ah yes another solid option!

old mesa Dec 13, 2024, 8:00 PM

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Still struggling. Really want the CLI env set approach to work:

npx convex deploy --cmd 'npm run build' --preview-run 'system/dummy:seedForPreviewDeployments' && npx convex env set VERCEL_URL $VERCEL_URL

Thinking it's possibly the "once it's provisioned" piece... don't get any helpful errors in the vercel deploy logs.

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@modern jay Well this is actually what we get: Finished running function "system/dummy:seedForPreviewDeployments"
✖ Please set CONVEX_DEPLOY_KEY to a new key which you can find on your Convex dashboard.

Which we don't get unless we include the second env set command.

modern jay Dec 13, 2024, 8:47 PM

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Ah maybe the preview flow doesn't write out the convex_url anywhere?

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We'll add something if there's no good solution here

old mesa Dec 13, 2024, 8:52 PM

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That would be great. Still no dice on my end 😦

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&& echo "Deploy key exists: $CONVEX_DEPLOY_KEY" && npx convex env set VERCEL_URL $VERCEL_URL

Does print out the key correctly. Interesting

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Oh you said CONVEX_URL, my bad.

modern jay Dec 13, 2024, 9:14 PM

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oh no you're right, that's the relevant one

old mesa Dec 13, 2024, 9:19 PM

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Let me try deploying again to see, I didn't copy it but I feel like it was the preview one not the prod one.

modern jay Dec 13, 2024, 9:20 PM

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yeah I think it was the preview,I was confused

torpid elk Dec 13, 2024, 9:21 PM

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Chiming in since it sounds like you're trying to set a convex env variable on a preview deployment -- npx convex env set --preview-name $VERCEL_GIT_COMMIT_REF foo bar might be what you're looking for

old mesa Dec 13, 2024, 9:21 PM

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Oooooh! Let me give that a shot. 🙂

torpid elk Dec 13, 2024, 9:22 PM

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($VERCEL_GIT_COMMIT_REF is the default name we use for preview deployments running in vercel, I think npx convex env might try by default to set things on a personal dev deployment but get confused when running in Vercel)

old mesa Dec 13, 2024, 9:26 PM

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WOOHOOOOOOOO!!!! fixed

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Thank you so much everyone!

boreal oracle May 14, 2025, 8:51 PM

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For posterity, I ended up doing something similar, but since I needed more env vars I did this to avoid the 255 char limit on vercel build instructions:

npx convex env set --preview-name $VERCEL_GIT_COMMIT_REF VERCEL_URL $VERCEL_URL && npx convex env set --preview-name $VERCEL_GIT_COMMIT_REF VERCEL_BRANCH_URL $VERCEL_BRANCH_URL && npx convex env set --preview-name $VERCEL_GIT_COMMIT_REF VERCEL_PROJECT_PRODUCTION_URL $VERCEL_PROJECT_PRODUCTION_URL

then my build cmd in the Vercel dashboard is:
npx convex deploy --cmd 'npm run build' --preview-run internal.foo.bar && source ./build_envs.sh

(I also have a convoluted way to make sure the Clerk webhook replays to all preview envs, the setup for which is what the foo.bar command is standing in for.)

#VERCEL_URL - dynamic Convex env