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Part four · in your browser · Step 7 of 13

Sign up
for Vercel

Vercel takes the code from your repository and serves it as a real website. Your site needs it for a second reason too: the chat only works on a server, never from a file on your laptop.

Go to vercel.com and sign up with your email address. Vercel then asks you two questions.

The two sign-up questions
Which best describes you?Choose I'm working on personal projects.
Team nameYour own name is fine.
Pick the personal option

The personal plan is free and does everything this guide needs. The commercial plan asks for payment. If you are asked for card details, go back and check which option you chose.

Confirm both before continuing

Part four · in your browser · Step 8 of 13

Import your
repository

Four screens, in order. Nothing here needs to be typed.

The Vercel dashboard's Add New button expanded, showing a menu with Project highlighted.
1 On your dashboard, click Add New and choose Project.
Vercel's Import Git Repository screen offering GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket and Origin as providers.
2 Under Import Git Repository, choose GitHub. GitHub then asks for permission — this happens once. You can grant access to all your repositories or just this one.
Vercel listing one GitHub repository with an Import button beside it.
3 Your repositories appear. Click Import next to yours. The picture shows one called personal-website — yours will say personal-site.
Vercel's New Project screen showing the Hobby team, project name, an auto-detected Application Preset, and a Deploy button.
4 Change nothing and click Deploy. Whatever Application Preset says is correct — Vercel detects what your project needs. Leave Build and Output Settings closed.
Skip the Environment Variables box for now

This screen offers one, and you could fill it in here. Don't — you are going to see what happens without it first. You will add your key in step 11.

Your project already contains a vercel.json file telling Vercel how to build it and which folders to keep hidden, so there is nothing for you to configure.

Confirm both before continuing

Part four · in your browser · Step 9 of 13

Open your
live site

When the build finishes you land on your project's overview, with a preview of your site and two web addresses.

A Vercel project overview showing a site preview, a Deployment address, a Domains address, and a Ready status.
Use the Domains link Not the Deployment address above it.
The two addresses are not the same

The Deployment address changes every single time you deploy, so it is useless for sharing. The Domains address stays the same forever. That is the one to use.

That link is your website

It is public and you can send it to anyone — it is the address you would put on a résumé or in an email. Your repository stays private; only the finished site is visible.

Confirm both before continuing

Part four · in your browser · Step 10 of 13

Try the chat, and
expect it to fail

Look through your site, then open the chat and ask it something. It will not answer. That is the correct result at this point, and it is worth understanding why.

Why it fails

The same chat answered you on your laptop, before you started this guide. Nothing about your code has changed since. What changed is where it is running.

Your API key was never uploaded to GitHub. Your .gitignore kept .env.local out on purpose — it is the same file you confirmed was missing from the upload in step 6. On your laptop the site reads your key straight out of that file. Vercel built your site from GitHub, so it has every one of your files except that one, and without the key it cannot reach Parley.

Keys never belong in a repository, whether it is private or public. You give them to the host instead, which is exactly what you are about to do.

Confirm both before continuing

Part four · in your browser · Step 11 of 13

Give Vercel
your key

In your project on Vercel, open Settings and choose Environment Variables from the left-hand menu. Add these two, taking the values from your own .env.local file.

Environment variables
PARLEY_API_KEYYour Parley key, copied from .env.local.
PARLEY_MODELThe same value as in .env.local — claude-sonnet-4-6 unless you changed it.
Vercel's environment variable form with the key PARLEY_API_KEY, a redacted value, the Secret type selected, and All Environments chosen.
Adding one Key is the name, Value is what you copied. Leave Type on Secret and Environments on All Environments, then click Save. Do the same again for the second variable.

Type the names exactly as shown, in capitals, with no spaces. A misspelled name is the most common reason this step does not take.

Vercel's Environment Variables page, reached from the left menu, listing PARLEY_API_KEY and PARLEY_MODEL with padlock icons.
When you are done Both names appear in the list, each with a padlock beside it. Environment Variables in the left-hand menu is where you come back to.
This page, and nowhere else

Vercel's own settings page is the right place for your key — it is stored encrypted and never sent to the browser. Do not paste it into a chat with Claude, into your code, or into any other site.

Confirm both before continuing

Part four · in your browser · Step 12 of 13

Redeploy

Adding variables does not change the site that is already running. You have to build it again.

Vercel's Deployments page with the top-right menu open, showing a Create Deployment option.
1 Choose Deployments in the left-hand menu, then open the ··· menu at the top right and click Create Deployment.
Vercel's Create Deployment dialog with the main branch already filled in and a Deploy to Production button.
2 The box is already filled in with your main branch — leave it alone and click Deploy to Production.

Confirm before continuing

Part four · in your browser · Step 13 of 13

Try the
chat again

Open your site and ask the chat a question about you.

You are finished when
  • The chat answers, and names the files it drew on.
  • The answer matches what you wrote in your own knowledge/ folder.
  • Your repository on GitHub still says Private.
If part four went wrong
Vercel does not list my repository
It has not been given access to that one. In the Import Git Repository section, use Adjust GitHub App Permissions and grant it personal-site. Private repositories have to be granted one by one.
The build failed
Open the deployment, copy the log, and paste it into Claude Code asking what it means. Build logs are long and specific — Claude will read it faster than you can.
The chat still does not answer
Three things, in order: the names are spelled exactly PARLEY_API_KEY and PARLEY_MODEL; the redeploy in step 12 actually finished; and the key itself is right. You cannot read a saved value back — Vercel hides it deliberately — so if you suspect a typo, delete that variable, add it again, and redeploy.
The chat answers, but talks about someone else
Your knowledge/ folder still holds the sample profile. Replace it with your own, then ask Claude Code to upload the change.
I am asked for card details
Stop. You are on the commercial plan. You do not need to pay for anything in this guide — check the plan you picked in step 7.

Confirm all three to finish