Deployment

Deploy your goilerplate application to production

goilerplate includes a Dockerfile for easy deployment to any platform.

Easiest option: Dokploy or Coolify

Self-hosted platforms that work like Heroku but on your own VPS ($5-10/month). One-click deployment, automatic SSL, built-in PostgreSQL templates.

Setup:

  1. Install Dokploy/Coolify on a VPS (Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Linode)
  2. Connect your Git repo
  3. Select “Dockerfile” as build method
  4. Add volume for /app/data (if using SQLite)
  5. Set environment variables
  6. Deploy

Alternative: Managed Platforms

Don’t want to manage a VPS?

Railway / Render / fly.io - Deploy directly from Git, automatic HTTPS, built-in PostgreSQL options.

Setup:

  1. Connect GitHub repo
  2. Select Docker/Dockerfile
  3. Add database if needed (or use external)
  4. Set environment variables
  5. Deploy

Alternative: Pure Docker

Deploy on any VPS with Docker:

docker build -t myapp .
docker run -d -p 8090:8090 --env-file .env -v $(pwd)/data:/app/data myapp

Set up reverse proxy (Caddy, nginx) for HTTPS.

Environment Variables

Required in production:

# Application
APP_ENV=production
APP_URL=https://yourdomain.com
JWT_SECRET=<generate-strong-secret>

# Database (choose one)
DB_DRIVER=sqlite  # or pgx for PostgreSQL
DB_CONNECTION=./data/app.db  # or postgres://...

# Email (Resend)
RESEND_API_KEY=re_xxxxx
[email protected]

# Payment (Polar or Stripe)
PAYMENT_PROVIDER=polar
POLAR_API_KEY=polar_sk_xxxxx
POLAR_WEBHOOK_SECRET=whsec_xxxxx

# Storage (S3-compatible)
S3_BUCKET=your-bucket
S3_ACCESS_KEY=xxxxx
S3_SECRET_KEY=xxxxx
S3_ENDPOINT=  # leave empty for AWS S3

Database Options

SQLite (default): Works great for most apps. Just ensure /app/data is persisted (volume/mount).

PostgreSQL: For multi-region writes or advanced features. See PostgreSQL Guide.

Storage Options

Dev and prod: Same setup. Cloudflare R2 (recommended, 10GB free), AWS S3, DigitalOcean Spaces, or any S3-compatible service. Use separate buckets for dev and prod. See Storage.

Cost Estimate

Typical setup:

  • VPS: $5-10/month (Hetzner, DigitalOcean)
  • Database: SQLite (included) or external managed ($0-25/month)
  • Storage: Cloudflare R2 (free tier)
  • Total: $5-10/month for small-medium apps
← PhilosophyPostgreSQL Setup →