Deploying a superlore knowledge base
superlore is open source and self-hosts free today. Managed hosting — superlore Cloud — is in
private beta (waitlisted), so the one-command superlore deploy path is not generally available
yet. This skill does two things: (1) get the user on the Cloud waitlist, and (2) walk them
through self-hosting on Vercel (or anywhere) so they're live now. Deployment is always the
user's — superlore never hosts their data without their say-so.
First: a pre-deploy safety check
Before deploying anything, re-check the auth posture — especially for a company KB:
- Read
superlore.json. Iftype: "company-kb"andauth.enabledisfalse, warn the user: a public deploy makes the site and the MCP world-readable. Strongly recommend enabling Google SSO before going live, and offer to flip it on (auth.enabled: true,provider: "google"). Only proceed public if they reconfirm. - Product docs that are intentionally public need no warning.
superlore Cloud — the waitlist (managed path)
superlore deploy (one-command managed hosting with a hosted MCP endpoint, SSO/governance, and team
workspaces) is in private beta. Don't pretend it's live. Instead:
- Tell the user managed hosting is coming and point them at the waitlist:
https://superlore.vercel.app/cloud (the in-repo waitlist page is
apps/docs/app/cloud/page.tsx; on the public site it's/cloud). - If they're keen, that's the action: join the waitlist for early access. Then steer them to self-host now so they're not blocked.
What Cloud will add (for context, no prices — it's not selling yet): managed hosting + one-click updates with a hosted MCP endpoint, Google/SAML SSO + org gate + roles/audit, and shared team workspaces over one MCP URL.
Self-host on Vercel (ship today, free)
This is the real, working path. superlore is a standard Next.js 16 + Fumadocs app, so it deploys to Vercel (or any Next host) like any Next app.
-
Build locally first to catch errors:
superlore build(ornpm run build/pnpm build). Narrate the result. -
Push to a Git repo the user controls (GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket).
-
Import to Vercel — New Project → import the repo → Vercel detects Next.js. No special build config needed for a default superlore app.
-
Set environment variables if auth is enabled (
auth.enabled: trueinsuperlore.json). These gate the site and the MCP viaproxy.ts:Variable Required Purpose AUTH_GOOGLE_IDto enable Google OAuth client id — its presence turns auth ON AUTH_GOOGLE_SECRETto enable Google OAuth client secret AUTH_SECRETyes (auth) Secret used to encrypt the session (JWT) AUTH_URLyes (auth) The deploy's canonical URL AUTH_TRUST_HOSTyes (auth) Set truebehind a proxy / on VercelAUTH_ALLOWED_DOMAINno Restrict SSO to one workspace domain, e.g. acme.comAUTH_ALLOWED_EMAILSno Comma-separated email allowlist that bypasses the domain check With no
AUTH_GOOGLE_ID, auth stays off and the deploy is fully public — that's the intended public path.Never ask the user to paste secrets into the chat. Tell them to add these in Vercel's project settings (Environment Variables) or via
vercel env add. If a value is missing, ask them to set it themselves rather than guessing or inventing one. -
Deploy — Vercel builds and gives a URL. The MCP comes up at
<deploy>/api/mcp(or themcp.pathfromsuperlore.json). -
Verify: open the site; then connect the MCP and confirm
search/get_pagework — hand off to superlore-connect-mcp.
For non-Vercel hosts: it's a standard Next 16 app — next build then run/serve per the host's Next
guide. A static export works for a fully public KB with no server-side auth; the MCP route needs a
running server (or Cloud).
Remember
- Cloud is waitlisted — guide to https://superlore.vercel.app/cloud; don't run a managed deploy that doesn't exist.
- Self-host on Vercel works today — that's the path to "live now".
- Re-check the company-KB-without-auth case before going public.
- No secrets in chat. If a credential/env var is missing, ask the user to set it themselves.