Deploying to Vercel, Netlify, Railway, Fly.io & Heroku

1. Install the CLI

npm i -g vercel
vercel --version   # confirm it works

2. Authenticate — pick one

Option A — CLI login (easiest):

vercel login

Opens your browser, confirms via email, stores credentials in ~/.vercel/auth.json. After this, LingCode deploys without any extra config.

Option B — Paste a token into LingCode:

1. Go to vercel.com/account/tokens.
2. Click Create Token, name it "LingCode", pick a scope (your team), pick an expiry.
3. Copy the token (it's only shown once).
4. In LingCode Magic Deploy, paste it into the AutoConfig field. LingCode detects it's a Vercel token and sets VERCEL_TOKEN automatically.

3. Optional: vercel.json

If your project needs custom build settings or rewrites, add a vercel.json at the project root. If you don't have one, Vercel auto-detects the framework and does the right thing for Next.js, Vite, Astro, SvelteKit, Nuxt, Remix, and dozens of others.

4. What LingCode runs

vercel --prod            # if authenticated via CLI login
VERCEL_TOKEN=xxx vercel --prod   # if you pasted a token

5. Common errors

• "Vercel CLI not found" — you haven't installed it. Run npm i -g vercel.
• "Not authenticated. Please log in with `vercel login`" — neither option A nor B is set up. Pick one.
• "Project not found" — Vercel doesn't have a project linked to this folder. Run vercel link once in Terminal, pick (or create) a project, and retry.
• "Token does not have access to this scope" — the token's team scope doesn't include the project's team. Regenerate the token at the right scope.

1. Install the CLI

npm i -g netlify-cli
netlify --version

2. Authenticate — pick one

Option A — CLI login:

netlify login

Stores auth in ~/.netlify/state.json.

Option B — Paste a personal access token:

1. Go to app.netlify.com/user/applications#personal-access-tokens.
2. Click New access token, name it "LingCode".
3. Copy the token, paste into LingCode AutoConfig. LingCode sets NETLIFY_AUTH_TOKEN.
4. You also need a site ID. In Netlify, open your site → Site settings → copy the API ID (a UUID). Paste that into AutoConfig too — LingCode sets NETLIFY_SITE_ID.

3. Optional: netlify.toml

Lets you define build command, publish dir, redirects, headers. Example:

[build]
  command = "npm run build"
  publish = "dist"

[[redirects]]
  from = "/*"
  to = "/index.html"
  status = 200

4. What LingCode runs

netlify deploy --prod --dir=dist
NETLIFY_AUTH_TOKEN=xxx NETLIFY_SITE_ID=yyy netlify deploy --prod --dir=dist

dist is the default output dir; override in netlify.toml if yours is different (e.g. build/ for CRA, out/ for Next static export).

5. Common errors

• "Error: You are not authenticated" — run netlify login or paste the token.
• "Error: No site id found" — either run netlify link to bind the folder to a site, or paste the API ID as above.
• "Deploy path not found: dist" — your build didn't produce dist/. Check your framework's output dir and set it in netlify.toml.

1. Install the CLI

npm i -g @railway/cli
railway --version

2. Authenticate — pick one

Option A — CLI login:

railway login

Option B — Paste a token:

1. Go to railway.app/account/tokens.
2. Click Create Token, name it "LingCode".
3. Paste into LingCode AutoConfig. LingCode detects the JWT format and sets RAILWAY_TOKEN.

3. Link the project

Railway needs the folder linked to a project before railway up works. In Terminal, once per project:

railway link

Pick your project from the list. Railway stores the link in .railway/ — don't delete it.

4. Optional: railway.json

Only needed for custom build/start commands. Most Node/Python/Rails projects work with Railway's defaults.

5. What LingCode runs

railway up
RAILWAY_TOKEN=xxx railway up

6. Common errors

• "Project Token not found" — neither railway login nor the token has been set. Do one.
• "No linked project found" — run railway link once.
• "Environment variable missing" — set required env vars in Railway's dashboard (Project → Variables), not locally. railway up uses the remote env.

1. Install flyctl

brew install flyctl
fly version

2. Authenticate — pick one

Option A — CLI login:

fly auth login

Option B — Paste a token:

1. Go to fly.io/user/personal_access_tokens.
2. Click Create access token, name it "LingCode", pick an expiry and org scope.
3. Copy it (starts with fo1_ or fo2_). Paste into LingCode AutoConfig — sets FLY_API_TOKEN.

Tip: you can also grab a token from the CLI with fly auth token.

3. Required: fly.toml

Unlike the others, Fly requires a fly.toml in the project root — it defines the app name, primary region, VM size, build strategy, and ports. Generate one the first time:

fly launch --no-deploy

This asks a few questions, creates the app in your Fly org, writes fly.toml, and stops without deploying. After this LingCode can deploy.

4. What LingCode runs

fly deploy
FLY_API_TOKEN=xxx fly deploy

5. Common errors

• "Could not find App ..." — fly.toml's app name doesn't match an app in your Fly org. Either edit fly.toml or run fly launch fresh.
• "We couldn't find a Dockerfile nor detect a buildpack" — Fly doesn't know how to build your project. Add a Dockerfile, or re-run fly launch and pick a supported buildpack.
• "unauthorized" — token expired or revoked. Regenerate at the token page.
• "Machine in unrecoverable state" — usually a bad previous deploy. Run fly machine list and fly machine destroy <id> to clean up, then retry.

1. Install the CLI

brew tap heroku/brew && brew install heroku
heroku --version

2. Authenticate — pick one

Option A — CLI login:

heroku login

Opens a browser for SSO / email confirm.

Option B — Paste the API key:

1. Go to dashboard.heroku.com/account.
2. Scroll to API Key, click Reveal, copy it.
3. Paste into LingCode AutoConfig — sets HEROKU_API_KEY.

Alternative: heroku auth:token in Terminal prints the same key.

3. Add Heroku as a git remote (critical!)

Heroku is the odd one out — LingCode deploys via git push heroku main:main, so Heroku must be a git remote. Once per project:

heroku create my-app-name        # creates app + adds remote
# or, if the app already exists:
heroku git:remote -a my-app-name

4. Optional: Procfile

Tells Heroku how to start your app. Node projects usually auto-detect from package.json's start script. For anything non-standard:

web: node dist/server.js
worker: node dist/worker.js

5. What LingCode runs

git push heroku main:main
HEROKU_API_KEY=xxx git push heroku main:main

6. Common errors

• "fatal: 'heroku' does not appear to be a git repository" — you haven't added the remote. Run heroku git:remote -a <app>.
• "! Your account has no verified credit card" — Heroku requires a verified card even for free-tier apps. Add one at dashboard.heroku.com/account/billing.
• "App not found" — the app name in the git remote doesn't exist or belongs to another account.
• "Push rejected, failed to compile" — your buildpack failed. Scroll up in the log for the actual error. Usually a missing dependency or mismatched Node/Python version in your manifest.
• Uncommitted changes — Heroku only sees what's committed. Commit your latest changes before deploying from LingCode.