skiff

Skiff

Ship it to a server you own. Push-to-deploy with a web console, automatic HTTPS, managed databases, and preview environments — running on infrastructure you control, not rented. One small Go binary detects your stack, builds it, and runs it on Docker, local or over SSH.

$ skiff deploy

  Skiff v0.1.0

  Deploying myapp
  target   local docker
  build    Node.js

  ✓ Built skiff-myapp:latest
  ✓ Healthy
  ✓ Live at http://myapp.localhost:8080  (2.4s)

Install

macOS / Linux:

curl -fsSL https://useskiff.xyz/cli | sh

Or with Homebrew: brew install nuelScript/tap/skiff. Or with Go (any platform): go install github.com/nuelScript/skiff@latest.

You'll need Docker running to build and deploy apps.

Quickstart

In your app's directory:

skiff proxy      # once, in its own terminal — the local *.localhost router
skiff init       # scaffold a skiff.toml
skiff deploy     # build + run → http://<app>.localhost:8080

Then skiff open <app> opens it. Want to try it without an app of your own? Clone the repo and deploy an example:

git clone https://github.com/nuelScript/skiff && cd skiff
go build -o skiff . && ./skiff deploy -c examples/node-hello/skiff.toml

What it builds

No Dockerfile required — Skiff detects the stack and generates the build:

Have a Dockerfile? Skiff uses it instead. Need to tweak a step? Set [build] commands in skiff.toml — the escape hatch short of a full Dockerfile.

The platform

Run the web console with skiff panel (or set it up on a server) for the whole platform in the browser:

• Push-to-deploy — connect GitHub and every push builds and ships, with zero-downtime rollout and instant rollback.
• Preview environments — every branch gets its own live URL and certificate.
• Managed databases — Postgres, MySQL, MongoDB, and Redis, provisioned and wired into your apps, with automatic daily backups.
• Object storage — S3-compatible buckets.
• Custom domains + automatic HTTPS — Let's Encrypt certificates, issued and renewed for you.
• Autoscaling — add and retire replicas to hold each app near a target CPU.
• Workers & cron — long-running background processes and scheduled jobs.
• Alerts — email, Slack, or webhook when a deploy fails, an app goes down, or 5xx errors spike.
• Teams, audit log, and API tokens — collaborators, an activity trail, and a token-authenticated API for CI.

Commands

The control plane itself — the web console (skiff panel) and edge router (skiff router) — is normally run for you by the server installer.

skiff.toml

name = "myapp"

[build]
port = 3000              # the port your app listens on
# dockerfile = "Dockerfile"

[env]                    # available at build + runtime
API_URL = "https://api.example.com"

[secrets]                # runtime only — never baked into the image
API_KEY = "..."

[resources]
memory = "512m"
cpu    = "0.5"

# [server]               # omit for local Docker
# host = "root@1.2.3.4"  # deploy to a remote box over SSH

A .env file next to skiff.toml is loaded too.

Zero-downtime

Every deploy builds the new version, health-checks it, atomically cuts traffic over, then drains and retires the old one. If the new version never becomes healthy, it rolls back and the old one keeps serving.

Run it on your own server

One command on a fresh Ubuntu/Debian box sets up the whole platform — Docker, the edge router (:80/:443 with automatic HTTPS), and the web console:

curl -fsSL https://useskiff.xyz/install | sh -s -- --domain example.com

Point *.example.com at the box, open https://dash.example.com, and log in with the setup key it prints. The full walkthrough is in the self-hosting guide.

Prefer the CLI? skiff server setup user@host bootstraps Docker on a box so you can skiff deploy to it over SSH.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md to get set up, and please follow our Code of Conduct. Found a security issue? Report it privately per SECURITY.md — not in a public issue.

License

Dual-licensed under either MIT or Apache-2.0, at your option.