Microsoft announced the general availability of the Vercel and Azure Cosmos DB integration, following the public preview released about one year ago. This collaboration enhances data management and deployment with Azure Cosmos DB's service and Vercel's hosting platform. Sajeetharan Sinnathurai, a product manager at Microsoft, announced upcoming features, including an AI template with integrated vector search capabilities, in response to community feedback.
Integrating existing Azure Cosmos DB accounts with Vercel involves a straightforward process. In the Vercel Dashboard, the relevant project is selected, and within the project settings, the integrations tab is accessed to search for Azure Cosmos DB. Prompts guide through linking the existing Cosmos DB account by providing the necessary credentials and connection string.
After the account is linked, verifying the connection and testing the integration ensures it is properly set up. This integration allows Vercel projects to interact with Cosmos DB data, enabling the utilization of Azure’s powerful database services within applications.
Vercel Templates, also known as Vercel Starter Projects, are pre-configured boilerplate projects designed to facilitate the development of web applications or static websites. These templates integrate seamlessly with Vercel's deployment platform, streamlining the development process. An Azure Cosmos DB Next.js template is available on Vercel's marketplace, offering a ready-to-use project structure and configuration. This template saves time and effort in the initial project setup, allowing developers to focus directly on development.
Sajeetharan Sinnathurai, a product manager on Microsoft's Azure Cosmos DB engineering team, shared with InfoQ that developers appreciate the "easy, free start with Azure Cosmos DB". In response to community feedback, an AI template is under development. Given Azure Cosmos DB's native support for vector search with the NoSQL API, there is a community request to incorporate this functionality into the Vercel starter template, which will be released soon. Additionally, a navigation feature between the Cosmos DB Portal and Vercel is being developed.
Detailed instructions can be found in the official documentation for Azure Cosmos DB and Vercel. Information regarding the pricing and availability of Azure Cosmos DB is available on their pricing page, while details on Vercel's pricing are provided here.