Ctrl+Z Therapy
CasesQuick answersGuides10-minute checklistHow we testCartoonSend it in

Your AI tool made a Dockerfile? Vercel can now deploy it (beta, all plans)

Ship ItChecked against the official source

Source checked 2 Nov 2026 · Published 2 Nov 2026 · Last reviewed 2 Nov 2026 · By Ctrl+Z Therapy (how we test)

The short answer

Vercel's changelog of October 27, 2026: you can now deploy a plain root Dockerfile or Containerfile on Vercel's Container runtime when no other framework is detected. Vercel selects the Container preset, builds that file, and routes all traffic to the resulting image. Container Runtime is available in Beta on all plans.

What to do

  1. Put the Dockerfile in your project's root folder.
  2. If Vercel detects another framework, such as Django, that framework still wins. To build the Dockerfile anyway, set "framework": "container" in vercel.json, or run vercel project update --framework container.
  3. To test locally with vercel dev, install Docker first: it needs the docker CLI and Docker daemon on your machine.

Good to know

  • It runs on Vercel Functions with Active CPU pricing: you are only billed for CPU when your code is actively running. The same limits as Vercel Functions apply.
  • A Dockerfile.vercel or Containerfile.vercel wins over a detected framework.
  • Vercel's docs link migration guides from Railway, Fly.io, Render and Google Cloud Run.

Source

Checked on 2 Nov 2026. Prices, limits and settings change, so check the source before you rely on them.

Related