Quick start

Before you start#

• A DevLyft account. Sign up and confirm your email. The first time you open the dashboard it walks you through creating an organisation, a project and an environment. If you completed that, skip to step 2.
• A Docker or OCI image pushed to a registry DevLyft can pull from, for example ghcr.io/acme/web:1.0.0. See Docker images.
• Your application's port, the port it listens on inside the container, for example 8080.
• Optionally, a domain whose DNS you can edit, for step 6.

1. Create a project#

A project holds everything for one application.

1. Projects→New project.
2. Enter a Name, such as web, and choose Create project.

More: Create a project.

2. Create a build#

A build tells DevLyft which image to run and how much CPU and memory each copy gets.

1. Builds→New build.
2. Choose your Project and enter a Name (web).
3. Enter the Image and Tag separately.
4. Enter the Container port. You need it to expose the app in step 5.
5. Leave CPU and Memory at 0.5 CPU and 512 MB, or adjust them.
6. Choose Create build.

Name             web
Image            ghcr.io/acme/web
Tag              1.0.0
Container port   8080
CPU / Memory     0.5 CPU / 512 MB

More: Create a build.

3. Create an environment#

Environments separate stages such as staging and production. Each has its own secrets, deploys and tenancy.

1. On Projects, choose Add environment under your project.
2. Enter a Name: production.
3. Leave Tenancy on Shared to start. You pay only for the CPU and memory you request, per second. See Shared vs isolated compute.
4. Choose Create environment.

More: Create an environment.

4. Configure secrets#

Store credentials before you deploy, so the first replicas start with them.

1. Secrets, then pick your Project and the production Environment.
2. Under Set a secret, enter a Name such as DATABASE_URL and its Value.
3. Choose Save secret. Repeat for each secret.

Values are write-only: you'll never see them again in the dashboard or API. More: Secrets and environment variables.

5. Deploy the build#

A deploy runs the build in your environment. DevLyft keeps the number of replicas you choose running.

1. Deployments→New deploy.
2. Choose the Project, Environment (production) and Build (web:1.0.0).
3. Enter a Deploy name: web.
4. Leave Tenancy on Inherit, pick a Location near your users, and set Replicas (1 is fine to start).
5. Tick Publicly expose this deploy (edge ingress).
6. Under Environment variables, choose + Secret and pick DATABASE_URL. Add plain values with + Variable.
7. Choose Create deploy.

Check it's starting: open Pods and wait for the Phase to reach Running, or choose ⋮ > Watch logs on the deploy to see your application's output. More: Deploy a build.

6. Connect a domain#

1. Domains→Claim domain, enter example.com.
2. Publish the TXT record shown, then choose Verify now.
3. On Deployments, open Routes on your deploy, enter the subdomain www, pick example.com and choose Attach route.
4. Publish the CNAME the dialog shows.

_devlyft-challenge.example.com.   TXT     "<verification_token>"
www.example.com.                  CNAME   <cname_target from the dashboard>.

More, including apex domains: Custom domains.

7. Confirm the application is live#

Check DNS first, then HTTPS:

$ dig +short www.example.com
d0c43d3885064d9a.edge.devlyft.io.
203.0.113.10

$ curl -I https://www.example.com
HTTP/2 200

• DNS returns your target and an IP address. The CNAME is live.
• HTTPS works. The certificate is issued automatically a few minutes after the CNAME resolves. If curl reports a certificate error, wait and retry.
• You get your application's response. If not, check the deploy's logs and see Troubleshooting.

Next steps#

• Ship a new version: create a new build and switch the deploy to it. See Update and redeploy.
• Right-size CPU and memory with Adjust resources and Metrics.
• Add a staging environment and invite your team from Team.
• Add a payment card on Billing.