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🧩 Coolify and Dokploy

Coolify and Dokploy deploy a Docker Compose project from its git repository and put their own proxy in front of it, which gets the certificate. The project's Caddy then serves plain HTTP to that proxy and keeps routing /admin, /api, /static and /media on one domain.

note

These setups follow the platforms' documentation; the continuous integration of DjangoStack tests the server setup, not the platforms themselves.

Settings for both​

Create the settings with the CLI, as for a server:

dstack production --domain example.com \
  --email-url smtp+tls://user:password@smtp.example.com:587

Put every line of .env.production into the platform's environment variables, and add these, so Caddy answers on port 80 without HTTPS and trusts the platform's proxy:

CADDY_ADDRESS=:80
TRUSTED_PROXIES=private_ranges
NUM_PROXIES=2
# Keep Caddy off the ports of the platform's proxy.
HTTP_PORT=127.0.0.1:8080
HTTPS_PORT=127.0.0.1:8443

NUM_PROXIES=2 tells Django that two proxies forward each request (the platform's and Caddy), so it sees the client's address and the https scheme.

Dokploy​

The CLI sets up the project in Dokploy and deploys it, with a Dokploy API key. Push the project to a public git repository first: Dokploy builds it on its server from there.

  1. In Dokploy, create an API key under Settings › Profile › API/CLI.

  2. Write the settings for the domain:

    dstack production --domain example.com \
      --email-url smtp+tls://user:password@smtp.example.com:587

  3. Set up the project in Dokploy. It asks for the API key, creates the project, the environment and the compose service from your repository, gives the proxy service the domain with a Let's Encrypt certificate and uploads .env.production with the variables above:

    dstack deploy setup --provider dokploy --url https://dokploy.example.com

  4. Point the domain's DNS at the Dokploy server, then deploy:

    dstack deploy

dstack deploy status shows the state of the service and the last deploys. Dokploy shows the build log in its dashboard only, so dstack deploy logs links to it. --force has no effect: Dokploy has no rebuild without cache in its API. For a private repository, set up the compose service by hand as below, with a git provider connected in Dokploy.

To set up the service by hand instead:

  1. Create a project, then a Compose service with your repository as the source and compose.yaml as the compose path.
  2. Under Environment, paste the variables from above. Dokploy writes them to the .env next to compose.yaml, so COMPOSE_PROFILES picks the services.
  3. Under Domains, add example.com for the service proxy, port 80, with HTTPS on.
  4. Deploy. The logs show the build, then the backend's migrations.

Dokploy adds its network to the proxy service when you add the domain.

Coolify​

The CLI sets up the project in Coolify and deploys it, with a Coolify API key. Push the project to a git repository first: Coolify builds it on its server from there.

  1. In Coolify, create an API key under Keys & Tokens with the read, write and deploy permissions, and turn the API on under Settings › Advanced.

  2. Write the settings for the domain:

    dstack production --domain example.com \
      --email-url smtp+tls://user:password@smtp.example.com:587

  3. Set up the project in Coolify. It asks for the API key, creates the project and the application, gives the proxy service the domain and uploads .env.production with the variables above:

    dstack deploy setup --url https://coolify.example.com

  4. Point the domain's DNS at the Coolify server, then deploy:

    dstack deploy

dstack deploy status shows whether the site runs and the last deploys. For a private repository, connect a GitHub App in Coolify first and pick it during setup. See the CLI reference for every option.

To set up the resource by hand instead:

  1. Add a resource from your repository with the Docker Compose build pack and /compose.yaml as the file.
  2. Under Environment Variables, add the variables from above.
  3. Under Domains, give the proxy service https://example.com:80: the port tells Coolify's proxy where Caddy listens.
  4. Deploy.

If a service you expect does not start, check that COMPOSE_PROFILES is set: without it, Compose starts only the cache.

Updates and backups​

Each deploy from the platform rebuilds the images and restarts the services; the backend migrates the database before it starts. The daily backup in worker-prod works as on a server: see Backups. The platforms' own database backups do not cover the bundled database, which lives in the project's volume.