Your First Deploy

Deploy Your First Application in Under 5 Minutes

Welcome to Seenode! This guide will get you from code to live application in just a few minutes, completely free. No credit card required.

Quick Start Options

Already have an app ready? Jump directly to our framework-specific quickstarts for even faster deployment.

What You’ll Accomplish

By the end of this guide, you’ll have:

• A live, publicly accessible application
• Automatic deployments from Git
• Real-time deployment logs and monitoring
• Understanding of how to scale and customize your app

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

• A Seenode account - Sign up for free
• Your application code hosted on a Git provider (GitHub or GitLab)

Don’t have an app ready?

No problem! We’ll show you how to deploy a sample application, or you can fork one of our example repositories.

Choose Your Service Type

Seenode offers different service types optimized for different use cases. Use this decision tree to determine which service type is right for your application:

Web Service

Best for: Web applications, APIs, websites that need to respond to HTTP requests

Examples:

• REST APIs (FastAPI, Flask, Express.js)
• Web applications (Django, React, Vue.js)
• Static sites with server-side functionality

Key Features:

• Public URL provided automatically
• Built-in load balancing
• Auto-scaling based on traffic
• SSL certificates included

Worker Service

Best for: Background jobs, scheduled tasks, data processing

Examples:

• Data processing pipelines
• Scheduled jobs (cron-like tasks)
• Queue workers (Celery, Sidekiq)
• Machine learning model training

Key Features:

• No public URL (runs in background)
• Configurable resource allocation
• Restart policies for reliability
• Integration with databases and external services

Still not sure?

When in doubt, choose Web Service. It’s the most common choice and you can always change it later. Most applications that serve content to users should start here.

Common Service Type Examples

Here are some real-world examples to help you decide:

Application Type	Service Type	Why?
Blog or Portfolio Site	Web Service	Users access via browser, needs public URL
REST API	Web Service	Other apps make HTTP requests to it
React/Vue.js App	Web Service	Users access via browser
Email Newsletter Sender	Worker Service	Runs on schedule, no user interface
Data Processing Pipeline	Worker Service	Background processing, no HTTP requests
Image Resizing Service	Worker Service	Triggered by events, not user requests
Discord Bot	Worker Service	Responds to events, no web interface
Machine Learning Model	Worker Service	Training/inference jobs, not web-facing

Deploy Your Application

1. Access the Seenode Dashboard

   Navigate to the Seenode Dashboard and sign in to your account.

2. Create a New Service

   Click the New button and select Web Service (or Worker Service if you chose that option above).

3. Connect Your Repository

   1. Select your Git provider (GitHub or GitLab)
   2. Authorize Seenode to access your repositories
   3. Choose the repository containing your application
   4. Select the branch you want to deploy (usually main or master)

   Repository Permissions

   Seenode only requests access to the specific repositories you choose to deploy. Your private repositories remain secure.

4. Configure Your Service

   Seenode will automatically analyze your repository and suggest configuration:

   Service Details:

   • Name: Give your service a descriptive name

   Build & Deploy Settings:

   • Build Command: Seenode automatically detects your language/framework
   • Start Command: The command to run your application
   • Environment Variables: Add any required environment variables

   Common Configuration

   For most applications, the auto-detected settings work perfectly. Only modify them if you have specific requirements or custom build processes.

5. Review and Deploy

   1. Review your configuration - all settings can be changed later
   2. Click “Create Web Service” to start the deployment
   3. Watch the build logs in real-time as Seenode builds and deploys your app

Monitor Your Deployment

Once you click deploy, Seenode will:

1. Pull your code from the connected repository
2. Install dependencies automatically based on your project files
3. Build your application using the configured build command
4. Deploy to our infrastructure with automatic load balancing

Deployment Progress Indicators:

• Building: Installing dependencies and building your app
• Deploying: Moving your app to production servers
• Live: Your app is now available at the provided URL

Deployment Typically Takes

• Simple apps: 1-3 minutes
• Complex builds: 3-5 minutes
• First deployment: May take slightly longer as we optimize caching

Troubleshooting Common Issues

My build is failing

Most common causes:

• Missing or incorrect requirements.txt (Python) or package.json (Node.js)
• Build command doesn’t match your project structure
• Environment variables not set correctly

Quick fixes:

1. Check the build logs for specific error messages
2. Verify your build command matches your local development setup
3. Ensure all required files are committed to your repository
4. Try deploying with the default auto-detected settings first

My app is not responding

Most common causes:

• Application not listening on the correct host/port. Your app must listen on host 0.0.0.0 and port 80 (default) or your selected port via the PORT environment variable.
• Start command is incorrect
• Application crashes on startup

Quick fixes:

1. Ensure your app listens on 0.0.0.0 and the correct port
2. Verify the start command in the Seenode dashboard
3. Review the application logs for error messages
4. Test your start command locally first

I can’t access my database

Most common causes:

• Database connection string not configured
• Database not created yet
• Firewall or network restrictions

Quick fixes:

1. Create a database first in the Seenode dashboard
2. Add database connection environment variables
3. Check that your application is in the same region as your database

Success! Your App is Live

Congratulations! Your application is now deployed and accessible via the URL provided by Seenode.

What happens next:

• Automatic deployments whenever you push to your connected branch
• Built-in monitoring and logging in your dashboard
• Free SSL certificate for secure HTTPS connections
• Load Balancing for high availability and traffic distribution

Next Steps: Level Up Your Application

Now that your first app is live, here’s how to make it production-ready:

Add a Database

Create a managed database in seconds for your application data.

Popular choices:

• PostgreSQL for complex applications
• MySQL for traditional web apps

Create Database →

Custom Domain

Coming Soon

Replace the Seenode URL with your own professional domain name.

Includes:

• Free SSL certificates
• Automatic certificate renewal
• DNS management assistance

Environment Variables

Coming Soon

Configure your app with production settings and API keys.

Best practices:

• Separate development/production configs
• Secure secret management
• Easy variable updates

Scale & Monitor

Coming Soon

Optimize performance as your application grows.

Features:

• Auto-scaling based on traffic
• Performance metrics
• Real-time monitoring

Framework-Specific Guides

Get even more specific guidance for your technology stack:

FastAPI

Deploy Python APIs with automatic OpenAPI documentation.
FastAPI Guide →

Django

Full-featured Python web framework with admin interface. Django Guide →

Flask

Lightweight Python web framework for rapid development. Flask Guide →

Get Help

• Documentation: Browse our comprehensive documentation
• Community & Support: Join our discord community for tips and assistance from our team

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Ready to deploy another app? The process gets even faster once you’re familiar with the workflow. Most developers can deploy subsequent applications in under 2 minutes!