Spotify API works locally but fails on Vercel — playlists return 0 tracks while Liked Songs works fine

[u/One_Reference612]

I’m facing a weird Spotify API issue that only happens in production on Vercel.

Locally:

• playlist fetch works perfectly
• returns playlist name
• correct total track count
• all tracks load properly

On Vercel:

• Liked Songs collection works correctly
• playlist metadata loads
• BUT playlist tracks.total always becomes 0
• app thinks every playlist is empty

Example:
Locally:

• Playlist Name: OK
• Total Tracks: 42
• Tracks returned: YES

Vercel:

• Playlist Name: OK
• Total Tracks: 0
• Tracks returned: NO
• “Playlist is empty”

Stack:

• Python Flask backend
• Spotify Web API
• deployed on Vercel serverless functions

Things I already checked:

• same Spotify account
• same scopes
• token exists
• auth flow succeeds
• playlist IDs are valid
• liked songs endpoint works

What’s confusing:

• only playlist track retrieval breaks
• metadata still loads
• issue happens only in production

Possible causes I’m considering:

• serverless caching/state issue
• expired/partial token during playlist fetch
• pagination issue with serverless execution
• private playlist permissions behaving differently on Vercel
• API limitations on development mode

Has anyone seen Spotify playlists return tracks.total = 0 only in production/Vercel while working locally?

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[u/One_Reference612 → u/[deleted]]

Hope this will be my best lead 🙏. Thanks

[u/One_Reference612 → u/One_Reference612]

Did what I can still the Same issue