Deployment

Run Brevity as a Node service, or export its handler to a Node function host. Your routes stay the same.

Node services and containers

Start the server with app.listen(port, host). Read the platform's PORT and bind to 0.0.0.0 if it needs an external listener; Brevity defaults to loopback. Keep secrets in the host's environment settings.

Add health checks and graceful shutdown, and configure HTTPS, timeouts, and restart policy on your host.

Host-owned Node handlers

When the platform provides Node requests and responses, export app.handler instead of opening a port:

import { createApp } from "@portablesheep/brevity";

const app = createApp();

app.router.get("/health", (_req, res) => {
  res.json({ ok: true });
});

app.router.post("/echo", (req, res) => {
  res.json({ body: req.body });
});

export default app.handler;

Build the app once at module scope. The handler uses the same middleware, parsing, request scopes, and errors as listen(), and is safe to export without binding it.

Keep the request body unread

Don't put a body parser in front of Brevity. The handler needs the original URL and request stream, not a pre-parsed req.body.

The host manages connections. The handler's promise resolves when dispatch is done, not necessarily when response bytes have finished flushing. See the handler reference.

Vercel Node functions

The Vercel example packages one Node 22 function, HTML views, and static CSS. You can try it live.

Install and sign in to the Vercel CLI, then run from the repository root:

npm ci
npm run build:packages
node examples/vercel/build.mjs
vercel link --cwd examples/vercel
vercel deploy --prebuilt --cwd examples/vercel
node examples/vercel/check.mjs https://your-deployment-url

Choose a new Vercel project, not an existing app. Vercel may make a new project's first deployment its production deployment. Protected previews need an authorized client to run the checker.

The build uses Vercel's Build Output API and bundles local packages, so no npm publication is needed.

What's in the function bundle?

• functions/index.func/index.mjs: the exported handler.
• functions/index.func/views/: HTML templates.
• functions/index.func/.vc-config.json: Node 22, 10-second duration, streaming, and shouldAddHelpers: false to leave the body unread.
• static/style.css: CDN-served CSS.
• config.json: serves static files first, then forwards all other paths to the function.

shouldAddHelpers is a Build Output API setting, not Next.js's bodyParser option. For a different build path, check Vercel's Node configuration.

For a real app, use external storage for data and sessions, include templates and migrations inside the function bundle, and choose an HTTP-compatible database client. The example stores nothing; the staging results cover a separate app with libSQL and Supabase.

AWS Lambda

Don't export app.handler directly to Lambda: Lambda events aren't Node HTTP requests. The AWS Lambda Web Adapter can forward HTTP to an app started with listen(). Match its port and readiness path to your app. This deployment path hasn't been verified here.

Function-host constraints

Keep data and sessions outside the function's filesystem and memory. Reuse database clients, but keep request state out of shared globals. Await required work before responding; detached timers aren't a reliable job queue.

Set platform body limits, execution deadlines, and downstream timeouts. Check forms, cookies, redirects, assets, and persistence on the real host before launching. Brevity targets Node HTTP, not Edge or Fetch runtimes.