Express.js on Vercel

Express.js on Vercel is a boilerplate example from Vercel's official examples repository that demonstrates how to run an Express.js server on the Vercel platform, serving HTML content, JSON data, and a simulated API route.

What is Express.js on Vercel?

Express.js on Vercel is a minimal starter project maintained by Vercel as part of their public examples collection. It takes a basic Express.js application and adapts it to run on Vercel's serverless platform, so the same Express syntax works with Vercel's deployment and scaling infrastructure. The example outputs three response types: an HTML page, a JSON payload, and an endpoint that mimics an API route. It is designed as a starting point for developers who want to migrate or build Express-based backends on Vercel.

Key Features

• One-click deployment — a Vercel Deploy button links to the example repository and spins up a live project without local setup.
• Local development — running vercel dev from the repo root starts the Express app locally with Vercel's CLI for testing before deployment.
• Multiple response formats — shows how to send HTML content, JSON data, and a simulated API route in one small codebase.
• Official source — the code lives in the vercel/examples GitHub repository, which the Vercel team maintains alongside other Next.js and Vercel examples.
• Simple structure — the project is kept minimal so the routing and response patterns are easy to read and copy.

Who is it for?

• Developers new to serverless Express — use this example to see exactly how an Express app is structured and deployed on Vercel with minimal files.
• Backend engineers migrating existing Express services — start from this repo to confirm that familiar Express routing patterns work on Vercel before applying them to a larger codebase.
• API prototype builders — quickly stand up a working endpoint that returns JSON, then extend the routes to build a full REST API.

What can you do with it?

• Serve static HTML from Express — replace the provided HTML route with your own markup to render a page from an Express server on Vercel.
• Return JSON from an API route — modify the JSON handler to output your own data, useful for building a mock API or a lightweight backend.
• Simulate an API endpoint — use the simulated API route to demonstrate request handling before connecting a real database or third-party service.

How does it work?

You can deploy by clicking the "Deploy with Vercel" button and connecting a Git repository, or clone the repo, install the Vercel CLI, and run vercel dev to test locally. After local testing, a standard vercel command or Git integration deploys the same app to production.

FAQ

Is Express.js on Vercel free to use?

Yes, the example itself is free and open source. Vercel offers a free tier for hosting Node.js applications, though production deployments may require a paid plan depending on usage and team size.

What does the Express.js on Vercel example demonstrate?

It demonstrates a basic Express.js application running on Vercel that can serve HTML, return JSON data, and expose a simulated API route. It's meant to be a minimal reference for how to adapt Express to Vercel's platform.

Can I use this template for a production app?

You can extend the example into a production app, but it intentionally includes only basic routes. You would add your own routes, middleware, error handling, and dependencies as needed.

How do I deploy this example to Vercel?

Click the "Deploy with Vercel" button in the README to deploy directly, or clone the repository, install the Vercel CLI, and run vercel from the project root after testing with vercel dev.