Creating a service

Creating a service is a short, guided wizard: you choose where it lives, what kind of service it is, a few settings, and optionally attach it to a project — all before anything is built. This page walks through every step.

Before you start

You need at least one connected cloud account. If you haven't done that yet, see connecting your accounts. Keep in mind that a service is a real cloud resource your cloud provider bills you for — The Deployer shows an estimated monthly cost before you create it.

Step by step

1. Open Services. In the left sidebar, click Services, then click New service (top right).
2. Pick a provider. Choose which connected cloud the service should live on (AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, or DigitalOcean). Click Continue.
3. Pick a category and engine. Choose Database, Cache, Queue, Storage bucket, or Email. Categories that a provider doesn't offer are shown but marked unavailable, with the reason. Once you pick a category, choose an engine — the specific technology, for example PostgreSQL or MySQL for a database, or Redis for a cache. Click Continue.
4. Configure it. Give the service a recognisable name (like main-db or session-cache), pick a region (which is pre-filled with your account's default), and, where offered, a version and a size. Each size shows its own estimated monthly cost, so you can trade power against price. Click Continue.
5. Attach to a project (optional). You can point the service at a project now, or skip and do it later. If you pick a project, an AI agent reads its code and tells you whether the service fits — see attaching a service to a project for what the verdicts mean. To skip, choose Skip — just create it. Click Continue.
6. Review and create. Check the summary — provider, engine, name, region, size, cost, and whether it'll auto-attach. You'll see a reminder that this creates a billable resource in your cloud account. Click Create service.

Email services have one extra field on the configure step (a sending domain). That whole flow is covered separately in Sending email.

What happens after you click Create

You land on the service's own page, where a Provisioning log streams live updates as the cloud resource is set up. The service moves through three statuses:

Provisioning usually takes anywhere from under a minute to several minutes depending on the provider and engine.

Cost and connection details

Every service page shows its estimated monthly cost. Once the status is ready, you can reveal its connection details (the address and credentials your app uses) with the Reveal button — these are stored encrypted. You normally don't need to copy them by hand: attaching the service wires them into your project automatically. More on that in attaching a service to a project.