🚀 Vercel Clone — Managed Deployment Platform

Self-Hosted Cloud Infrastructure for Automated Web Application Deployments

Submit a GitHub repository URL → Vercel Clone provisions an isolated Docker container, clones and builds the project, uploads static output artifacts to AWS S3, and serves live sites dynamically via Nginx reverse proxy subdomains.

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📸 How It Works

  You submit a GitHub repo URL 
         │
         ▼
  ┌──────────────────────┐
  │   Express API        │  POST /deploy
  │   (api-server)       │──────────────────┐
  └──────────────────────┘                  │
                                            ▼
                                   ┌─────────────────┐
                                   │  BullMQ Queue    │
                                   │  (Redis-backed)  │
                                   └────────┬────────┘
                                            │
                                            ▼
  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │                    Worker Process                       │
  │                                                         │
  │  1. Spin up isolated Docker build container             │
  │  2. Clone GitHub repository inside container            │
  │  3. Execute `npm install` and `npm run build`          │
  │  4. Extract build output (dist/ / build/)               │
  │  5. Recursively upload all static files to AWS S3       │
  │  6. Update database status to 'ready'                   │
  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                          │
                          ▼
  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │                 AWS S3 Cloud Storage                    │
  │  Bucket: deployments/<deploymentId>/*                   │
  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                          │
                          ▼
  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │                  Nginx Reverse Proxy                    │
  │                                                         │
  │  Incoming: http://<deploymentId>.127.0.0.1.sslip.io     │
  │  Proxy Pass → AWS S3 object location                    │
  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

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✨ Features

Feature	Description
Automated Build Pipeline	Clones public GitHub repositories and builds production bundles automatically
Isolated Build Runner	Runs untrusted user code inside ephemeral Docker containers for maximum security
Async Job Queue	BullMQ + Redis architecture decouples API HTTP responses from build executions
Cloud Asset Hosting	Recursively uploads static build outputs (dist/, build/) to AWS S3 object storage
Dynamic Subdomain Proxy	Nginx reverse proxy routes wildcard subdomains directly to AWS S3 deployment paths
Status Tracking	Real-time status tracking stored in MySQL (queued, building, ready, failed)

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🛠️ Tech Stack

Layer	Technology	Purpose
API Server	Node.js + Express	REST API endpoints for initiating and checking deployments
Database	MySQL / MariaDB	Persistent storage for deployment records and status tracking
Job Queue	BullMQ + Redis	Background job scheduling and asynchronous task execution
Build Isolation	Docker	Ephemeral containerized build runner environment
Cloud Storage	AWS S3	Static web asset object storage
Reverse Proxy	Nginx	Wildcard subdomain extraction & proxy routing
AWS SDK	@aws-sdk/client-s3	Programmatic S3 uploads and asset management

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🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js v20+
• Docker installed and running
• MySQL / MariaDB database
• Redis server
• AWS S3 Bucket with IAM credentials

1. Clone Repository

git clone https://github.com/10KRITESH/vercel-clone.git
cd vercel-clone

2. Set Up Database

CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS vercel_clone;
USE vercel_clone;

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS deployments (
  id VARCHAR(36) PRIMARY KEY,
  repo_url VARCHAR(500) NOT NULL,
  status ENUM('queued', 'building', 'ready', 'failed') DEFAULT 'queued',
  created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
);

3. Configure Environment

Create .env files in both api-server/ and worker/ directories:

PORT=3000
DB_HOST=localhost
DB_USER=root
DB_PASSWORD=your_password
DB_NAME=vercel_clone

REDIS_HOST=127.0.0.1
REDIS_PORT=6379

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your_aws_access_key
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your_aws_secret_key
AWS_REGION=ap-south-1
AWS_BUCKET_NAME=kritesh-vercel-clone-outputs

4. Run Services

# Terminal 1 — Start API Server
cd api-server && npm install && npm run start

# Terminal 2 — Start Worker Process
cd worker && npm install && node worker.js

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📡 API Reference

POST /deploy

Queue a new deployment job for a GitHub repository.

curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/deploy \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"repoUrl": "https://github.com/user/repo"}'

Response:

{
  "deploymentId": "b3a1d94e-7f12-4c22-9213-a4e82b7df901",
  "status": "queued",
  "message": "Deployment queued successfully"
}

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GET /deploy/:id

Check the status of an ongoing or completed deployment.

curl http://localhost:3000/deploy/b3a1d94e-7f12-4c22-9213-a4e82b7df901

Response:

{
  "id": "b3a1d94e-7f12-4c22-9213-a4e82b7df901",
  "repo_url": "https://github.com/user/repo",
  "status": "ready",
  "created_at": "2026-08-01T14:00:00.000Z"
}

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🌐 Subdomain Routing

Once a deployment status reaches ready, access the live static site using the deployment ID:

http://<deploymentId>.127.0.0.1.sslip.io

Nginx extracts <deploymentId> from the host header and transparently proxies traffic to: https://kritesh-vercel-clone-outputs.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/deployments/<deploymentId>/index.html

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📂 Project Structure

vercel-clone/
├── api-server/             # Express API Server & queue producer
│   ├── db/                 # Database connection logic
│   ├── routes/             # API routes (/deploy)
│   └── queue.js            # BullMQ producer setup
├── worker/                 # Background build & upload worker
│   ├── executor.js         # Docker runner & Git clone pipeline
│   ├── uploader.js         # AWS S3 recursive uploader
│   └── worker.js           # BullMQ consumer entry point
├── proxy/                  # Nginx Reverse Proxy
│   └── nginx.conf          # Wildcard subdomain proxy rules
├── docker/                 # Build Runner Container
│   └── Dockerfile          # Ephemeral build image configuration
├── .env                    # Environment variables
└── README.md

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📄 License

This project is licensed under the ISC License.

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Built by Kritesh Goud