Skip to content

deploying.md

Latest commit

 

History

History
137 lines (94 loc) · 6.07 KB

deploying.md

File metadata and controls

137 lines (94 loc) · 6.07 KB

Deploying on Coolify

This guide covers deploying the app to Coolify as 4 resources: main (web), worker (Solid Queue), PostgreSQL, and Redis.

Prerequisites

  • A Coolify instance (self-hosted or cloud)
  • Your repository connected to Coolify via GitHub

1. Create Services

PostgreSQL

  1. Go to your Coolify project and click New Resource > Database > PostgreSQL
  2. Note the internal connection URL (e.g. postgresql://postgres:password@project-db:5432/app)

Redis

  1. Click New Resource > Database > Redis
  2. Note the internal connection URL (e.g. redis://default:password@project-redis:6379)

2. Create the Main (Web) Application

  1. Click New Resource > Application
  2. Select your GitHub repository and branch
  3. Set Build Pack to Dockerfile
  4. Set Dockerfile Location to Dockerfile
  5. Set the Exposed Port to 80
  6. Configure the health check to hit /up on port 80

This builds with Dockerfile and runs Thruster + Rails server.

3. Create the Worker Application

  1. Click New Resource > Application
  2. Select the same GitHub repository and branch
  3. Set Build Pack to Dockerfile
  4. Set Dockerfile Location to Dockerfile.worker
  5. Do not expose a port — the worker doesn't serve HTTP
  6. Disable the health check (the worker is a background process, not a web server)

The worker builds with Dockerfile.worker and runs Solid Queue (bin/jobs) to process background jobs.

3b. Create the Heavy Worker Application (Server B)

The heavy worker handles CPU/IO-intensive jobs (image/video processing) on a separate server with more compute capacity.

  1. Add Server B as a server in your Coolify instance
  2. Click New Resource > Application on Server B
  3. Select the same GitHub repository and branch
  4. Set Build Pack to Dockerfile
  5. Set Dockerfile Location to Dockerfile.heavy_worker
  6. Do not expose a port — the heavy worker doesn't serve HTTP
  7. Disable the health check (background process, not a web server)

The heavy worker builds with Dockerfile.heavy_worker (which includes FFmpeg and ImageMagick) and runs Solid Queue processing only the heavy queue.

Environment Variables

The heavy worker uses the same environment variables as the main and worker apps (see step 4), with one key difference:

  • DATABASE_URL and REDIS_URL must point to Server A's public endpoints (not internal Docker hostnames) since the heavy worker runs on a different server
  • Use SSL for both connections (e.g. postgresql://user:pass@server-a-ip:5432/fallout_production?sslmode=require)

Network Security

  • Firewall Server A's PostgreSQL (5432) and Redis (6379) ports to allow only Server B's IP
  • Use strong passwords (32+ characters) for database credentials
  • Optionally create a dedicated PostgreSQL user for Server B with limited permissions

4. Configure Environment Variables

Add the following environment variables to both the main and worker applications. Refer to .env.production.example for the full list.

Do not set SOLID_QUEUE_IN_PUMA — the worker container handles job processing separately.

Required

Variable Description
DATABASE_URL PostgreSQL connection URL from step 1
REDIS_URL Redis connection URL from step 1
RAILS_MASTER_KEY Contents of config/master.key
SECRET_KEY_BASE Run bin/rails secret locally to generate
APP_HOST Your app's domain (e.g. app.example.com)

OAuth & Integrations

Variable Description
HCA_CLIENT_ID HCA OAuth client ID
HCA_CLIENT_SECRET HCA OAuth client secret
SLACK_BOT_TOKEN Slack bot token for profile sync

Storage (Cloudflare R2)

Variable Description
R2_ACCESS_KEY_ID Cloudflare R2 access key
R2_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY Cloudflare R2 secret key
R2_BUCKET R2 bucket name
R2_ENDPOINT R2 endpoint URL

Optional

Variable Description
GEOCODER_API_KEY Geocoding API key
SKYLIGHT_AUTHENTICATION Skylight performance monitoring
SENTRY_DSN Sentry error monitoring DSN
LOOPS_API_KEY Loops.so API key for mailer
MAILER_FROM Default from email address
EXTERNAL_API_KEY API key for /api/v1 endpoints
UPTIME_WORKER_PING_URL Uptime monitoring ping URL

5. Network Configuration

If your PostgreSQL and Redis resources are in the same Coolify project, use internal hostnames in DATABASE_URL and REDIS_URL so traffic stays on the internal Docker network.

6. Domain & SSL

  1. In the main application's settings, add your custom domain
  2. Coolify handles SSL certificates automatically via Let's Encrypt
  3. The worker does not need a domain

7. Deploy

Deploy the main app first (its entrypoint runs rails db:prepare to apply migrations), then deploy the worker.

Push to your configured branch or click Deploy in the Coolify dashboard.

Troubleshooting

  • Assets not loading: Ensure RAILS_MASTER_KEY is set correctly — asset precompilation happens at build time with a dummy key, but the app needs the real key at runtime for encrypted credentials.
  • Database connection errors: Verify DATABASE_URL uses the correct internal hostname and that the database resource is running.
  • WebSocket / Action Cable issues: Confirm REDIS_URL is set and the Redis resource is healthy.
  • Jobs not processing: Check the worker container's logs. Ensure it has the same DATABASE_URL and REDIS_URL as the main app.