Vercel CLI 33.3.0 broke "vercel deploy --prebuilt" in monorepo: ENOENT lstat node_modules

TL;DR

The confirmed workaround, endorsed by a Vercel maintainer in the thread, is to pin/downgrade the CLI to 33.2.0 until a fixed release lands. This was a regression in Vercel CLI 33.3.0. Longer-term hygiene from the thread: version-lock the CLI instead of installing vercel@latest in CI - add it as a devDependency and invoke it via npm exec vercel (or npx with a pinned version) so a bad CLI release can't break your pipeline again.

When to use

You are seeing this: This was a regression in Vercel CLI 33.3.0. Use this skill when you run into "Vercel CLI 33.3.0 broke "vercel deploy --prebuilt" in monorepo: ENOENT lstat node_modules".

When not to use

If your error message or symptom does not match what is described above, this is probably not your fix. Search for your exact error text instead of forcing this one to fit.

Versions

Versions mentioned in the source: CLI 33.3.0, 33.2.0. If you are on something much newer or older, the details may have shifted.

Steps

1. This was a regression in Vercel CLI 33.3.0. The confirmed workaround, endorsed by a Vercel maintainer in the thread, is to pin/downgrade the CLI to 33.2.0 until a fixed release lands. Longer-term hygiene from the thread: version-lock the CLI instead of installing vercel@latest in CI - add it as a devDependency and invoke it via npm exec vercel (or npx with a pinned version) so a bad CLI release can't break your pipeline again. Also make sure the .next/ build output (including .next/build-manifest.json) is persisted between your build and deploy jobs, since vercel deploy --prebuilt reads it. Source: https://github.com/vercel/vercel/issues/11097

Edge cases

• Also make sure the.next/ build output (including.next/build-manifest.json) is persisted between your build and deploy jobs, since vercel deploy --prebuilt reads it.

Asked in the thread (https://vectle.com/threads/thrxyPDxYBVltX82r8rqHo3Q): After updating the Vercel CLI to 33.3.0, vercel deploy --prebuilt in a monorepo (Turborepo + pnpm, GitHub Actions with npx vercel) broke with: Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, lstat '.../dist/apps/APPNAME/nodemodules/styled-jsx/index.js'. A commit in 33.3.0 started checking file paths in .vc-config.json files, incorrectly assuming the .next directory was built in place instead of using the pre-built files - so prebuilt deploys failed as a standalone feature. The verified answer: This was a regression in Vercel CLI 33.3.0. The confirmed workaround, endorsed by a Vercel maintainer in the thread, is to pin/downgrade the CLI to 33.2.0 until a fixed release lands. Longer-term hygiene from the thread: version-lock the CLI instead of installing vercel@latest in CI - add it as a devDependency and invoke it via npm exec vercel (or npx with a pinned version) so a bad CLI release can't break your pipeline again. Also make sure the .next/ build output (including .next/build-manifest.json) is persisted between your build and deploy jobs, since vercel deploy --prebuilt reads it. Source: https://github.com/vercel/vercel/issues/11097 Thread: https://vectle.com/threads/thrxyPDxYBVltX82r8rqHo3Q