Unable to run `npx convex codegen` on Vercel without `CONVEX_DEPLOY_KEY`

[Loskir]

As far as I understand, npx convex codegen is supposed to generate local files without pushing it to the server. I do not have any problem running it locally even though I don't have any server credentials in my env.

But on Vercel there's a check that throws an error if deploy key is not present:

convex-js/src/cli/lib/deploymentSelection.ts

Lines 582 to 596 in 0fc597a

	async function checkIfBuildEnvironmentRequiresDeploymentConfig(ctx: Context) {
	const buildEnvironment = getBuildEnvironment();
	if (buildEnvironment) {
	return await ctx.crash({
	exitCode: 1,
	errorType: "fatal",
	printedMessage:
	`${buildEnvironment} build environment detected but no Convex deployment configuration found.\n` +
	`Set one of:\n` +
	` • ${CONVEX_DEPLOY_KEY_ENV_VAR_NAME} for Convex Cloud deployments\n` +
	` • ${CONVEX_SELF_HOSTED_URL_VAR_NAME} and ${CONVEX_SELF_HOSTED_ADMIN_KEY_VAR_NAME} for self-hosted deployments\n` +
	`See https://docs.convex.dev/production/hosting or https://docs.convex.dev/self-hosting`,
	});
	}
	}

convex-js/src/cli/lib/envvars.ts

Lines 300 to 306 in 0fc597a

	export function getBuildEnvironment(): string | false {
	return process.env.VERCEL
	? "Vercel"
	: process.env.NETLIFY
	? "Netlify"
	: false;
	}

There seems to be no way to suppress this check. Again, I believe that I don't need this key set for my purpose. I'm only trying to run a codegen for the frontend, not to release the backend

[thomasballinger]

As far as I understand, npx convex codegen is supposed to generate local files without pushing it to the server.

Using components changes this: once you have components in your project (specifically, a convex/convex.config.ts file) each component is pushed to the server to power codegen for that component. There are changes to this coming along with performance improvements as we work to stabilize the authoring API, but it will likely still be some situations where a npx convex codegen requires a deployment. We recommend committing these files so that no codegen step is required to typecheck or run linters.

All that said though, yes, if you don't have components in your project this should not require a server.

I do not have any problem running it locally even though I don't have any server credentials in my env.

If you're logged in to Convex cloud that counts as server credentials, but that makes sense that this could work even without that.

OK makes sense, you'd like codegen without specifying a deployment. Maybe we could note that we're not on the components path earlier in the npx convex codegen path and skip any deployment selection.

This isn't prioritized but we would likely accept a PR for it. The workaround of just specifying a CONVEX_DEPLOY_KEY shouldn't hurt, and it can be just about any CONVEX_DEPLOY_KEY or self-hosted equivalent.