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Alex Spinov
Alex Spinov

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Zeabur Has a Free API: Deploy Any App in 30 Seconds With One-Click Templates, Built-In Databases, and Global Edge Network

#webdev #api #programming #devops

You found a cool open-source project on GitHub. You want to try it. The README says: install Docker, create a .env file, set up a database, configure nginx, generate SSL certs. 45 minutes later you're debugging a port conflict. Zeabur deploys that same project in one click.

What Zeabur Actually Does

Zeabur is a deployment platform with a focus on developer experience and one-click templates. It has a marketplace of 200+ pre-built templates — databases, CMS platforms, monitoring tools, AI apps — that deploy in seconds. For custom apps, push from GitHub or use their CLI.

Zeabur's edge network serves your app from the nearest region automatically. Built-in services include Postgres, MySQL, Redis, MongoDB, and RabbitMQ. The platform supports Node.js, Python, Go, Rust, Java, PHP, .NET, Ruby, Elixir, and any Docker container.

Free tier: $5/mo credit (enough for a small service + database). Paid plans start at $5/mo with more resources.

Quick Start

One-click deploy from a template:

# Or use CLI
npx zeabur login
npx zeabur deploy  # In your project directory
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Or connect GitHub — auto-deploys on push.

Zeabur API:

# Deploy a service
curl -X POST https://gateway.zeabur.com/graphql \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": "mutation { createService(projectId: \"proj-123\", template: \"postgres\") { _id name } }"
  }'
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Add a database to your project:

# In Zeabur dashboard: click "Add Service" → "Marketplace" → "PostgreSQL"
# Connection string is automatically injected as DATABASE_URL
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3 Practical Use Cases

1. Deploy Open-Source Tools Instantly

One-click deploys for popular tools:

  • n8n — workflow automation
  • Umami — privacy-focused analytics
  • Plausible — lightweight analytics
  • Ghostfolio — portfolio tracker
  • Uptime Kuma — monitoring
  • Hoppscotch — API testing

Click template → deployed with database in 30 seconds.

2. Full-Stack App with Services 

Project: my-saas
├── web (Next.js from GitHub) → auto-detected, built, deployed
├── api (Express from GitHub) → auto-detected, built, deployed
├── PostgreSQL → one-click from marketplace
├── Redis → one-click from marketplace
└── All services share internal networking
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Environment variables are auto-injected between services.

3. Preview Environments per Branch 

main branch → production.myapp.zeabur.app
feature-auth → feature-auth.myapp.zeabur.app
fix-bug-123 → fix-bug-123.myapp.zeabur.app
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Every PR gets its own deployment with its own database.

Why This Matters

Zeabur reduces deployment friction to near zero. The template marketplace means you can have a full self-hosted stack (analytics, CMS, monitoring, databases) running in minutes instead of hours. For developers who want to self-host open-source tools without the DevOps overhead, Zeabur is the fastest path.

Need custom data extraction or web scraping solutions? I build production-grade scrapers and data pipelines. Check out my Apify actors or email me at spinov001@gmail.com for custom projects.

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