openreader/docs-site/docs/start-here/vercel-deployment.md at 9b9206f50d8a30274c86ebaff2a2e799f4921869

Richard R 9b9206f50d refactor(audiobooks): migrate audiobook pipeline to object storage

This commit restructures the audiobook generation and serving layer to rely exclusively on S3-compatible blob storage, removing the dependency on local filesystem paths.

- Bundle `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` binaries via npm to ensure portability across environments.
- Update API routes to stream audio directly from blob storage instead of local disk.
- Remove legacy migration endpoints and filesystem-based indexing logic.
- Add startup scripts to facilitate the transition from local to remote storage.

BREAKING CHANGE: Audiobook functionality is now strictly dependent on S3 configuration. The previous filesystem-based storage method has been removed.

2026-02-11 02:44:34 -07:00

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title
Vercel Deployment

This guide covers deploying OpenReader WebUI 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/ffprobe-static.
docx conversion requires soffice (LibreOffice), which is not available in a standard Vercel runtime.

1. Required environment variables

Set these in your Vercel project:

POSTGRES_URL=postgres://...
USE_EMBEDDED_WEED_MINI=false
S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID=...
S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=...
S3_BUCKET=...
S3_REGION=us-east-1
S3_ENDPOINT=https://...
S3_FORCE_PATH_STYLE=true
S3_PREFIX=openreader

Optional but common:

BASE_URL=https://your-app.vercel.app
AUTH_SECRET=...
NEXT_PUBLIC_NODE_ENV=production
NEXT_PUBLIC_ENABLE_AUDIOBOOK_EXPORT=true
NEXT_PUBLIC_ENABLE_WORD_HIGHLIGHT=true

For all variables and defaults, see Environment Variables.

2. FFmpeg/ffprobe packaging in Vercel functions

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

/api/audiobook(.*)
/api/whisper

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

3. 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/whisper/route.ts": { "memory": 3009 }
  }
}

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

4. Runtime expectations and caveats

Audiobook APIs require S3 configuration; otherwise they return 503.
better-sqlite3 remains in serverExternalPackages for mixed/self-host setups, but production Vercel should use POSTGRES_URL.
Filesystem-to-object-store migrations run via server scripts/entrypoint (scripts/migrate-fs-v2.mjs), not API routes.
Vercel deployments do not run scripts/openreader-entrypoint.mjs, so run pnpm migrate-fs in a controlled environment when migrating legacy filesystem data.

5. Smoke test after deploy

Upload and read a PDF/EPUB document.
Confirm sync/blob fetch works across refreshes/devices.
Generate at least one audiobook chapter and play/download it.
If using word highlighting, verify timestamps are produced and rendered.

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