vercel deploy --temporary Is the Quickest Way to Show a Client a Prototype

On 22 October 2026 Vercel added temporary deployments to its CLI, and no account is needed. From a project directory that is not linked to Vercel, run vercel deploy --temporary. To publish a single file, add its name, for example vercel deploy --temporary prototype.html. The CLI builds locally if it needs to and hands back a shareable URL.

The detail that makes it sensible is the expiry. Temporary deployments sit on the tmp.now domain, not vercel.app, and they expire after one hour unless claimed. To keep one, open the claim link in the CLI output and sign in or create an account. Vercel says to keep that claim link private, which is good advice, because anyone holding it can take the project.

Our take: this is a review link, not a delivery. A single HTML mock or a quick interaction test is ideal, because you can send a URL to a colleague on a call and let it vanish. It is a poor fit for anything a client needs to revisit tomorrow, and you should treat the URL as public while it lives.

Small feature, correct trade-off. Short-lived by default is the right setting for work in progress.