LIVE_DEPLOYMENT.md

Live Deployment Guide

Follow these steps to take SideQuest from your local machine to the public web.

1. Backend Deployment (Render.com)

We use Render because it handles Python backends perfectly and provides persistent storage for your documents.

1. Create a Account: Sign up at Render.com.
2. Blueprint Deploy:
   • Click New + -> Blueprint.
   • Connect your GitHub repository.
   • Render will automatically detect the render.yaml file and create the "sidequest-backend" service.
3. Configure Environment Variables:
   • Go to your new service -> Environment.
   • Add GEMINI_API_KEY (Your Google AI key).
   • Add FRONTEND_URL (Set this to https://sidequestbot.vercel.app).
4. Wait for Build: Render will build the app and mount the persistent disk. Once live, you will get a URL like https://sidequest-backend.onrender.com.

2. Frontend Deployment (Vercel)

Now we need to tell your Vercel app to talk to the new Render backend.

1. Open Vercel Dashboard: Go to your sidequestbot project.
2. Settings -> Environment Variables:
   • Update NEXT_PUBLIC_BACKEND_URL to your new Render URL (e.g., https://sidequest-backend.onrender.com).
   • Add AUTH_URL set to https://sidequestbot.vercel.app.
   • Add AUTH_SECRET (A long random string).
3. Redeploy: Go to the Deployments tab -> Redeploy the latest commit.

3. Final Verification

1. Visit https://sidequestbot.vercel.app.
2. Log in using your test credentials (test@example.com / password123).
3. Upload a document and verify the chat works.
4. Persistent Test: Delete the deployment on Vercel/Render and redeploy. Your documents should still be there because of the Render Disk!

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Important Notes

• Cold Starts: Render's free tier spins down after inactivity. The first request might take 30 seconds to wake up.
• Persistence: The render.yaml mounts a disk at /data. Do not remove this, or your database will be wiped on every restart.