coollabsio/coolify — An open-source, self-hostable PaaS alternative to Vercel, Heroku & Netlify that lets you easily deploy static sites, databases, full-stack applications and 360+ one-click services on your own servers.

What happened

The coollabsio/coolify project shared its README, the main guide page for its code on GitHub. It describes Coolify as a platform that lets you deploy websites, apps, databases, and ready-made services on your own machines. You only need an SSH connection, which is a secure way to control a remote computer.

Key facts

• Coolify offers more than 360 one-click services.
• It can work with a VPS (a virtual private server), a bare-metal server, or a Raspberry Pi.
• Apps can be built from GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, or Gitea.
• Installation takes one command, as shown in the install guide.
• Self-hosting is free and open source. Coolify Cloud is a paid option that the team maintains.

What is a PaaS?

A PaaS (platform as a service) is a tool that handles the hard parts of running software online. Instead of setting up servers by hand, you click buttons or push code, and the platform puts it online for you. Coolify gives you this kind of convenience, but the servers are yours.

Why it matters

Many people pay monthly fees to cloud platforms. Coolify lets them keep their data and settings on their own servers. Its files stay on those servers, and running apps keep working even if you stop using Coolify. This gives more control, but you must also look after the servers yourself.

What to watch

• Check the installation guide for server requirements before you start.
• Watch the project's release version, which is shown on its GitHub page.
• Look at the Cloud option if you want less server work.