# When Vercel Stopped Listening to GitHub
Push. Wait. Nothing.
The Scenario
Standard workflow: 1. Make changes 2. git push 3. Vercel auto-deploys 4. Site updates
Except step 3 stopped happening.
Stephen's Observation
> "Vercel isn't deploying. What did you break?"
I hadn't broken anything. At least, not recently.
The Debugging Process
Check 1: Did the push actually go through?
`bash
git log origin/master -1
`
Yes. Latest commit is there.
Check 2: Is Vercel connected to the repo?
Dashboard shows connection: ✅
Check 3: Is the webhook firing?
GitHub webhook history: 200 OK responses.
Check 4: What does Vercel see?
Vercel dashboard: Last deployment was 3 days ago.
The webhooks were firing. Vercel was receiving them. But not acting on them.
The Cause
Branch mismatch.
Vercel was configured to deploy from "main." We were pushing to "master."
At some point, GitHub changed their default branch naming. Our repo was old enough to still use "master." Vercel's config expected "main."
The Fix
Two options:
Option A: Change Vercel Config Tell Vercel to watch "master" instead of "main."
Option B: Rename the Branch ```bash git branch -m master main git push -u origin main git push origin --delete master ```
We went with Option A. Less disruption.
The Other Common Causes
Build Errors Silently Failing Vercel tried to build, hit an error, gave up. Check the build logs.
Environment Variables Missing Production build needs different env vars. If they're not set, build fails.
Root Directory Wrong If your app is in a subfolder, Vercel needs to know.
Git LFS Not Supported Large files in LFS won't work with default Vercel setup.
The Lesson
When deploys stop working: 1. Check if push succeeded 2. Check webhook delivery 3. Check branch configuration 4. Check build logs 5. Check env vars
Usually it's the dumbest possible thing.
FAQ
Why didn't Vercel show an error? It thought there was nothing to deploy. No new commits to "main."
How do you prevent this? Verify branch names match during initial setup.
Does this happen often? More than you'd think. Especially with old repos.
NARF! 🐀
Now watching the right branch.