Deploy on Vercel with Postgres and R2

What you'll build

A Next.js site with Easy CMS on Vercel: content in a hosted Postgres, uploads in Cloudflare R2, and a cron job for scheduled publishing. Uses: Next.js, databases, uploads, migrations.

Serverless functions have no disk that survives, so SQLite and local uploads don't work there. Use Postgres and S3-compatible storage instead.

1. Postgres

Create a database on any hosted Postgres (Neon, Supabase, Vercel's marketplace…) and copy its connection string.

npm

npm install @easy-cms/db-postgres

pnpm

pnpm add @easy-cms/db-postgres

yarn

yarn add @easy-cms/db-postgres

bun

bun add @easy-cms/db-postgres

import { postgres } from '@easy-cms/db-postgres'

export default defineConfig({
  // …
  // Vercel: the hosted database. Your laptop: PGlite, Postgres in a local folder, so development
  // and migrations use the same SQL as production.
  db: process.env.DATABASE_URL
    ? postgres({ url: process.env.DATABASE_URL, max: 2 }) // small pool per function instance
    : postgres({ pglite: '.pglite' }),
})

For PGlite in development: npm install @electric-sql/pglite (create-easy-cms --db postgres adds it for you).

Connection poolers

Use the database's direct connection string. Poolers in transaction mode may not support the prepared statements the driver uses; if you switch to one, test it first.

2. Cloudflare R2 for uploads

Create a bucket and an API token (Object Read & Write) in Cloudflare, then:

npm

npm install @easy-cms/storage-s3

pnpm

pnpm add @easy-cms/storage-s3

yarn

yarn add @easy-cms/storage-s3

bun

bun add @easy-cms/storage-s3

import { s3Storage } from '@easy-cms/storage-s3'

upload: {
  storage: s3Storage({
    bucket: process.env.R2_BUCKET as string,
    region: 'auto',
    endpoint: `https://${process.env.R2_ACCOUNT_ID}.r2.cloudflarestorage.com`,
    accessKeyId: process.env.R2_ACCESS_KEY_ID,
    secretAccessKey: process.env.R2_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY,
  }),
},

Files are served through the CMS API unless you give the bucket a public URL (publicUrl); see S3, Cloudflare R2 and MinIO.

3. Migrations on every deploy

Create the migrations locally (with PGlite, no DATABASE_URL) and commit them:

npm

npx easy-cms migrate:create init
git add easy-cms/migrations

pnpm

pnpm exec easy-cms migrate:create init
git add easy-cms/migrations

yarn

yarn easy-cms migrate:create init
git add easy-cms/migrations

bun

bunx easy-cms migrate:create init
git add easy-cms/migrations

Then run them before each build, in package.json:

{ "scripts": { "build": "easy-cms migrate && next build" } }

Vercel runs npm run build on every deploy, so the database is migrated before the new version serves requests.

4. Environment variables

In Project Settings → Environment Variables:

Name	Value
EASY_CMS_SECRET	A new random value: openssl rand -hex 32
DATABASE_URL	The Postgres connection string
R2_BUCKET, R2_ACCOUNT_ID, R2_ACCESS_KEY_ID, R2_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY	From Cloudflare
CRON_SECRET	Another random value, for the cron job below

5. A cron for scheduled posts and webhook retries

No process stays running on Vercel, so let Vercel Cron call the jobs endpoint. Vercel sends Authorization: Bearer $CRON_SECRET, which Easy CMS checks.

{
  "crons": [{ "path": "/api/cms/jobs/run", "schedule": "*/5 * * * *" }]
}

Scheduled posts then go live within five minutes of their time. Check your Vercel plan for how often crons may run.

6. Client IPs for login limits

Vercel sets X-Forwarded-For; trust it in the API route:

export const { GET, HEAD, POST, PATCH, PUT, DELETE, OPTIONS } = createRouteHandlers(config, {
  trustProxy: true,
})

Check it

Deploy, open https://your-site.vercel.app/admin, create the first admin, upload an image (it lands in the bucket) and publish a post.