First deployment of a fresh no-Git project cannot be guaranteed as Preview

Vercel CLI: 58.0.0
Node.js: 24.18.0
Plan: Hobby
Framework Preset: Next.js

The project is newly created and currently has:

  • no Git integration
  • no deployment history
  • no domains
  • no aliases
  • no environment variables

Our release policy prohibits creating any Production-target deployment at any time.

We need the first deployment to be classified strictly as Preview.

Vercel issue #17069 reports that the first CLI deployment of a fresh no-Git project may be classified as Production even when --target=preview is supplied.

The Vercel Support Agent stated that:

  1. A minimal placeholder first deployment would still initialize the project as Production.
  2. --skip-domain would prevent domain assignment but would still record the deployment target as Production.

Neither workaround satisfies our policy.

Questions:

  1. Is Vercel CLI 58.0.0 still affected by issue #17069?
  2. Is there any supported workflow that guarantees the first deployment of a fresh no-Git project is classified as Preview?
  3. Would connecting a Git repository and deploying only a non-production branch guarantee that no Production-target deployment is created?
  4. If no such workflow exists, can Vercel confirm that a Preview-only first deployment is currently impossible for a fresh no-Git project?