Attending the Vercel Ship 2024 NYC Virtual Event: A Glimpse into the Future of Web Development
Tags: vercel, webdev, ai, cloud
Published: 2024-05-23 18:25:16

Today, I had the pleasure of attending the Vercel Ship virtual event, and let me tell you, it was nothing short of revolutionary for anyone passionate about web development. As a big fan of Vercel, I have deployed numerous projects on their platform, and I was especially excited to see it. Here’s a recap of the highlights and my key takeaways:

_💠 Integration of AI, as well as the front-end cloud and developer experience._

_💠 Vercel's CEO, Guillermo Rauch, spoke about the company's journey from two initial utilities to building an entire cloud platform optimized for front-end developers and teams._

_💠 Vercel's AI-powered tool, VZero, has been used by the Vercel community to generate over three million UIs, helping developers get from idea to code faster than ever before._

**Event Welcome**

The event started with a warm welcome from Sarah Gu, an AI investor and founder of a venture firm called Conviction.

**Journey and Evolution of Vercel**

The CEO of Vercel, Guo Rous, began his keynote address how Vercel started with just two things, Next Dev and Now Deploy, and how it was focused purely on utility for developers. He then went on to explain how he was solving problems for himself as a developer and how he spent eight years of his life building a cloud platform to ensure that no developer had to deal with all the hassle of setting up their website. 

**Introduction to Frontend Cloud**

Vercel has unlocked a whole category which it now calls the frontend cloud. It is an entire cloud platform designed for and optimized for and built by the frontend developers and teams that deeply care about the user experience. Vercel started with the idea that to build the best possible cloud, it had to invest in the best possible open-source tools and creators. Open-source frameworks drive the two critical pieces of Vercel's frontend cloud: the developer experience platform and the managed infrastructure platform.

**Vercel's Achievements and Milestones**

Vercel has achieved many milestones in its journey. The company has just crossed 1 million active developers with Next.js, as well as supporting over 35 other open-source front and frameworks. When these frameworks are deployed on Vercel, the company is proud to share that it was close to hitting 100 billion weekly requests served through its managed infrastructure. Lastly, Vercel has just passed $100 million in annual revenue, which is an important milestone for the company because it means that so many developers trust Vercel to build and be their partner in the future of the web.

**Introduction to VZero**

VZero has been a game-changer for developers, allowing them to go from idea to code faster than ever before. Since its launch, the Versel community has generated over three million UIs using VZero. The tool has received positive feedback from developers, and the Versel team has been working hard to make it even better.

During the Versel Ship conference, Lee Robinson, the head of development, demonstrated how VZero works. He used the tool to generate a conference talk submission form, which was created using Shad CN UI and Tailwind CSS. VZero presented three different options for the form, and Robinson chose the one that looked the best. The generated React code was streamed live, and the final product looked impressive.

Overall, VZero is a powerful tool that enables developers to focus on building great user experiences, rather than dealing with infrastructure and frameworks. With VZero, developers can easily turn their ideas into code and bring their products to market faster.

**Vercel's Vision for the Future**

At the forefront of the front-end cloud movement, Vercel is leading the charge in building a platform that is optimized for and built by front-end developers. With a focus on open-source tools and frameworks, Vercel is committed to providing developers with the best possible developer experience and managed infrastructure platform. By investing in the best possible open-source tools and creators, Vercel is able to cover the entire software development life cycle, from idea to production.

Vercel's vision for the future of the web is one where developers can build and ship great experiences quickly and efficiently, without having to worry about the complexities of infrastructure management. By leveraging AI-powered tools like VZero, developers can generate React code from simple text prompts and images, enabling them to go from idea to code faster than ever before.

In conclusion, the integration of AI into web development is rapidly changing the way developers build and deploy applications. As the web continues to evolve, companies like Vercel are leading the charge in providing developers with the tools and infrastructure they need to build great user experiences quickly and efficiently. With a focus on open-source tools and frameworks, Vercel is empowering developers to push the envelope and push the future of the web.