---
title: "Migrate from Vercel over MCP, keep your Next.js app"
url: https://while.sh/en/guides/migrate-from-vercel/
author: "Aloïs Oddon, co-founder of Nextmap"
updated: 2026-11-02
---

# Leave Vercel without rewriting your Next.js app, from your AI agent

Is your Vercel bill climbing, or does your data have to stay in France? Connected to while over MCP, your agent takes your Next.js app as it is, with its database and its jobs, and deploys it in France.

## Prerequisites

- A Next.js app on Vercel, and its repository on your computer.
- An AI agent that works in a terminal: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or Gemini CLI.

## Step 1: Give your agent these instructions

Open your agent in your app's folder and paste these instructions into it:

```text titre="Instructions"
Connect to while with my account (while.sh/agents), then deploy my app.
```

Without an account, your agent deploys your app as a trial, in one request. To keep it, open the link it gives you and create your account.

With your account, your agent adds while's MCP server itself. If it asks you to, restart it. On the first call to while, a page opens in your browser. In Claude Code, if it doesn't open, type /mcp, choose while, then Authenticate. On that page, choose your app, or "A new app", then click Authorize.

## Step 2: Open your app

Your agent gives you your app's address, for example `https://mon-appli.while.cloud`, over HTTPS.

## What your agent does

It writes while.yaml at the root of your app:

```yaml titre="while.yaml"
apiVersion: while/v1
project: mon-appli
services:
  - name: web
    port: 3000
    health:
      path: /
```

Your app is built, then started with `next start`, the way Next.js runs outside Vercel, with images, on-demand rendering and server routes included (source 1).

## Bring over your scheduled jobs

> You, to your agent: Bring over the crons from our vercel.json.

Your agent reads the jobs in `vercel.json` (source 2) and declares them as scheduled jobs in while, at the same times, with the same code.

## Copy your database

> You, to your agent: Copy our Neon database to while.

Your agent exports the database with `pg_dump`, then loads it into a PostgreSQL database in while, backed up every day.

## Carry over your variables

> You, to your agent: Carry over our environment variables from Vercel.

Your agent carries your settings over to while. You enter your secret keys yourself: your agent never sees them. Your agent declares the ones the browser reads, prefixed with `NEXT_PUBLIC_`, for the app's build.

## Replace Blob and Upstash Redis

> You, to your agent: Replace Vercel Blob and our Upstash Redis.

Your agent adds S3-compatible storage for your files and a Redis-compatible cache for your keys, and connects your code to them.

## Move to your own domain

> You, to your agent: Put the app on app.acme.com.

Your agent declares the domain, you add the DNS records it gives you, and the HTTPS certificate follows.

## Go back to the previous version

> You, to your agent: Go back to the previous version.

In the 30 minutes after a deployment, the previous version comes back in a second. After that, it takes a few seconds. Once the previous version is back, your agent reads what broke in while's logs, fixes it and deploys again.

## Next steps

- [Deploy a Next.js app](/en/guides/deploy-nextjs/)
- [Compare Vercel and while](/en/comparisons/while-vs-vercel/)
- [Compare the Vercel alternatives](/en/comparisons/vercel-alternatives/)

## Sources

1. [Next.js, self-hosting (next start, images, ISR)](https://nextjs.org/docs/app/guides/self-hosting), 2026-11-02
2. [Vercel, cron jobs (vercel.json)](https://vercel.com/docs/schedules/cron-jobs), 2026-11-02

## Questions

### Do I need to change my code?

No, except for what depends on Vercel's services, like Blob, which your agent replaces. Images, on-demand rendering and server routes work without Vercel (source 1).

### What about my Neon database, formerly Vercel Postgres, or Supabase?

Your app can keep it, once its internet access is opened and approved. To have everything in France, your agent copies it into a PostgreSQL database in while with pg_dump.

### Can I keep Vercel until I have checked everything?

Yes, your app runs on while at its own address before you switch your domain over.

### Can I use it for my business?

Yes, from day one on while, whereas Vercel's free plan is limited to personal use.