Static build skipped – only serverless function deployed

Help
1

Current vs Expected Behavior

I’ve spent ~12 hours trying to get my Vite frontend and Express backend (monorepo) to deploy on Vercel. Every production deploy runs the Vite build (logs show build/index.html, build/assets/…), but the resulting deployment only contains the serverless lambda. vercel inspect shows two λ api/serverless/index.ts entries and zero static builds, so / always returns Vercel’s default 404 even though /api/apps works. I expect / to serve my SPA (frontend/build/index.html).

Code / Configuration / Repro Steps

  1. Monorepo layout:

    api/ (Express + Prisma serverless)
    frontend/ (Vite SPA, `npm run build` → `frontend/build`)
    vercel.json

  2. vercel.json:

    {
    "version": 2,
    "builds": [
    { "src": "api/serverless/index.ts", "use": "@vercel/node" },
    {
    "src": "frontend/package.json",
    "use": "@vercel/static-build",
    "config": { "distDir": "build", "buildCommand": "npm run build" }
    }
    ],
    "routes": [
    { "src": "/api/(.*)", "dest": "api/serverless/index.ts" },
    { "handle": "filesystem" },
    { "src": "/(.*)", "dest": "/index.html" }
    ]
    }

  3. frontend/package.json:

    {
    "scripts": {
    "prebuild": "npm run sdk:gen",
    "build": "vite build"
    }
    }

  4. Root directory in Vercel settings is blank and “Include files outside root” is disabled. Repo is connected via Git. Deploy command is vercel --prod --yes from a clean clone.

  5. Build logs show Vite producing build/index.html, build/assets/index-*.js/css. No errors.

  6. But vercel inspect https://aihomebrewapps-pn7kxu1gn-jason-stolworthys-projects-ecf26116.vercel.app (and every other deployment) shows only:

    Builds:
    ┌ . [0ms]
    ├── λ api/serverless/index.ts (17.31MB) [iad1]
    └── λ api/serverless/index.ts (17.31MB) [iad1]

    No static build, no index.html.

Project Info

  • Project: aihomebrewapps (project id prj_zjkJfhyzsdZznlKuolNGMeZm2b8j)

  • Frameworks: Express (serverless), Vite SPA

  • Environment: Production (vercel --prod --yes), Hobby account

  • Repo: github.com/jasonstolworthy/aihomebrew

  • Custom domain: www.aihomebrew.com

  • Deployment IDs with this issue: dpl_FVcBZSpcP6GPoShNDmN3Q6qNtuNy, dpl_EZt5hcz8PNrakytcfuP2N5R51bPp, dpl_FaykbUXTtuayVTtEq3PceJV9eHAG, dpl_FaykbUXTtuayVTtEq3PceJV9eHAG, dpl_2GV76JAF2wjHdpazSEQDTGYUkXLf, etc.

Why I’m Stuck

I’ve triple-checked vercel.json, rebuilt locally, toggled root-dir settings, re-linked, re-cloned, aliased multiple deployment URLs—everything. The Vite build runs but Vercel drops the output, so my domain will never serve the SPA. I’m losing it at this point. :sweat_smile:

Has anyone seen @vercel/static-build silently skip copying its output even though the build succeeds? I just need the static files to land in .vercel/output/static so the catch-all route works. Happy to share full logs or grant access. Any ideas appreciated!

2

There’s another community post with 404 debugging tips that might be helpful. Please give these solutions a try and let us know how it goes.

A human should be around soon to offer more advice. But you can also get helpful information quickly by asking v0.

If you’re having trouble deploying an Express app, this guide can help.

You can also ask v0 for suggestions tailored to your own project setup.