The Vercel CLI is Now Built for AI Agents

VVercel
Computing/SoftwareInternet Technology

Transcript

00:00:00what's up everyone melky here and at versell we like to ship especially when it comes to
00:00:06infrastructure for the aging cloud and one of the most important pieces of that infrastructure
00:00:11is the versell cli the cli is no longer just a way for someone to deploy from their terminal
00:00:17it's becoming a building primitive for agents a programmable interface they can use to connect
00:00:23resources create sandboxes inspect logs debug issues and keep improving their deployments so
00:00:29in this first part i'll walk you through some of the recent cli updates that we're making for the
00:00:35versell cli to make it a stronger foundation for building with your agents all right so let's kick
00:00:41things off with the versell sandbox and how you can directly use it from the versell cli as we know
00:00:47sandboxes are so hot right now and the versell sandbox is literally one of the fastest experiences
00:00:53out there and it's perfect you have your agent they're gonna run some code and you want to make
00:00:57sure it's done safely and what better way than a secure sandbox so let's go into this terminal right
00:01:04here as you can see i got vc connect it's already good what i'm going to do is use vc sandbox create
00:01:13dash dash connect and all this does allows me to connect right to this new instance that i'm about to
00:01:17go and create you can see here it's fast use the versell cli and bang you can see the details of the
00:01:24sandbox that was the created you got the team project it scopes right to your authorization
00:01:29credentials to it super easy super smooth you can see here i can do normally any command i want from
00:01:36the sandbox now i can go ahead and do a git clone for a different repository that i want so i can do go
00:01:41ahead and let's go get the github for cell cli so i'll go over here snag this and from the sandbox i
00:01:51can go with a git clone and now it's going to clone into that versell repository it's going to download it
00:01:56so i can use it in that sandbox so now that we're back and the repository is cloned i can go ahead and
00:02:02exit that sandbox no big deal and let's say i want to go back one day i can go ahead and do vc sandbox
00:02:10connect and the name of that sandbox and i'm back exactly where i left off ls and you can see that
00:02:17github repository so go ahead let your agents go wild in sandboxes using the versell cli so another
00:02:24vital piece of infrastructure that you need if you're building production ready applications are feature
00:02:29flags and versell flags is a feature flag provider built into the versell platform create flags define
00:02:36targeting rules run progressive rollouts run a b tests all from your agents on the versell cli let's
00:02:43go ahead and create a new feature flag for this test project i have over here so the first command
00:02:48i'm going to do is going to be vc flags create and then the name of my feature flag which is going to
00:02:53be a dash b dash split as you can see here now i have the feature flag turned on i can go ahead and
00:03:02actually go and check it out so there is my feature flag a b split i have my production target preview
00:03:07target and development target now if i go back and let's say i need to tell my agent or myself i want
00:03:13to modify the flag and the traffic associate to it so here what i can do is paste this command but what i'm
00:03:19doing is calling the v versell cli the flags command the name of my feature flag so against a b split
00:03:26and then i'm targeting my production environment i'm going to split this by user id and the weight i'm
00:03:32going to put false as 95 and weight to 5 meaning 95 of the traffic will be in one bucket of my feature
00:03:40flag and the other five percent assuming it's going to be the feature i want to roll out is going to be
00:03:44here and if i click this now you can see i can narrow this i can send a message so i can configure
00:03:50split for production false off true on that's going to persist in the actual platform and there you go
00:03:56successfully the feature flag a b split has been updated in production okay now this could be my
00:04:02favorite new feature in the versell cli but we have completely redesigned how curl works with vc curl
00:04:09so agents don't need to just write code anymore i mean that was a while ago they need to test what
00:04:14they've changed and versell curl lets you make requests against a linked project or specific
00:04:19deployment without manually coupling deployment urls but one extra goodie is we have developed with the
00:04:26native curl command so you can use anything you would with curl with vc curl so here i have uh you
00:04:32know my terminal open i have a user site so if i go into you can see a pretty basic site just a hello api
00:04:38but here i could do something like vc curl slash api slash hello you can see i get the command back
00:04:46okay cool nothing too fancy but i think what would be cool is if i tell my agent to do the same thing
00:04:52in a flow where maybe deployed something and they check how do the endpoints look do they work correctly is
00:04:57something broken using vc curl can you invoke the slash api slash hello endpoint
00:05:10awesome so the endpoint response is successfully the agent did exactly what it had to do
00:05:14and now what if i say how about making a post to the slash api slash users endpoint for me to test
00:05:22if it's working correctly so went ahead and picked up the actual schema of my endpoint because i deployed
00:05:35it to versell and now to make the post command all using the native command you can see the post works
00:05:41correctly the response create id3 name melky vc to reserve the deployment at hello dash api dash flame
00:05:47dot versell dot app now another exciting ship that we worked really hard at versell for the last couple
00:05:54of months are the experimental native binaries for the versell cli we want to create an experience that
00:06:00even if you're on mac windows or linux it doesn't matter we want to focus on what on giving you the
00:06:05best for your build and operating systems so you can see here i have no more vc i've actually deleted it
00:06:12and uninstalled the regular versell that you installed via node and i want to do npm install dash g at
00:06:18versell slash vc dash native let's go ahead and find the two package and now which vc shows me that
00:06:26i've installed the native binary the mac os binary for my computer because i am using a mac now i can show
00:06:32all the commands that work for it like it does today but what i really want to demonstrate is the
00:06:37differences in how we execute so you can see here this is in fact a mac uh 64 bit executable for arm 64
00:06:44that's my current computer it is not intel chips i have an m4 here and another thing i really want
00:06:49to demonstrate is the actual size difference of those binaries you can see here this binary ships with
00:06:55everything we need is 66 megabytes so these binaries are much faster and much smaller and we're rolling
00:07:02them out to make sure for windows linux mac users you get the best experience okay now this next part is
00:07:08very exciting plugins have taken over most harnesses if you haven't plugins can really steer and change
00:07:16how your harness behaves to really optimize your development experience and versell has our very
00:07:22own versell plugin which is a must-have for anyone developing using versell now you can see here i've
00:07:29clod code open and i just want to show you that the versell plugin is available everywhere right now
00:07:34i'm at the official uh marketplace for the uh clod code harness and if i type in versell you can see
00:07:42here we have the clod code plugins official version of the versell 152 000 installs you can go ahead
00:07:48install for a user scope or globally i'm going to go ahead install for my user scope here and now it's going
00:07:54to ask me to do reload dash plugins now my plug has been reloaded and it comes with a bunch of different
00:08:01skills and different agents that we can use so now anytime you're developing with next js you want to
00:08:06deploy it using shad cn auth anything like that the plugin has got you covered for cloud code however we
00:08:13don't stop there because if you open up codex the exact same experience still exists i can go ahead and
00:08:20do plugins to browse the different plugins available you can see here i already have the versell plugin
00:08:27installed and this is also from the open ai official codex marketplace so regardless if you want to use gpt
00:08:33models on codex the versell plugin has got you covered but wait there is still more because now
00:08:40if i do grok cli and if you want to use the grok cli you can also go ahead and plugins and see that we
00:08:47also are available on the grok marketplace so regardless of your flavor whether it's grok clod code codex
00:08:54the versell plugin is available you can even install with the npx command for any hardest you like to use
00:09:00so go ahead and use it and really elevate your cli experience all right guys thank you so much for
00:09:06watching this quick update video you have to stay tuned because part two part three a bunch of parts
00:09:11are going to come in the future we're going to continually showing you how we're shipping on the cli
00:09:16how we're elevating your agent game and overall all the cool stuff we have cooking here at versell
00:09:22and i'll see you guys in the next one peace

Key Takeaway

The Vercel CLI transforms into an agent-first infrastructure primitive through native sandboxes, built-in feature flags, native curl execution, standalone binaries, and cross-platform harness plugins.

Highlights

  • The Vercel CLI now functions as a programmable interface for AI agents to connect resources, create sandboxes, inspect logs, debug issues, and manage deployments.

  • The `vc sandbox create --connect` command provides a secure sandbox environment that scopes directly to authorization credentials.

  • Vercel Flags integrates feature flag management into the platform, allowing agents to create flags, define targeting rules, and run A/B tests through the CLI.

  • The redesigned `vc curl` command executes requests against linked projects or specific deployment URLs using native curl syntax.

  • Experimental native binaries for the Vercel CLI eliminate Node dependencies and ship in a 66-megabyte package for Mac, Windows, and Linux.

  • Official Vercel plugins are available on the Claude Code, Codex, and Grok marketplaces, accumulating over 152,000 installs on Claude Code alone.

Timeline

Vercel CLI as an Agent Primitive and Sandbox Management

  • The Vercel CLI evolves from a terminal deployment tool into a programmable interface for AI agents.
  • The `vc sandbox create --connect` command provisions secure isolated instances scoped to team projects and authorization credentials.
  • Sandboxes allow agents to execute tasks like cloning GitHub repositories and maintaining persistent session connections.

Infrastructure for the AI cloud requires programmable tools that agents can operate securely. Sandboxes provide isolated environments where agents can run code safely. Developers can initiate connections directly via the terminal, clone repositories into the workspace, exit the environment, and reconnect later to resume previous states.

Built-in Feature Flags and Targeting

  • Vercel Flags provides a native feature flag provider built directly into the Vercel platform.
  • The `vc flags create` command establishes new feature flags for production, preview, and development targets.
  • Agents can modify traffic distribution weights for progressive rollouts and A/B testing directly from the command line.

Production-ready applications require feature flag management to control deployments. The platform allows users to create flags and adjust traffic splitting parameters across environments. For instance, commands can assign specific percentage weights to user IDs, routing a fraction of traffic to a new feature while keeping the rest disabled.

Redesigned Curl Execution for Agents

  • The redesigned `vc curl` command enables agents to test endpoints against linked projects and deployments without manual URL coupling.
  • Native curl syntax is fully supported within `vc curl`, allowing complex HTTP methods like POST requests.
  • Agents can automatically inspect endpoint responses and validate deployment schemas after pushing changes.

Testing changes is a critical requirement for autonomous workflows. Instead of manually copying deployment URLs, agents invoke endpoints using integrated CLI commands. The tool processes standard HTTP requests, such as testing API routes or sending JSON payloads to user endpoints, and returns structured responses.

Experimental Native Binaries

  • Experimental native binaries for the Vercel CLI replace the traditional Node-based installation.
  • The standalone binaries support macOS, Windows, and Linux, including ARM64 architectures.
  • The packaged binary weighs 66 megabytes and includes all required dependencies for faster execution.

Optimizing build and operating system performance requires moving away from heavy runtime dependencies. The new native binaries provide a streamlined execution model across different hardware architectures. Removing the standard Node installation dependency results in smaller file sizes and quicker startup times.

Cross-Platform Harness Plugins

  • Official Vercel plugins integrate into major AI development harnesses including Claude Code, Codex, and Grok.
  • The Claude Code plugin accounts for over 152,000 installs from the official marketplace.
  • Plugins provide specialized agent skills for deploying Next.js, Shadcn, authentication systems, and other stack components.

Development harnesses dictate how coding assistants behave during software engineering tasks. Vercel distributes official plugins across multiple AI platforms to maintain consistent deployment capabilities. Developers install these plugins at the user or global scope to equip their preferred agent with pre-built skills for modern web frameworks.

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