# Installation — Vercel

> Deploy ARI.Software to the cloud with one click using the Vercel Deploy Button.

Deploy ARI to the cloud with one click. No terminal required.

ARI runs beautifully on Vercel — and getting there takes a single click. No servers to rent, no terminal, no config files to hand-edit. Press **Deploy with Vercel** and you'll have your own private ARI workspace, live on the internet, in minutes. Vercel hosts it, keeps it fast for you anywhere in the world, and automatically ships every future update the moment you make it.

[![Deploy with Vercel](https://vercel.com/button)](https://vercel.com/new/clone?repository-url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2FARIsoftware%2FARI&project-name=ari&repository-name=ari)

## How It Works

ARI is built to set itself up. The moment your deployment goes live, ARI notices it hasn't been configured yet and greets you with a friendly **Welcome Setup Wizard** instead of an error page. You answer a few simple questions — where your database lives, the admin account you'd like, and a Vercel token so ARI can finish the job — and ARI handles the rest: it saves everything securely to your Vercel project, redeploys itself, and drops you at the sign-in page ready to go. No `.env` files, no command line, nothing to wire up by hand.

## Step 1 — Deploy

1. Click **Deploy with Vercel** above.
2. Vercel asks you to create a Git repository (GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket) — this is *your* copy of ARI, which Vercel redeploys on every push.
3. Vercel creates the project and runs the first build. No environment variables are required at this stage.
4. When the build finishes, open the deployment URL. You will land on the ARI setup wizard.

## Step 2 — Set Up a Database

ARI needs a PostgreSQL database. Vercel does not provide one, so create a free hosted database with either provider below and copy its connection string into the wizard.

**Neon** (simplest)

Create a project at [neon.tech](https://neon.tech), then copy the connection string from the project dashboard. Neon's pooled connection string works with Vercel out of the box.

**Supabase**

Create a project at [supabase.com](https://supabase.com). Then open **Connect** (top of the dashboard) and choose the connection string carefully:

  - Select the **Transaction pooler** connection method — **not** "Direct connection." Vercel runs ARI as serverless functions, and the transaction pooler is built for exactly that (short, isolated requests) while multiplexing connections so your database is not overwhelmed.
  - The transaction pooler is **IPv4-compatible**, which is what you need on Vercel. The **Direct connection** option is **IPv6-only** by default — Vercel's functions cannot reach it without Supabase's paid IPv4 add-on, so it will fail to connect. Always use the pooler string.
  - Set **Type** to **URI** and copy the string. It looks like `postgresql://postgres.*your-project-ref*:[YOUR-PASSWORD]@aws-0-*region*.pooler.supabase.com:6543/postgres` — note port **6543** and the `postgres.<ref>` username, which distinguish the pooler from the direct string.
  - Replace `[YOUR-PASSWORD]` with your database password. If the password contains special characters, [percent-encode](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percent-encoding) them.

ARI tests the connection before saving anything, so a wrong string fails fast with a clear message rather than a broken deployment.

## Step 3 — Create a Vercel Access Token

ARI uses a Vercel access token once — to write your configuration to the project's environment variables and trigger the redeploy. It is never stored, logged, or shown again.

1. Go to [vercel.com/account/tokens](https://vercel.com/account/tokens).
2. Create a token with access to the account or team that owns this deployment.
3. Paste it into the **Vercel Access Token** field in the wizard.

You can delete the token immediately after setup completes.

## Step 4 — Configure & Deploy

In the wizard's **Deploy** step, enter your database connection string, your Vercel access token, and confirm the auto-generated authentication secret. Then click **Configure & Deploy**. ARI will:

1. Save your configuration to the Vercel project's environment variables (secrets are stored write-only).
2. Trigger a fresh production deployment so the new settings take effect.
3. Wait for the new deployment to go live (usually 1–3 minutes), then send you to the sign-in page.

Sign in with the admin email and password you chose — your account and database tables are created automatically on first sign-in.

## After Setup

- **First-run credentials.** The admin email and password are stored as one-time environment variables and ignored once your account exists. You can safely delete `ARI_FIRST_RUN_ADMIN_EMAIL` and `ARI_FIRST_RUN_ADMIN_PASSWORD` in your Vercel project's **Settings → Environment Variables**.
- **File storage.** Vercel's filesystem is read-only and ephemeral, so uploaded files do not persist there. Configure a storage provider (S3, Cloudflare R2, or Supabase Storage) via environment variables — see [Storage](https://ari.software/docs/storage).
- **Installing modules.** To install modules that add npm packages on Vercel, set a `GITHUB_TOKEN` environment variable so ARI can commit the updated `package.json` back to your repository.
- **Preview deployments** share the same database as production.

## Managed Setup

Prefer not to deal with infrastructure? The Managed Setup plan includes full hosting on your own custom domain, daily backups, and professional setup. Contact [hello@ari.software](mailto:hello@ari.software) for details.

## Next Steps

- [Authentication](https://ari.software/docs/authentication) — Secure your instance
- [Storage](https://ari.software/docs/storage) — Configure durable file storage
- [Security](https://ari.software/docs/security) — Harden your deployment

## Your Personal Workspace. Your Rules.

Source Code Available. Self-Hosted. Full Data Control. Fully Extendable. AI Native. Dozens of Built-In Modules And Build Your Own In Minutes. No Coding Required.

[Download](https://ari.software/#download)

---

Source: https://ari.software/docs/installation-vercel

Markdown rendering of this page, served for `Accept: text/markdown`. Full site index for agents: https://ari.software/llms.txt