Deployment Overview

The Render blueprint (render.yaml) now provisions only the backend so it stays within the free-tier service limit. Deploy the React web client separately on Vercel.

Backend on Render

1. Install the Render CLI (see links below) and run render blueprint launch from the repo root.
2. When prompted, supply required secrets: DATABASE_URL, SHADOW_DATABASE_URL, JWT_ACCESS_SECRET, JWT_REFRESH_SECRET, RESEND_API_KEY, and ALLOWED_ORIGINS (include your Vercel URL).
3. Render runs the Prisma migrations and seeds the admin user using the commands baked into render.yaml.

Frontend on Vercel

1. Import the repo into Vercel and set the project root to apps/web.
2. Configure environment variables:
   • VITE_API_BASE_URL → the Render backend URL (e.g. https://helpdesk-backend.onrender.com).
3. Use the default build command npm run build and output directory dist.
4. After deploying, add the Vercel domain to the backend ALLOWED_ORIGINS secret so CORS and Socket.IO accept the requests.

Render CLI

• Homebrew
• Direct Download

Documentation: https://render.com/docs/cli

Render MCP Server

Use Render's hosted MCP server to manage infrastructure from compatible AI tools (Cursor, Claude Code, etc.). The server URL is https://mcp.render.com/mcp.

1. Create an API key: Visit https://dashboard.render.com/settings#api-keys and generate a key. Treat it like any production secret—it grants access to every workspace you can access. The MCP server only performs read operations plus env-var updates, but protecting the key is still critical.
2. Configure your MCP host: Add the server definition to your tool's MCP config. Example for Cursor (~/.cursor/mcp.json):

{
	"mcpServers": {
		"render": {
			"url": "https://mcp.render.com/mcp",
			"headers": {
				"Authorization": "Bearer <YOUR_API_KEY>"
			}
		}
	}
}

3. Select the workspace: Prompt your tool with Set my Render workspace to <workspace-name> so future MCP calls target the correct environment.

Once configured, you can issue prompts like "List my Render services" or "Update the env vars for helpdesk-backend" and the MCP server will call the Render API on your behalf. For advanced capabilities or self-hosting instructions, see https://render.com/docs/mcp-server.