Earlier quoted context omitted.
This instantly reminded me of Next.js, which is open source but has a special build format for serverless environments. The 1st party implementation is closed source: 3rd parties start on the back foot trying to implement alternatives and have to keep up with a 1st party that can move in lockstep. And sure enough, like every other time I see this kind of behavior: Deno was invested in by the CEO of Vercel. "Javascrip…
You can build a Next.js app and run it on a docker container or regular linux host almost anywhere. Vercel has some nice continuous deployment stuff built-in but I'm not sure how a Next.js app is locked into it at all.
Next.js and Vercel heavily push serverless deployment: 13 reworked the built-in API support to leverage Web Standards, which discarded interop with the a much larger server ecosystem in order to enable better edge support.
Serverless deploys require providers to support the Next.js Build API: https://nextjs.org/docs/pages/building-your-application/depl...
There is no open implementation of this API (unlike Remix for example)
This means projects like Open Next start from 0: https://open-next.js.org/
The end result is significantly fractured support for a headline feature of the framework and a lot of unnecessary pain (https://betterprogramming.pub/beware-of-next-js-on-aws-ampli...) trying to leverage it on any non-Vercel platform.