next-bundle

Builds a Next.js project with @vercel/next without invoking vercel build, so it does not perform Vercel CLI project lookup, auth, or environment pull checks.

Once published or otherwise available to npm, run it with npx:

npx next-bundle /path/to/next-project

From this package checkout, pass the project path explicitly:

npm install
npm run build -- /path/to/next-project

From any directory, pass the project path after --. Relative paths are resolved from the directory where you invoked npm, not from this package:

npm --prefix packages/next-bundle install
npm --prefix packages/next-bundle run build -- .
npm --prefix packages/next-bundle run build -- ../another-project
npm --prefix packages/next-bundle run build -- /absolute/path/to/project

You can also use --project-root instead of the positional path:

npx next-bundle --project-root /absolute/path/to/project
npm --prefix packages/next-bundle run build -- --project-root /absolute/path/to/project

If the project path is omitted, the command builds the directory where npm was invoked.

The output is written to:

.next-bundle

The build also writes a local Node.js server:

node .next-bundle/server.mjs

It also writes an optimized shared dependency tree next to the server:

.next-bundle/node_modules

That folder is materialized from .next/next-server.js.nft.json, plus any extra dependency files referenced by Vercel's generated function file maps and the local runtime packages needed by next-bundle. The function directories reuse this shared node_modules through Node's normal module resolution instead of carrying duplicated dependency copies.

next-bundle also preserves node_modules symlinks whose targets were materialized into the output. For example, if traced files are copied under node_modules/.pnpm/next@.../node_modules/next, the output includes the matching node_modules/next symlink when the source install has one.

Set PORT to choose a port:

PORT=4000 node .next-bundle/server.mjs

By default the package:

• skips dependency installation in the target project
• runs npm run build
• uses the target project's declared next version
• calls @vercel/next directly and writes Build Output API files with Vercel's own output writer
• writes a local Node.js server that serves the generated Build Output API files
• handles /_next/image locally, including Photon-backed raster resizing when WebAssembly is available

To package an existing .next directory without rebuilding:

npx next-bundle . --skip-build
npm --prefix packages/next-bundle run build -- . --skip-build