The Deployer documentation
Creating & deploying a project

Create a project

A project in The Deployer is one app: a single code repository (the folder that holds your app's code) deployed to one cloud account. A project deploys one service of that repository; when the repository holds several, such as a website and an API, each one becomes its own project, one click apart (see choosing what to deploy). Creating a project is the first step of every deployment, and it kicks off the automatic reading of your code. This page walks you through it.

Before you begin

You need one cloud provider and one GitHub account connected. If you haven't done that yet, the deploy guide starts there and walks you through it, or see connect your accounts. It only takes a few minutes.

Create your project with the deploy guide

  1. In the left sidebar, open Projects, then click New project (top right).
  2. The deploy guide opens: a conversation on one side and your plan on the other, with the seven steps from Connect to Launch. Tell it which app to put online (for example deploy my shop repository) or pick the repository in the panel. It creates the project on the repository's default branch unless you name another one.
  3. From there the guide walks you through each step. It explains what it found and what each choice means, recommends an option, and shows the step's panel so you can act on it. You can type questions at any point, in your own words and your own language, or just use the buttons.

A few things the guide will and won't do:

  • It never spends money or changes your code on its own. Launching, committing code fixes, setting up a domain's DNS and connecting accounts are always your click, in the panel. The guide brings you to the button and explains it.
  • Keys you paste into the chat are kept out of the conversation. They're stored encrypted and filed into your app's settings; the guide only ever sees the setting's name, never the value. The Settings panel is still the easiest place to enter them.
  • It sticks to getting your app online. It won't write poems, answer trivia, or take on a different role, and it doesn't share how it's set up.

Prefer a form? Use Step by step

The switch at the top of the page, AI guide / Step by step, changes modes at any time, and your progress carries over. In Step by step, New project opens a short form:

  1. Project name: type any friendly name, like My awesome app. It's just a label for you; you can have as many projects as you like.
  2. Cloud provider: choose which connected cloud account this app should run in (AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, or DigitalOcean). This is your account; the app and its data live there, not on someone else's platform.
  3. GitHub account: if you've connected more than one, pick the one that owns the code you want to deploy.
  4. Repository: click the box and search your repositories by name. Private repos are supported and show a small private tag. Click the one you want.
  5. Branch: a branch is one version of your code (most people just have main or master). The default branch is selected for you and marked (default); change it only if you deploy from a different branch.
  6. Click Create project & start scanning.

What happens next

As soon as the project is created, a specialist agent starts reading your code to understand what it is and what it needs; the guide tells you what it found when it's done. See Analysis: how we read your code for what it detects.

Both modes go through the same steps: Analysis, Environment, Code Readiness, Architecture, Workflow, Domains, Launch, then your Dashboard. In Step by step they are tabs across the top of the project; in the guide they are the plan beside the conversation. You can leave and come back any time; your progress is saved.

When costs start

Creating a project and scanning your code creates no cloud resources — the scan only reads your repository to understand it. Real resources are created later, when you Launch. Because they run in your own cloud account, your cloud provider bills you for them directly, and you'll always see a cost estimate for each option before you commit — see costs & billing. Deleting a project tears those resources back down (see below), so nothing keeps running longer than you want.

Managing and deleting projects

Every project appears as a card on the Projects page, showing its repository, cloud provider, and current stage. Click a card to open it. To remove one, click the trash icon on its card — you'll be asked whether to also tear down any real cloud resources it created (only resources tagged for that specific project are touched; nothing else in your cloud account is affected). Deleting is optional and fully in your control.