Back to Diary

Fixed Vercel API deployment configuration for Expo monorepo

Bug FixDevOps
1 sessions2 commits#vercel #api #deployment #devops

Development Diary - January 12, 2026

📋Daily Summary

Focused session on fixing Vercel deployment configuration for the API routes in the Expo app. The monorepo structure required careful placement of vercel.json to enable API-only deployment. After some debugging, successfully got the API routes working on Vercel.

🕐Work Sessions

Session 1: Vercel API Deployment Fix (6:19 PM - 8:55 PM PST)

Focus: API Deployment Configuration

Activities:

  • Debugged Vercel deployment issues for API routes
  • Initially placed vercel.json at monorepo root
  • Discovered it needed to be in apps/expo/ for correct routing
  • Added public/.gitkeep for static file placeholder
  • Configured rewrites for API routes
  • Successfully tested deployment

Key Moments:

  • First attempt: Added vercel.json at root level
  • Discovery: "it was toonnotes-api" - identified the project context
  • Resolution: Moved config to apps/expo/vercel.json
  • Success: "it worked! commit the changes"

🏷️Categorized Work

Bug Fix

  • Moved vercel.json from monorepo root to apps/expo/ for correct API routing
  • Fixed deployment configuration that wasn't recognizing API routes

DevOps

  • Created initial vercel.json for API-only deployment
  • Added public/.gitkeep placeholder for Vercel static file requirement
  • Configured URL rewrites for serverless API functions

📸Screenshots

No screenshots captured for this session.

💡Insights & Learnings

Learning: In a monorepo with Vercel, the vercel.json must be placed in the specific app directory (apps/expo/) rather than the monorepo root for API routes to be properly recognized and deployed.

Learning: Vercel requires a public/ directory (even if empty with just .gitkeep) for deployments that include both static files and API routes.

📊Statistics

🕐
1
Sessions
📝
2
Commits
📁
5
Files Changed
➕
20
Lines Added
➖
15
Lines Deleted
🏷️
Bug Fix
Primary Category

🎯Tomorrow's Focus

  • Test API endpoints in production
  • Monitor for any deployment issues
  • Continue with app development features

Generated with ToonNotes Development Diary