Coolify: Self-hosted Heroku / Vercel

Coolify is an open source Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) platform. It lets you deploy applications from Git repository with a click, manage databases, add domains with automatic SSL: all from your VPS.

Minimum requirements: 2 CPU, 2 GB RAM, Ubuntu 22.04/Debian 12.

Installation

# Install Coolify with official script
curl -fsSL https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/install.sh | bash

The script installs Docker, configures services and starts Coolify. At the end it shows the access URL: http://SERVER_IP:8000.

On first access create the admin account.

Initial configuration

1. Add a server

After login go to Servers → Add Server. To deploy on the same VPS choose "Localhost".

2. Connect a Git repository

Go to Sources → Add and add GitHub, GitLab or Gitea. Follow the OAuth wizard to authorize access to your repositories.

3. Create an application

Projects → New Project → New Resource → Application

Coolify automatically detects the project type (Node.js, PHP, Python, static site) from the repository and configures the build.

Supported languages and frameworks

• Node.js (Next.js, NuxtJS, Express, Remix)
• PHP (Laravel, Symfony, WordPress)
• Python (Django, FastAPI, Flask)
• Ruby on Rails
• Static sites (Astro, Hugo, Vite, React build)
• Docker (any Dockerfile or docker-compose.yml)
• Database (PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB, Redis)

Deploy from Git

Once the app is configured, Coolify can auto-deploy on every push:

1. Go to the application → Webhooks
2. Copy the webhook URL
3. Add it to your GitHub/GitLab repository settings
4. Every push to the configured branch triggers a new deploy

Database management

Coolify can create managed databases with a click:

Project → New Resource → Database → PostgreSQL/MySQL/Redis

Databases are launched as Docker containers with configurable automatic backups.

Automatic SSL

Coolify uses Traefik internally and integrates Let's Encrypt. To add a domain with SSL:

1. Go to the application → Domains
2. Add the domain (e.g. app.yourdomain.com)
3. Point the DNS A record to the server IP
4. Coolify automatically issues and renews the certificate

Update Coolify

# From terminal on the server
curl -fsSL https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/install.sh | bash

Or from the panel: Settings → Update.

Backup and restore

# Coolify data is in /data/coolify
# Manual backup
tar -czf coolify-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /data/coolify

# Restore
tar -xzf coolify-backup.tar.gz -C /
docker compose -f /data/coolify/source/docker-compose.yml restart