feat(examples): better vercel support

[jog1t]

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[railway-app]

🚅 Deployed to the rivet-pr-3967 environment in rivet-frontend

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[jog1t]

• chore: fix /api routing for dev with new examples #3968
• feat(examples): better vercel support #3967 👈 (View in Graphite)
• main

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[claude]

Code Review

Summary

This PR improves Vercel deployment support for the hello-world example by restructuring the project to align with Vercel's conventions. The changes move from a Hono-based structure to a Vite-based structure with proper API routing.

Key Changes

• Moved src/actors.ts → api/actors.ts
• Moved src/server.ts → api/index.ts with updated routing
• Updated vercel.json to use Vite framework with proper function configuration
• Updated vite.config.ts to reflect new entry point and API prefix
• Added .vercel to .gitignore
• Updated vite-plugin-srvx to use a pre-release version

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Issues Found

🔴 Critical Issues

1. Using pkg.pr.new URL for Production Dependency

"vite-plugin-srvx": "https://pkg.pr.new/rivet-dev/vite-plugin-srvx@312eeb8"

• Location: examples/hello-world/package.json:21
• Issue: This uses a temporary preview deployment URL from pkg.pr.new, not a stable published version
• Impact: This dependency will break when the preview deployment expires
• Fix: Either:
  • Publish a new version of vite-plugin-srvx to npm and use that version
  • OR temporarily use a git dependency if the changes aren't ready for npm: "git+https://github.com/rivet-dev/vite-plugin-srvx.git#312eeb8"
  • Best practice: Merge the vite-plugin-srvx changes, publish to npm, then update this reference

2. Route Path Mismatch

// api/index.ts
app.all("/rivet/*", (c) => registry.handler(c.req.raw));

// vite.config.ts
plugins: [react(), ...srvx({ entry: "api/index.ts", prefix: "/api" })],

// vercel.json
"source": "/api/:path*",
"destination": "/api/"

• Location: api/index.ts:8, vite.config.ts:6, vercel.json:12-13
• Issue: The routing configuration is inconsistent
  • The app handles /rivet/* paths
  • The srvx plugin adds /api prefix
  • Vercel rewrites /api/* to /api/
  • Expected URL: /api/rivet/* (combining prefix + route)
  • Previous URL: /api/rivet/* (from old src/server.ts)
• Impact: This changes the API endpoint URL from /api/rivet/* to either /api/rivet/* or just /rivet/* depending on environment. The behavior may differ between dev and production.
• Fix: Clarify the intended URL structure. If you want to keep /api/rivet/*:

  app.all("/rivet/*", (c) => registry.handler(c.req.raw));

  This should work with the /api prefix from srvx. Verify the final URL is correct in both dev and production.

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🟡 Medium Priority Issues

3. Missing Newline at End of File

• Location: vercel.json:16
• Issue: The file ends without a newline character
• Impact: Minor - doesn't affect functionality but violates common convention
• Fix: Add a newline at the end of the file

4. Inconsistent Import Ordering

• Location: vite.config.ts:1-3
• Before: defineConfig imported before react
• After: react imported before defineConfig
• Issue: While the change follows alphabetical ordering, it's inconsistent with potential project conventions
• Impact: Low - this is mostly a style preference
• Note: Check if the project has import ordering conventions (e.g., external imports before local imports, sorted alphabetically, etc.)

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✅ Good Practices

1. Proper .gitignore Update: Adding .vercel to ignore Vercel deployment artifacts is correct
2. Vercel Configuration: The memory (2048MB) and maxDuration (30s) settings are reasonable for serverless functions
3. URL Rewriting: The Vercel rewrite configuration properly handles API routing
4. Framework Migration: Switching from "hono" to "vite" framework in vercel.json aligns with the project structure

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Recommendations

Before Merging

1. Fix the dependency issue: Replace the pkg.pr.new URL with a stable version

2. Verify routing: Test that the API is accessible at the expected URL in both:

   • Local dev environment (npm run dev)
   • Vercel preview deployment
   • Confirm the URL is /api/rivet/* and matches client expectations

3. Add documentation: Consider updating the example's README if it contains API endpoint URLs that need to be updated

Testing Checklist

• Deploy to Vercel and verify the build succeeds
• Test that /api/rivet/* endpoints work correctly
• Verify the actor registry can be accessed from the frontend
• Check that both dev and production environments work identically

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Security & Performance

• ✅ No security concerns identified
• ✅ Performance settings (memory, duration) are appropriate
• ✅ No blocking performance issues

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Test Coverage

• ⚠️ This PR doesn't include tests, but it's an example project focused on deployment configuration
• Consider adding a simple E2E test that verifies the API endpoint works after deployment

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Overall Assessment: The changes are well-structured and improve Vercel compatibility. The main blocking issue is the unstable dependency URL that needs to be resolved before merging.