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dokploy

Expert guidance for Dokploy, the open-source, self-hosted Platform as a Service alternative to Vercel, Netlify, and Heroku. Helps developers deploy applications, databases, and services on their own VPS with automatic SSL, Docker-based isolation, and a web dashboard for management.

#self-hosted#paas#deployment#docker#vps
terminal-skillsv1.0.0
Works with:claude-codeopenai-codexgemini-clicursor
Source

Usage

$
✓ Installed dokploy v1.0.0

Getting Started

  1. Install the skill using the command above
  2. Open your AI coding agent (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, or Cursor)
  3. Reference the skill in your prompt
  4. The AI will use the skill's capabilities automatically

Example Prompts

  • "Deploy the latest build to the staging environment and run smoke tests"
  • "Check the CI pipeline status and summarize any recent failures"

Documentation

Overview

Dokploy, the open-source, self-hosted Platform as a Service alternative to Vercel, Netlify, and Heroku. Helps developers deploy applications, databases, and services on their own VPS with automatic SSL, Docker-based isolation, and a web dashboard for management.

Instructions

Installation

Deploy Dokploy on any VPS with one command:

bash
# Install Dokploy (requires Ubuntu 22.04+ or Debian 12+, minimum 1GB RAM)
curl -sSL https://dokploy.com/install.sh | sh

# Access the dashboard at https://your-server-ip:3000
# Default credentials are set during installation

# Or install with Docker Compose manually
git clone https://github.com/Dokploy/dokploy.git
cd dokploy
docker compose up -d

Application Deployment

Deploy applications from Git repositories:

yaml
# dokploy.yml — Application configuration (optional, can use dashboard)
name: my-api
type: application

# Source configuration
source:
  type: github
  repository: myorg/my-api
  branch: main
  autoDeploy: true              # Deploy on every push

# Build configuration
build:
  type: dockerfile              # dockerfile | buildpacks | nixpacks
  dockerfilePath: ./Dockerfile
  context: .

# Runtime configuration
runtime:
  port: 3000
  replicas: 2
  resources:
    memory: 512M
    cpu: 0.5
  healthCheck:
    path: /health
    interval: 30s
    timeout: 10s

# Environment variables
env:
  NODE_ENV: production
  DATABASE_URL: ${DATABASE_URL}  # Reference from Dokploy secrets

# Domain configuration
domains:
  - host: api.myapp.com
    https: true                  # Auto-provision SSL with Let's Encrypt
    forceHttps: true

Database Services

Provision managed databases alongside your applications:

yaml
# Deploy PostgreSQL
databases:
  - name: main-db
    type: postgresql
    version: "16"
    storage: 10Gi
    backup:
      enabled: true
      schedule: "0 2 * * *"      # Daily at 2 AM
      retention: 7                # Keep 7 days

  - name: cache
    type: redis
    version: "7"
    storage: 1Gi

  - name: search
    type: mariadb
    version: "11"
    storage: 5Gi

Docker Compose Projects

Deploy complex multi-service applications:

yaml
# docker-compose.yml — Deployed as a Dokploy compose project
version: "3.8"

services:
  api:
    build:
      context: ./api
      dockerfile: Dockerfile
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      - DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:${DB_PASSWORD}@db:5432/myapp
      - REDIS_URL=redis://redis:6379
    depends_on:
      - db
      - redis
    deploy:
      replicas: 2

  worker:
    build:
      context: ./worker
      dockerfile: Dockerfile
    environment:
      - DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:${DB_PASSWORD}@db:5432/myapp
      - REDIS_URL=redis://redis:6379
    depends_on:
      - db
      - redis

  db:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    volumes:
      - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}
      - POSTGRES_DB=myapp

  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    volumes:
      - redisdata:/data

volumes:
  pgdata:
  redisdata:

API for Automation

typescript
// scripts/deploy.ts — Automate Dokploy via REST API
const DOKPLOY_URL = "https://dokploy.myserver.com";
const DOKPLOY_TOKEN = process.env.DOKPLOY_TOKEN!;

async function dokployFetch(path: string, options?: RequestInit) {
  return fetch(`${DOKPLOY_URL}/api${path}`, {
    ...options,
    headers: {
      Authorization: `Bearer ${DOKPLOY_TOKEN}`,
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
      ...options?.headers,
    },
  }).then((r) => r.json());
}

// Trigger a deployment
async function deploy(applicationId: string) {
  return dokployFetch(`/application/${applicationId}/deploy`, {
    method: "POST",
  });
}

// Get application logs
async function getLogs(applicationId: string, lines = 100) {
  return dokployFetch(`/application/${applicationId}/logs?lines=${lines}`);
}

// Update environment variables
async function updateEnv(applicationId: string, envVars: Record<string, string>) {
  const envString = Object.entries(envVars)
    .map(([k, v]) => `${k}=${v}`)
    .join("\n");

  return dokployFetch(`/application/${applicationId}`, {
    method: "PATCH",
    body: JSON.stringify({ env: envString }),
  });
}

Monitoring and Alerts

yaml
# Built-in monitoring features:
# - Container CPU/memory usage graphs
# - Deployment history with logs
# - SSL certificate expiration alerts
# - Disk usage monitoring
# - Docker container health status

# Webhook notifications for deployment events
notifications:
  - type: webhook
    url: https://hooks.slack.com/services/xxx
    events: [deploy_success, deploy_failure, health_check_failure]

  - type: email
    to: ops@myapp.com
    events: [deploy_failure, ssl_expiring]

Examples

Example 1: Setting up Dokploy for a microservices project

User request:

I have a Node.js API and a React frontend running in Docker. Set up Dokploy for monitoring/deployment.

The agent creates the necessary configuration files based on patterns like # Install Dokploy (requires Ubuntu 22.04+ or Debian 12+, min, sets up the integration with the existing Docker setup, configures appropriate defaults for a Node.js + React stack, and provides verification commands to confirm everything is working.

Example 2: Troubleshooting application deployment issues

User request:

Dokploy is showing errors in our application deployment. Here are the logs: [error output]

The agent analyzes the error output, identifies the root cause by cross-referencing with common Dokploy issues, applies the fix (updating configuration, adjusting resource limits, or correcting syntax), and verifies the resolution with appropriate health checks.

Guidelines

  1. Use a dedicated VPS — Don't share the Dokploy server with other workloads; it manages Docker and networking
  2. Enable automatic backups — Configure database backups with retention; test restores regularly
  3. Set resource limits — Always define memory and CPU limits per application to prevent one service from starving others
  4. Health checks on every service — Dokploy uses health checks for zero-downtime deployments and auto-restart
  5. Use secrets for sensitive values — Store API keys and passwords in Dokploy's secret management, not in docker-compose files
  6. Auto-deploy from main branch — Enable auto-deploy for staging; use manual deploy for production
  7. Monitor disk usage — Docker images and volumes accumulate; set up image pruning cron jobs
  8. Reverse proxy headers — Dokploy uses Traefik; your app should trust X-Forwarded-For and X-Forwarded-Proto headers

Information

Version
1.0.0
Author
terminal-skills
Category
DevOps
License
Apache-2.0