Deploy python fastapi project from github to vercel (without vercel cli)

I used to deploy my pet projects to Heroku using their free tier until it had a free tier. Let's all acknowledge that we have a fondness for free tiers, especially when we want to test our projects on a server.

I once built a text-to-ASCII art app using FastAPI. To demonstrate it, I initially utilized Heroku. However, due to the discontinuation of its free tier, I haven't been able to keep my project updated with live demos."

Now, let's talk about Vercel. I assume most of you are already familiar with it, so I won't delve into the specifics. Following some research and experimentation, I discovered that deploying a Python project on Vercel is a straightforward process. All you require is a 'vercel.json' file.

Here's what I did to deploy my FastAPI app to Vercel -

1) Add a vercel.json file in the project root

{
    "version": 2,
    "builds": [
        {
            "src": "main.py",
            "use": "@vercel/python"
        }
    ],
    "routes": [
        {
            "src": "/(.*)",
            "dest": "main.py"
        }
    ]
  }

In the builds.src use your app entrypoint, mine is app.py in the app root. Same goes for routes.src

• Login to Vercel and add new project

• Go to Continue with Github as shown below -

• Connect Your GitHub Account
• Authorize Vercel to access your GitHub repositories if prompted.
• Select the GitHub repository you want to import

That's it. The project will be deployed and it build and re-deploy each time you push a commit to your main branch.

GitHub: https://github.com/ganmahmud/fastapi-text-asciify
Live demo on Vercel: https://fastapi-text-asciify-npt1siwyq-ganmahmud.vercel.app