Skip to main content Execute set up comprehensive observability for Vercel integrations with metrics, traces, and alerts.
Use when implementing monitoring for Vercel operations, setting up dashboards,
or configuring alerting for Vercel integration health.
Trigger with phrases like "vercel monitoring", "vercel metrics",
"vercel observability", "monitor vercel", "vercel alerts", "vercel tracing".
npx skills add jeremylongshore/claude-code-plugins-plus-skills --skill vercel-observability ai automation claude-code devops mcp ai-agents
Vercel Observability
Overview
Configure comprehensive observability for Vercel deployments using built-in analytics, runtime logs, log drains to external providers, OpenTelemetry integration, and custom instrumentation. Covers the full observability stack from function-level metrics to end-user experience monitoring.
Prerequisites
Vercel Pro or Enterprise plan (for log drains and extended retention)
External logging provider (Datadog, Axiom, Sentry) — optional
OpenTelemetry SDK — optional
Instructions
Step 1: Enable Vercel Analytics
In the Vercel dashboard:
Go to Analytics tab
Enable Web Analytics (Core Web Vitals, page views)
Enable Speed Insights (real user performance data)
// For Next.js — add the analytics component
// src/app/layout.tsx
import { Analytics } from '@vercel/analytics/react';
import { SpeedInsights } from '@vercel/speed-insights/next';
export default function RootLayout({ children }) {
return (
<html>
<body>
{children}
<Analytics />
<SpeedInsights />
</body>
</html>
);
}
Install: npm install @vercel/analytics @vercel/speed-insights
Step 2: Runtime Logs
# View runtime logs via CLI
vercel logs https://my-app.vercel.app --follow
# Filter by level
vercel logs https://my-app.vercel.app --level=error
# View logs via API
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $VERCEL_TOKEN" \
"https://api.vercel.com/v2/deployments/dpl_xxx/events?limit=50&direction=backward" \
| jq '.[] | {timestamp: .created, level: .level, message: .text}'
Function invocation start/end with duration
console.log/warn/error output from functionsEdge Middleware execution logs
HTTP request/response metadata
Step 3: Structured Logging in Functions // lib/logger.ts — structured JSON logging
interface LogEntry {
level: 'info' | 'warn' | 'error';
message: string;
requestId?: string;
duration?: number;
[key: string]: unknown;
}
export function log(entry: LogEntry): void {
// Vercel captures console output as runtime logs
const output = JSON.stringify({
...entry,
timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
region: process.env.VERCEL_REGION,
env: process.env.VERCEL_ENV,
});
switch (entry.level) {
case 'error': console.error(output); break;
case 'warn': console.warn(output); break;
default: console.log(output);
}
}
// Usage in API route:
export async function GET(request: Request) {
const requestId = crypto.randomUUID();
const start = Date.now();
try {
const data = await fetchData();
log({ level: 'info', message: 'Fetched data', requestId, duration: Date.now() - start });
return Response.json(data);
} catch (error) {
log({ level: 'error', message: 'Data fetch failed', requestId, error: String(error) });
return Response.json({ error: 'Internal error', requestId }, { status: 500 });
}
}
Step 4: Log Drains (External Providers) Configure log drains to send all Vercel logs to your logging provider:
In dashboard: Settings > Log Drains > Add
Provider Type Setup Datadog HTTP API key + site URL Axiom HTTP API token + dataset Sentry HTTP DSN Custom HTTP/NDJSON Any HTTPS endpoint Grafana Loki HTTP Push URL + auth
Runtime logs : function invocations, console outputBuild logs : build step output, warnings, errorsStatic logs : CDN access logs (edge)Firewall logs : WAF events # Create a log drain via API
curl -X POST "https://api.vercel.com/v2/integrations/log-drains" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $VERCEL_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"name": "my-datadog-drain",
"type": "json",
"url": "https://http-intake.logs.datadoghq.com/api/v2/logs",
"headers": {"DD-API-KEY": "your-datadog-api-key"},
"sources": ["lambda", "edge", "build", "static"]
}'
Step 5: OpenTelemetry Integration // instrumentation.ts (Next.js 13.4+)
import { NodeSDK } from '@opentelemetry/sdk-node';
import { OTLPTraceExporter } from '@opentelemetry/exporter-trace-otlp-http';
import { getNodeAutoInstrumentations } from '@opentelemetry/auto-instrumentations-node';
export function register() {
const sdk = new NodeSDK({
traceExporter: new OTLPTraceExporter({
url: process.env.OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT,
}),
instrumentations: [getNodeAutoInstrumentations()],
serviceName: 'my-vercel-app',
});
sdk.start();
}
// next.config.js
module.exports = {
experimental: {
instrumentationHook: true,
},
};
Step 6: Error Tracking with Sentry npx @sentry/wizard@latest -i nextjs
// sentry.client.config.ts
import * as Sentry from '@sentry/nextjs';
Sentry.init({
dsn: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_SENTRY_DSN,
environment: process.env.VERCEL_ENV,
release: process.env.VERCEL_GIT_COMMIT_SHA,
tracesSampleRate: process.env.VERCEL_ENV === 'production' ? 0.1 : 1.0,
});
Monitoring Dashboard Checklist Metric Source Alert Threshold Error rate Runtime logs > 1% of requests P95 function latency Vercel Analytics > 2s Cold start frequency Runtime logs > 20% of invocations Build success rate Build logs Any failure Core Web Vitals (LCP) Speed Insights > 2.5s Edge cache hit rate Static logs < 80%
Output
Vercel Analytics and Speed Insights enabled
Structured JSON logging in all functions
Log drains configured to external provider
Error tracking with Sentry or equivalent
OpenTelemetry tracing for distributed systems
Error Handling Error Cause Solution Logs missing Log retention expired (1hr free, 30d with Plus) Enable log drains for persistence Analytics not tracking Missing <Analytics /> component Add to root layout Log drain not receiving Wrong URL or auth headers Test the endpoint directly with curl Sentry not capturing errors DSN not set in production env Add NEXT_PUBLIC_SENTRY_DSN to Production scope OTEL traces missing instrumentation.ts not loaded Enable instrumentationHook in next.config.js
Resources
Next Steps For incident response, see vercel-incident-runbook.
Create or update AgentSkills. Use when designing, structuring, or packaging skills with scripts, references, and assets.
Create or update AgentSkills. Use when designing, structuring, or packaging skills with scripts, references, and assets.
Set up and use 1Password CLI (op). Use when installing the CLI, enabling desktop app integration, signing in (single or multi-account), or reading/injecting/running secrets via op.
CLI to manage emails via IMAP/SMTP. Use `himalaya` to list, read, write, reply, forward, search, and organize emails from the terminal. Supports multiple accounts and message composition with MML (MIME Meta Language).
Create or update AgentSkills. Use when designing, structuring, or packaging skills with scripts, references, and assets.
Create or update AgentSkills. Use when designing, structuring, or packaging skills with scripts, references, and assets.
Set up and use 1Password CLI (op). Use when installing the CLI, enabling desktop app integration, signing in (single or multi-account), or reading/injecting/running secrets via op.
CLI to manage emails via IMAP/SMTP. Use `himalaya` to list, read, write, reply, forward, search, and organize emails from the terminal. Supports multiple accounts and message composition with MML (MIME Meta Language).
