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Alex Spinov
Alex Spinov

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Coolify Has a Free API — Self-Host Anything with One Click

#coolify #selfhosted #deployment #devops

TL;DR

Coolify is an open-source, self-hostable Heroku/Netlify/Vercel alternative. Deploy any app, database, or service to your own server with a beautiful UI — no vendor lock-in, no monthly fees.

What Is Coolify?

Coolify is your own PaaS:

  • One-click deploys — push to Git, Coolify deploys
  • Any language — Node.js, Python, Go, Rust, PHP, anything with Docker
  • 100+ templates — WordPress, Ghost, Plausible, Supabase, n8n, etc.
  • Free SSL — automatic Let's Encrypt certificates
  • Database management — PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis one-click
  • Server monitoring — CPU, memory, disk, network
  • Free — MIT license, self-hosted

Quick Start 

# Install Coolify on any VPS (Ubuntu 22.04+)
curl -fsSL https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/install.sh | bash

# Access at http://YOUR_SERVER_IP:8000
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Deploy a Next.js App

  1. Connect your GitHub/GitLab repository in Coolify UI
  2. Select the repository and branch
  3. Coolify auto-detects Next.js and configures build
  4. Click "Deploy" — done! 
# Coolify generates these automatically:
# Build command: npm run build
# Start command: npm start
# Port: 3000
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Deploy Any Docker App 

# docker-compose.yml — Coolify supports these directly
version: "3"
services:
  app:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      - DATABASE_URL=${DATABASE_URL}
    depends_on:
      - db

  db:
    image: postgres:16
    volumes:
      - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}

volumes:
  pgdata:
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One-Click Services

Coolify can deploy 100+ services with one click:

Databases:

  • PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB, Redis, Dragonfly

Apps:

  • WordPress, Ghost, Strapi, Directus, Payload CMS
  • Plausible Analytics, Umami, Matomo
  • Gitea, n8n, Appwrite, Supabase
  • MinIO, Grafana, Uptime Kuma

Coolify API 

# List all applications
curl -s http://coolify.example.com/api/v1/applications \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" | jq

# Deploy an application
curl -X POST http://coolify.example.com/api/v1/applications/APP_UUID/deploy \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"

# Get application logs
curl -s http://coolify.example.com/api/v1/applications/APP_UUID/logs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"
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Environment Variables 

# Set env vars via API
curl -X POST http://coolify.example.com/api/v1/applications/APP_UUID/envs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"key": "DATABASE_URL", "value": "postgresql://...", "is_build_time": false}'
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Coolify vs Alternatives

Feature Coolify Vercel Railway CapRover
Cost $0 (self-host) $20/mo+ $5/mo+ $0 (self-host)
Git deploy Yes Yes Yes Yes
Docker support Full Limited Full Full
One-click apps 100+ Templates Templates OneClick apps
SSL Auto Auto Auto Auto
Multi-server Yes N/A N/A No
UI Modern Excellent Good Basic
Monitoring Built-in Basic Basic Basic

Minimum Server Requirements

  • 2 CPU cores
  • 2 GB RAM
  • 30 GB disk
  • Ubuntu 22.04+

A $5/month Hetzner or $4/month Contabo VPS is enough to start!

Resources

Need to deploy scraping infrastructure? My Apify tools run in the cloud, but for self-hosted scrapers, Coolify is the perfect deployment platform. Questions? Email spinov001@gmail.com

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