Neon Postgres Vercel Marketplace Template

Neon Postgres Vercel Marketplace Template is a minimal Next.js starter from the neondatabase-labs GitHub organization that connects a full-stack React app to a provisioned Neon Postgres database through the Vercel Marketplace, shipping with Tailwind CSS, shadcn/ui, Drizzle ORM, and better-auth.

What is the Neon Postgres Vercel Marketplace Template?

The Neon Postgres Vercel Marketplace Template is a starter repository for full-stack React applications that run on Next.js and Vercel and come pre-wired to Neon Postgres. Clicking its Deploy button clones the GitHub repo, creates a new Vercel project, installs the Neon integration, and provisions a fresh Neon database in one pass. The resulting codebase contains Next.js App Router files such as app/page.tsx, a Drizzle ORM database client, shadcn/ui components, theme handling, and better-auth authentication scaffolding. It is published by the neondatabase-labs organization (the source repository shows 25 stars) and has a live demo at vercel-marketplace-neon.vercel.app.

What makes it stand out?

• One-click Vercel deploy — the Deploy button clones the repository, creates the Vercel project, sets up the Neon integration, and provisions a new Neon database automatically.
• Neon Postgres connection — pull DATABASE_URL with vercel env pull, or copy the connection string from the Connection Details widget in the Neon Console; the docs link out to Neon on Vercel Fluid Compute connection methods.
• Drizzle ORM — type-safe PostgreSQL queries configured in drizzle.config.ts, with the client in src/lib/db/client.ts and schemas co-located per feature.
• Database scripts — npm run db:generate writes migration files, npm run db:migrate applies them, and npm run db:studio opens the Drizzle Studio visual browser.
• better-auth authentication — configured through the BETTER_AUTH_SECRET (generated with openssl rand -base64 32) and BETTER_AUTH_URL environment variables, with generated auth schema in src/lib/auth/schema.ts.
• shadcn/ui plus Tailwind CSS — components.json uses the New York style, Neutral base color, Lucide React icons, and CSS variables; Button and DropdownMenu ship pre-installed and more are added with npx shadcn@latest add.
• Light, dark, and system themes — a next-themes provider and selector live in src/components/themes/.
• Neon MCP server and neon-postgres agent skill — AI-assisted Postgres development is pre-configured for Cursor, Claude Code, VS Code, OpenCode, and Codex.

Who should use the Neon Postgres Vercel Marketplace Template?

• Next.js developers starting a new app: they get routing, styling, a typed database layer, and auth wired together instead of assembling each piece.
• Teams evaluating Neon through Vercel: the deploy flow provisions a database and demonstrates Neon connection handling on Fluid Compute.
• Developers using AI coding agents: the bundled Neon MCP server and agent skill let Cursor, Claude Code, VS Code, OpenCode, or Codex query and modify the database.
• Anyone adding authentication to a Postgres app: better-auth is already scaffolded with its schema generated into the auth module.

What can you do with the Neon Postgres Vercel Marketplace Template?

• Full-stack side projects: start from the deployed repo, edit app/page.tsx, and push to GitHub to trigger a new Vercel deployment.
• CRUD applications: define feature schemas, run db:generate and db:migrate, and inspect rows in Drizzle Studio.
• Auth-protected apps: use the better-auth setup and generated user schema as the base for sign-in flows.
• Local-first development: clone the generated GitHub repository, copy .env.example to .env, run npm install (or bun install), and start with npm run dev on localhost:3000.

FAQ

Is the Neon Postgres Vercel Marketplace Template free?

It is a public GitHub template repository, so the code itself costs nothing to clone. Running it requires your own Vercel project and Neon account, which each have their own free plans, so review those providers' terms before deploying to production.

What tech stack does it use?

Next.js for the React full-stack framework, Tailwind CSS with shadcn/ui for styling and components, Drizzle ORM for type-safe PostgreSQL access, better-auth for authentication, and next-themes for light, dark, and system theme switching, deployed on Vercel with Neon Postgres.

Does it include database migrations?

Yes. Drizzle Kit generates migration SQL into the drizzle/ folder from your schema files, and you apply them with npm run db:migrate after reviewing the generated SQL. New feature schema files are detected automatically.

Can I use a package manager other than npm?

Yes. The README notes that you can use the package manager of your choice and that Vercel supports bun install out of the box alongside the documented npm install and npm run dev commands.

Do I have to deploy to Vercel to use it?

The intended path starts with the Deploy button so the Neon integration provisions your database and environment variables. If you skip that, you must add DATABASE_URL, BETTER_AUTH_SECRET, and BETTER_AUTH_URL to a local .env file manually.