# Vercel Flags no longer requires SDK Keys for Vercel deployments

DevFeed: [Vercel Flags no longer requires SDK Keys for Vercel deployments](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/vercel-flags-no-longer-requires-sdk-keys-for-vercel-deployments-815.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://vercel.com/changelog/authenticate-vercel-flags-with-openid-connect-by-default>)

Author: Luis Meyer

Published: 2026-06-24T22:00:00Z

Content type: release

Language: en

Sources: [Vercel News](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/vercel-news.md>)

Topics: [SDKs](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/sdks.md>)

Tags: [authentication](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/authentication.md>), [deployment](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/deployment.md>), [development](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/development.md>), [local](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/local.md>), [vercel](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/vercel.md>)

## AI overview

New Vercel Flags projects running in Vercel deployments now authenticate with automatically supplied short-lived OIDC tokens, removing the need to configure SDK Keys or the FLAGS environment variable. SDK Keys remain supported and are still required for cross-project access, non-Vercel runtimes, and custom authentication.

## Source excerpt

New projects using Vercel Flags no longer need to configure SDK Keys or the FLAGS environment variable when evaluating flags inside a Vercel deployment. At runtime, the Vercel adapter automatically receives a short-lived OIDC token, so authentication is handled for you with zero configuration. For local development, link your project with vercel link and pull credentials with vercel env pull. That's it. Existing projects and all SDK Keys are unaffected. This change only applies to new projects, and SDK Keys remain fully supported and are still required for: Cross-project flag access Non-Vercel runtimes Custom authentication setups Read the Vercel Flags documentation to get started. Read more