Deploy and Migrate

Going Live

Your CRM is built and working locally. Now let's get it deployed so your team can use it, and move your existing data in.

Database Setup

For production, you need a hosted PostgreSQL database. The simplest options:

• Supabase — Free tier gives you a full Postgres database with a nice dashboard. Best option for most people.
• Railway — Simple Postgres hosting, $5/month. Good reliability.
• Neon — Serverless Postgres with a generous free tier. Works well with Vercel.

Create a database on your chosen platform, get the connection string, and update your environment variables. Then run your Prisma migration against the production database to create the tables.

Deploy the App

Push your code to GitHub, then connect it to Vercel:

1. Go to vercel.com and sign in with GitHub
2. Click "New Project" and import your repository
3. Add your environment variables (database URL, any API keys)
4. Deploy — Vercel will build and host your app automatically

Every time you push code to GitHub, Vercel will automatically redeploy. This means future improvements are one git push away from production.

Migrate Your Data

Most CRMs let you export data as CSV files. Here's the process:

Export your contacts, companies, and deals from your current CRM. Then give your AI tool this prompt:

Write a migration script that:
1. Reads contacts from a CSV file (columns: first_name, last_name,
   email, phone, company_name, title)
2. Creates Company records for unique company names
3. Creates Contact records linked to their companies
4. Handles duplicates by checking email addresses
5. Logs the count of imported, skipped, and failed records

Accept the CSV file path as a command line argument.

Run the script locally first with a small sample to make sure the mapping is correct, then run it against your production database.

The Switch

Don't do a hard cutover. Run both systems in parallel for a week. Use your new CRM as the primary, but keep the old one as a reference. After a week, if nothing is missing, cancel the old subscription.

Track what you were paying monthly and log it in ShipYard. CRM subscriptions typically run $25-150 per user per month — the savings add up fast when you multiply by your team size.

What's Next

Your CRM is now live and handling your daily workflow. From here, you can iterate based on real usage. Common next additions: email integration, reporting dashboards, automated follow-up reminders, and mobile optimization. Each one is a single prompt away.