DEVOPS

Block PR merge when the Vercel preview fails smoke tests

When a Vercel preview deployment finishes, runs an HTTP smoke suite against the ephemeral URL and sets a GitHub commit status that blocks merge if any check fails.

CategoryDevOps
Enginesim
Difficultyintermediate
Triggerwebhook
Steps5
Setup~15 min

How it runs

The automated pipeline, trigger to output.

  • TriggerVercel preview deployment readyVercelVercel
  • LogicKeep only successful preview builds
  • ActionRun HTTP smoke checks against preview URLHTTP webhook
  • LogicEvaluate pass/fail from responses
  • OutputPost commit status to gate mergeGitHubGitHub

What it does

Turns every Vercel preview deployment into a hard merge gate. As soon as a preview is ready, it hits the live ephemeral URL with a battery of smoke checks (homepage 200, health endpoint, a critical API route) and reports the verdict back to the pull request as a required commit status. A broken preview can no longer be merged.

When to use it

Use it when your team merges to a trunk that auto-deploys to production and you want a real, running-environment check — not just unit tests — to stand between a bad preview and main. Pair it with a GitHub branch protection rule that requires the `preview-smoke` status.

How it works

  1. 1Vercel fires a deployment webhook when the preview reaches the ready state.
  2. 2A filter keeps only `preview` targets that succeeded, discarding production and errored builds.
  3. 3An HTTP step calls the preview URL's smoke endpoints and collects status codes and latencies.
  4. 4A logic branch decides pass or fail based on the responses.
  5. 5A GitHub commit status is posted (`success` or `failure`) against the PR's head SHA, gating the merge button.

Set it up

What you configure once, before turning it on.

  1. 1
    Connect VercelDeploys, runtime logs, analytics.
  2. 2
    Connect HTTP webhookTrigger any URL on agent actions.
  3. 3
    Connect GitHubRepos, issues, pull requests, actions.
  4. 4
    Set each agent's modelWe leave models unset so you pick the tier — fast + cheap, or top-quality.
  5. 5
    Tune it to your dataEdit the prompts, filters, and field mappings so it matches how your team works.
  6. 6
    Test, then turn it onRun once against a sample, confirm the output, then enable the trigger.

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