Documentation

Everything KamalCloud does, and why it does it that way.

KamalCloud builds servers in your own cloud account and runs Kamal against your repositories. These pages cover the whole of it, from connecting a provider to handing an API token to an agent.

Start with the quickstart Read the concepts

Start here

01QuickstartFrom a new account to a deployed app, in the order the product asks for things.
02What KamalCloud isA control plane for Kamal. Your cloud accounts, your servers, your Kamal config -- driven from one place.
03ConceptsEvery noun in KamalCloud, in one place, and how they relate.

Every page, by section.

40 pages across 6 sections.

Start

4 pages

What KamalCloud isA control plane for Kamal. Your cloud accounts, your servers, your Kamal config -- driven from one place.
QuickstartFrom a new account to a deployed app, in the order the product asks for things.
ConceptsEvery noun in KamalCloud, in one place, and how they relate.
Kamal and KamalCloudWhich Kamal version KamalCloud runs, the two files it writes, and how to run the same deploy without it.

Infrastructure

5 pages

ProvidersConnecting Hetzner, DigitalOcean, AWS or your own machines, and what each connection can do.
ServersBuilding machines, adopting machines, and everything KamalCloud can do to one.
Self-hosted serversDeploying to your own hardware, or to a provider KamalCloud does not speak to.
SSH keysThe control key, the deploy key, and getting them onto machines.
HardeningWhat KamalCloud checks on a machine, and the fixes it will apply one at a time.

Deploying

20 pages

RunnersThe machine Kamal runs on, and what preparing it installs.
Git providersConnecting GitHub, GitLab, Gitea or Bitbucket, and what push-to-deploy needs.
AppsA repository deployed with Kamal, and what your repository has to have.
EnvironmentsA Kamal destination, and everything that hangs off one.
Hosts and rolesPlacing servers in Kamal roles, and what several machines in one environment needs.
DeploymentsEvery kind of run KamalCloud makes against an environment, and what each one does.
Variables and secretsEnvironment variables Kamal passes to your container, in the clear or by name.
Domains and TLSHostnames kamal-proxy answers for, DNS checks, and when you have to supply a certificate.
PortsPublishing raw TCP and UDP that kamal-proxy cannot front.
AccessoriesDatabases and caches Kamal runs alongside the app, with their own lifecycle and backups.
VolumesData your containers mount, and getting it somewhere that outlives the machine.
BackupsS3 buckets, schedules, retention, restores and downloads.
TasksCommands that run inside your container on a schedule.
TemplatesOff-the-shelf apps installed from an image, with no repository of your own.
DirectusInstalling the Directus template -- a headless CMS and data API on SQLite -- and signing in for the first time.
VaultwardenInstalling the Vaultwarden template -- a password manager every Bitwarden client can use -- and inviting the first user.
StalwartInstalling the Stalwart template -- SMTP, IMAP, JMAP, CalDAV and CardDAV in one server -- from first boot to sending mail.
WordPressInstalling the WordPress template -- the site builder and blog, on MySQL -- and running its installer after the first deploy.
RunwellInstalling the Runwell template -- agency project management with a client portal, on SQLite -- and making the owner account.
Importing an existing appTaking over something already deployed by hand, without touching it.

Operating

6 pages

ActivityWhat is running right now, and settling what is stuck.
Logs and shellLive container output, and a shell inside the running container.
NotificationsWhere an account wants to be told things, and which things.
DashboardsWhat the fleet costs and how it is behaving.
Team and accessUsers, roles, invitations and join codes.
BillingThe one plan, the trial, and what happens when a payment fails.

Automating

4 pages

Change requestsThe human gate. Everything the API and CLI propose waits here.
APIReading your account without a browser, and proposing changes that wait for a person.
CLIkamal-cloud -- a thin CLI over the API. Reads answer; changes wait.
MCPOne tool per action a person could take, offered through the caller's own role, with a preview before anything expensive.

Help

1 page

TroubleshootingThe things that go wrong first, and what they mean.