---
title: "Settings"
description: "Walk through the most important project and team settings in the Vercel dashboard: environment variables, custom domains, function failover regions, team roles, and access groups."
canonical_url: "https://vercel.com/academy/vercel-foundations/vercel-settings"
md_url: "https://vercel.com/academy/vercel-foundations/vercel-settings.md"
docset_id: "vercel-academy"
doc_version: "1.0"
last_updated: "2026-10-30T14:16:15.485Z"
content_type: "lesson"
course: "vercel-foundations"
course_title: "Deploy on Vercel"
prerequisites:  []
---

<agent-instructions>
Vercel Academy — structured learning, not reference docs.
Lessons are sequenced.
Adapt commands to the human's actual environment (OS, package manager, shell, editor) — detect from project context or ask, don't assume.
The lesson shows one path; if the human's project diverges, adapt concepts to their setup.
Preserve the learning goal over literal steps.
Quizzes are pedagogical — engage, don't spoil.
Quiz answers are included for your reference.
</agent-instructions>

# Settings

# Settings

You've deployed your project, picked a function region, and set up environments. Now comes the part where you make the project actually yours: wiring up secrets, pointing a real domain at it, planning for failure, and deciding who gets the keys.

## Environment variables

From your project, go to **Settings > Environment Variables**. Click **Add Environment Variable**, enter a key and value, and choose which environments it applies to: production, preview, development, or any combination.

One detail worth knowing: every variable has a type. A **Secret** value can't be read back from the dashboard after you save it. A **Config** value stays visible for future reference.

You can add multiple variables at once, or paste a batch from your clipboard if you're migrating from another platform. Click **Save** when you're done.

For environment variables to take effect, you need to redeploy your project.

### Shared variables

If a variable applies across multiple projects (a shared API key, for example), you don't need to duplicate it everywhere. Click **Link Shared Variable** and select a team-level variable from the dropdown. It shows up under the **Shared** tab in your project's environment variables.

## Custom domains

Go to **Domains** from your project settings. You have two paths:

- **Add an existing domain** — enter your domain name, select the environment (usually production), and save. Vercel walks you through setting the DNS records.
- **Buy a new domain** — click **Buy**, search for what you want, and Vercel handles the DNS configuration for you.

## Function failover regions

In a previous lesson, you configured your primary function region. But what happens if that region goes down?

Failover regions give your functions a backup location. To enable them, go to **Settings > Functions**, open **Advanced Settings**, and make sure **Function Failover** is turned on.

The actual failover regions are configured in your `vercel.json`. Pick regions other than your primary one, since failover regions must be different from your default regions:

```json
{
  "functionFailoverRegions": ["cle1", "sfo1"]
}
```

The order doesn't matter. Vercel automatically routes to whichever failover region is nearest to the failing one.

\*\*Note: Enterprise feature\*\*

Function failover regions are available on Enterprise plans.

## Team roles

From your team's **Settings > Members**, you can invite people and assign roles. Here's what each role controls:

- **Owner** — full access to everything, including billing and team settings
- **Member** — can create deployments, manage integrations and domains across all projects
- **Developer** — can create deployments across all projects, and can ship to production by merging to the production branch
- **Security** — can manage security features like Firewall, Rate Limiting, and Deployment Protection, with read-only access to projects
- **Contributor** — only has access to projects you explicitly assign
- **Viewer** — can see preview deployments but doesn't count as a paid seat
- **Billing** — manages billing and payment methods, with read-only access to every project

Contributors are particularly useful for contractors or cross-functional collaborators who only need access to specific projects.

### Project-level roles

Project-level roles aren't on every plan; [Access Roles](https://vercel.com/docs/rbac/access-roles) lists where they're available. After inviting someone as a contributor, open the specific project, select **Access** from the left navigation, and pick the team member's email in the **Project Access** section. Then assign a project role: **Project Viewer**, **Project Developer**, or **Project Admin**.

Team role sets the baseline. Project roles let you grant more or less access on a per-project basis.

## Access groups

Managing access one person and one project at a time doesn't scale. Access groups solve this.

Access groups aren't on every plan either, so check [Access Groups](https://vercel.com/docs/rbac/access-groups) first. Go to **Settings > Access Groups** and click **Create Access Group**. Give it a name (like "Core Developers"), select the projects, add the members, and click **Create**. Everyone in the group gets access to every project in the group, all at once.

For teams with a lot of members and projects, this is the approach to use. Keeping an overview is significantly easier with access groups than with individual assignments.

## Recap

- **Environment variables** are scoped per environment, and Secret values are write-only after saving
- **Shared variables** prevent duplication across projects
- **Custom domains** can be added or purchased directly from the dashboard
- **Failover regions** give your functions a backup location, configured in `vercel.json`
- **Team roles** control baseline access; **project roles** fine-tune it per project
- **Access groups** let you manage permissions for many people and projects at once

## Follow up docs

- [Managing Environment Variables](https://vercel.com/docs/environment-variables/managing-environment-variables)
- [Shared Environment Variables](https://vercel.com/docs/environment-variables/shared-environment-variables)
- [Adding and Configuring a Custom Domain](https://vercel.com/docs/domains/working-with-domains/add-a-domain)
- [Configuring regions for Vercel Functions](https://vercel.com/docs/functions/configuring-functions/region)
- [Access Roles](https://vercel.com/docs/rbac/access-roles)


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