Share App Settings Without Copying Secret Keys

Vercel has added a new way to share settings between projects. It is called Project Connections and works within the same team. Apps can read feature flags from another project through this connection. A feature flag is a setting that controls a feature. The new method removes the need to copy secret keys.

Before this change, teams had to copy a server key themselves. They put that key in another project's settings and managed it. With Project Connections, the published app uses its own identity instead. This means the connection does not depend on sharing that key. The change concerns access to settings held in a different project.

Teams can manage a connection from the project's Flags page. A connection lets an app read settings, but not change them. That read access covers all the environments in the source project. These are separate places where different copies of an app run. The app reading a flag decides which environment it uses. For example, a live app reads the flags for live use.

The app also needs the ID of the project holding the flags. That tells the app which connected project it should read from. Teams can remove access without publishing a new copy of the app. Project Connections is available on every plan, with required software versions. Developers need to check those requirements before they use the feature. The main change is simpler access, rather than a different kind of flag.