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Alex Spinov
Alex Spinov

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Coolify Has a Free API: Self-Host Your Apps Like Vercel — On Your Own Server

#docker #devops #selfhosted #tutorial

What is Coolify?

Coolify is an open-source, self-hosted alternative to Vercel, Netlify, and Heroku. Deploy any application — Node.js, Python, Go, PHP, static sites — to your own server with automatic SSL, CI/CD, and monitoring.

All for free. On a $5 VPS.

Install (60 Seconds) 

curl -fsSL https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/install.sh | bash
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Open http://your-server:8000 — you have a full PaaS dashboard.

The Coolify API

Coolify exposes a REST API for managing everything programmatically:

export COOLIFY_URL="http://your-server:8000/api/v1"
export COOLIFY_TOKEN="your-api-token"
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List Applications 

curl -s "$COOLIFY_URL/applications" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $COOLIFY_TOKEN" | jq '.[].name'
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Deploy an Application 

# Create application from Git repo
curl -X POST "$COOLIFY_URL/applications" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $COOLIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "project_uuid": "project-uuid",
    "server_uuid": "server-uuid",
    "environment_name": "production",
    "git_repository": "https://github.com/user/repo",
    "git_branch": "main",
    "build_pack": "nixpacks",
    "ports_exposes": "3000"
  }'
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Trigger Deployment 

curl -X POST "$COOLIFY_URL/applications/{uuid}/deploy" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $COOLIFY_TOKEN"
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Manage Databases 

# Create PostgreSQL database
curl -X POST "$COOLIFY_URL/databases" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $COOLIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "type": "postgresql",
    "name": "my-db",
    "server_uuid": "server-uuid"
  }'

# List all databases
curl -s "$COOLIFY_URL/databases" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $COOLIFY_TOKEN" | jq '.[].name'
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What You Can Deploy

  • Any language: Node.js, Python, Go, Rust, PHP, Ruby, Java, .NET
  • Frameworks: Next.js, Nuxt, SvelteKit, Laravel, Django, Rails
  • Databases: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis, MariaDB
  • Services: Plausible, Umami, Ghost, WordPress, Minio, Supabase
  • Docker Compose: Any docker-compose.yml

Automatic SSL

Coolify automatically provisions Let's Encrypt SSL certificates:

# Just add your domain in the dashboard
# SSL is provisioned automatically within seconds
domain: myapp.com
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No nginx config, no certbot cron jobs, no manual renewal.

Webhooks for CI/CD 

# GitHub webhook triggers auto-deploy on push
# Set in GitHub repo settings:
# URL: https://coolify.yourserver.com/webhooks/github
# Secret: (from Coolify dashboard)
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Push to main → Coolify auto-builds and deploys. Like Vercel, but on your server.

Resource Monitoring

Coolify monitors CPU, memory, disk, and network for all containers:

curl -s "$COOLIFY_URL/servers/{uuid}/resources" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $COOLIFY_TOKEN" | jq
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Cost Comparison

Platform Free Tier Paid
Vercel 100GB bandwidth $20/mo
Netlify 100GB bandwidth $19/mo
Heroku None (removed) $5-25/mo per dyno
Coolify + Hetzner Unlimited $4.15/mo total

You own everything. No vendor lock-in. No bandwidth limits.

Need help self-hosting or building deployment automation?

📧 spinov001@gmail.com
🔧 My tools on Apify Store

Self-hosted or managed PaaS? Share your approach!

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