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openreader/docs-site/docs/deploy/vercel-deployment.md
Richard R 874e5ef359 refactor(whisper): migrate word alignment to ONNX backend and remove whisper.cpp integration 
Replace the previous whisper.cpp-based word alignment with a fully ONNX-based
implementation using onnxruntime-node and @huggingface/tokenizers. Add new
Whisper ONNX model management, alignment mapping, and spectral analysis modules.
Remove all code and documentation referencing whisper.cpp, update environment
variables, Dockerfile, and docs to reflect ONNX-only alignment. Add unit tests
for alignment and ONNX model logic.
2026-05-19 13:00:21 -06:00

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Vercel Deployment

This guide covers deploying OpenReader to Vercel with external Postgres and S3-compatible object storage.

What works on Vercel

  • Documents (PDF/EPUB/TXT/MD) work with POSTGRES_URL + external S3 storage.
  • Audiobook routes work on Node.js serverless functions using ffmpeg-static.

:::warning DOCX Conversion Limitation docx conversion requires soffice (LibreOffice), which is not available in a standard Vercel runtime. :::

1. Environment Variables

Recommended production setup (auth enabled, admin panel enabled):

# Infrastructure
POSTGRES_URL=postgres://...
USE_EMBEDDED_WEED_MINI=false
S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID=...
S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=...
S3_BUCKET=...
S3_REGION=us-east-1
S3_PREFIX=openreader
# Optional (non-AWS S3-compatible providers):
# S3_ENDPOINT=https://...
# S3_FORCE_PATH_STYLE=true

# Auth (required for the admin panel)
BASE_URL=https://your-app.vercel.app
AUTH_SECRET=...
ADMIN_EMAILS=you@example.com  # comma-separated; admins manage TTS + features in-app

# Heavy compute (recommended on Vercel in v1)
# local  = requires native binaries/models in-process
# none   = disable ONNX whisper alignment + PDF layout parsing
OPENREADER_COMPUTE_MODE=none

# First-boot seed for the TTS shared provider (optional; manage in-app afterwards)
API_KEY=your_replicate_key
# API_BASE only needed for OpenAI-compatible self-hosted providers

:::note Env vars vs. admin panel (important for Vercel) API_KEY / API_BASE are one-shot bootstrap seeds on first deploy. After boot, manage providers and site features in Settings → Admin. Changes there apply on refresh without a redeploy. See Admin Panel. :::

2. First-run admin configuration (recommended)

After the first successful deploy and admin login, open Settings → Admin and configure:

  • Shared providers: create/edit your provider key(s) here (encrypted at rest).
  • Site features:
    • enableDocxConversion=false on Vercel (soffice unavailable).
    • enableDestructiveDeleteActions=false for safer public deployments.
    • enableTtsProvidersTab=false if you want shared-provider-only UX.
    • enableUserSignups=true unless you explicitly want an invite-only deployment.
    • restrictUserApiKeys=true to block user BYOK through the hosted server.
    • defaultTtsProvider=replicate (or your preferred shared slug).
    • showAllProviderModels=false if you want users locked to each provider's default model.
    • enableAudiobookExport=true.

3. Legacy first-boot seed (optional)

If you must pre-seed site features via environment variables, the legacy NEXT_PUBLIC_* seeds are still supported on first boot only. Prefer the admin panel for ongoing management.

See Environment Variables for the complete legacy seed list.

:::warning Auth recommendation For internet-exposed Vercel deployments, set both BASE_URL and AUTH_SECRET — they are also required for the admin panel and for encrypting admin-stored TTS credentials. Running without auth is possible, but not recommended for public environments. :::

:::warning Rotating AUTH_SECRET invalidates admin-stored keys Admin-managed TTS provider keys are encrypted with a key derived from AUTH_SECRET. If you rotate AUTH_SECRET after the first deploy, you must re-enter each admin shared provider's API key from the UI. :::

:::tip For all variables and defaults, see Environment Variables. :::

4. Database and data migrations

Vercel deployments do not run scripts/openreader-entrypoint.mjs, so automatic startup migrations do not run there.

  • Run pnpm migrate in a controlled environment to apply Drizzle schema migrations to your Postgres DB.
  • Run pnpm migrate-fs only when migrating legacy local filesystem data (docstore/documents_v1, docstore/audiobooks_v1) into object storage + DB rows. Fresh Vercel deployments usually do not need this.

5. FFmpeg packaging in Vercel functions

ffmpeg-static binaries must be included in function traces. This repo already does that in next.config.ts via outputFileTracingIncludes for:

  • /api/audiobook
  • /api/audiobook/chapter
  • /api/tts/segments/ensure

:::info serverExternalPackages should include ffmpeg-static so package paths resolve at runtime instead of being bundled into route output. :::

If you change route paths or split handlers, update outputFileTracingIncludes accordingly.

6. Function memory sizing

FFmpeg workloads benefit from more memory/CPU. This repo includes:

{
  "$schema": "https://openapi.vercel.sh/vercel.json",
  "functions": {
    "app/api/audiobook/route.ts": { "memory": 3009 },
    "app/api/tts/segments/ensure/route.ts": { "memory": 3009 }
  }
}

Adjust memory per route if your files are larger or your plan differs.

7. Runtime expectations and caveats

  • Audiobook APIs require S3 configuration; otherwise they return 503.
  • For production Vercel deploys, use POSTGRES_URL instead of SQLite.

8. Smoke test after deploy

  1. Upload and read a PDF/EPUB document.
  2. Confirm sync/blob fetch works across refreshes/devices.
  3. Generate at least one audiobook chapter and play/download it.
  4. If you run with local compute (OPENREADER_COMPUTE_MODE=local) outside Vercel, verify word highlighting timestamps on a TTS run.