Deploy Local Projects

Deploy any local project to your server with a single click.

Quick Deploy

1. Open the Projects tab
2. Find your project
3. Click Deploy to Cloud
4. Configure the deployment
5. Click Deploy

Deployment Configuration

Subdomain

Choose a subdomain for your deployment:

• Must be unique among your deployments
• Same rules as tunnel subdomains
• Example: myapp → myapp.hosted.yourdomain.com

Dockerfile

Expose can:

Use Existing Dockerfile If your project has a Dockerfile, Expose uses it as-is.

Generate Dockerfile If no Dockerfile exists, Expose generates one based on your framework:

# Generated for FastAPI
FROM python:3.12-slim
WORKDIR /app
COPY requirements.txt .
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
COPY . .
EXPOSE 8000
CMD ["uvicorn", "main:app", "--host", "0.0.0.0", "--port", "8000"]

You can edit the generated Dockerfile before deploying.

Environment Variables

Add configuration:

Variable	Value
DATABASE_URL	postgres://...
SECRET_KEY	your-secret

Variables are:

• Encrypted in the database
• Available during build (ARG)
• Available at runtime (ENV)

Supported Frameworks

Node.js

Framework	Dockerfile Strategy
Next.js	Multi-stage build, standalone output
Nuxt	Multi-stage build
Vite/React/Vue	Build to static, nginx serve
Express	Node runtime, npm start
NestJS	Multi-stage, dist output

Python

Framework	Dockerfile Strategy
FastAPI	Python slim, uvicorn
Django	Python, gunicorn, collectstatic
Flask	Python, gunicorn
Streamlit	Python, streamlit run

Go

All Go frameworks use multi-stage builds:

1. Build with golang:1.22
2. Run on scratch or alpine

Rust

Multi-stage build:

1. Build with rust:1.77
2. Run on debian:bookworm-slim

Source Packaging

When you deploy, Expose:

1. Creates a tar.gz of your project
2. Respects .dockerignore (or uses sensible defaults)
3. Uploads to the server
4. Extracts and builds

Default Ignores

If no .dockerignore exists:

Node.js

node_modules/
.next/
dist/
.env*

# Python
__pycache__/
.venv/
venv/
.env*

# General
.git/
.DS_Store
*.swp

Custom .dockerignore

Create a .dockerignore for fine-grained control:

# Ignore test files
tests/
*.test.js

# Ignore dev configs
.eslintrc
.prettierrc

# Keep .env.example
!.env.example

Deployment Progress

Watch the deployment process:

1. Packaging — Creating archive
2. Uploading — Sending to server
3. Building — Docker build running
4. Pushing — Storing image in registry
5. Starting — Running container
6. Running — Deployment complete

After Deployment

Once deployed:

• View at https://subdomain.hosted.yourdomain.com
• Check logs in the macOS app
• Monitor in the dashboard

Updating

To deploy changes:

1. Make changes locally
2. Go to the deployment
3. Click Redeploy
4. New build starts

Or use Git deployment with webhooks for automatic updates.

Tips

Test Locally First

# Build the Dockerfile locally
docker build -t myapp .

# Run and test
docker run -p 3000:3000 myapp

Use .dockerignore

Smaller archives = faster uploads and builds.

Set PORT Environment Variable

Many frameworks read PORT. Expose sets it automatically, but you can override it in environment variables.