Documentation

Quick Start

# Install
brew tap theognis1002/lightfold
brew install lightfold

# Deploy your app
cd your-project
lightfold deploy

That's it! Lightfold will:

• Auto-detect your framework (Next.js, Django, Rails, etc.)
• Set up a server on your preferred infra (DigitalOcean, Vultr, Hetzner, etc.)
• Deploy your app with zero configuration

Features

• Works With Your Stack: Supports 15+ frameworks including Next.js, Astro, Django, Rails, Laravel
• Deploy Anywhere: DigitalOcean, Vultr, Hetzner Cloud, or bring your own server
• Zero Config: Automatic framework detection and server setup
• Smart Deploys: Only deploys what changed, skips everything else
• Multi-App: Deploy multiple applications to a single server with automatic port management

Installation

Homebrew (macOS/Linux)

brew tap theognis1002/lightfold
brew install lightfold

Manual Installation

Download Pre-built Binary: Visit the releases page and download the binary for your platform.

Build from Source:

git clone https://github.com/theognis1002/lightfold-cli.git
cd lightfold-cli
make build
sudo make install

Commands

Primary Command

lightfold deploy - Full deployment (recommended)

Advanced Commands

For granular control over deployment steps:

• lightfold create - Create infrastructure only
• lightfold configure - Configure server only
• lightfold push - Deploy code changes only

Management Commands

• lightfold status - View deployment status
• lightfold server - Manage servers and multi-app deployments
• lightfold logs - View application logs
• lightfold rollback - Rollback to previous release
• lightfold sync - Sync local state with current config
• lightfold ssh - SSH into deployment target
• lightfold destroy - Destroy VM and remove local config

Configuration

Target-Based Config

Config stored in ~/.lightfold/config.json:

{
  "targets": {
    "myapp-prod": {
      "project_path": "/path/to/project",
      "framework": "Next.js",
      "provider": "digitalocean",
      "builder": "nixpacks",
      "provider_config": {
        "digitalocean": {
          "ip": "192.168.1.100",
          "ssh_key": "~/.ssh/id_rsa",
          "username": "deploy",
          "region": "nyc1",
          "size": "s-1vcpu-1gb",
          "provisioned": true,
          "droplet_id": "123456789"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

API Tokens

Tokens stored locally in ~/.lightfold/tokens.json:

{
  "digitalocean": "dop_v1_...",
  "vultr": "...",
  "hetzner": "...",
  "flyio": "..."
}

State Tracking

State per target in ~/.lightfold/state/<target>.json:

{
  "created": true,
  "configured": true,
  "last_commit": "abc123...",
  "last_deploy": "2025-10-03T10:30:00Z",
  "last_release": "20251003103000",
  "provisioned_id": "123456789",
  "builder": "nixpacks"
}

Supported Frameworks

• Frontend: Next.js, Astro, Gatsby, Svelte/SvelteKit, Vue.js, Angular
• Backend: Django, Flask, FastAPI, Express.js, NestJS, tRPC, Laravel, Rails, Spring Boot, ASP.NET Core, Phoenix
• Languages: JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, PHP, Ruby, Go, Java, C#, Elixir

Supported Providers

Available

• AWS EC2 - Full provisioning support with Elastic IP and security group management
• DigitalOcean - Full provisioning support
• Hetzner Cloud - Full provisioning support
• Vultr - Full provisioning support
• Linode - Full provisioning support
• Fly.io - Container-based deployment only
• BYOS (Bring Your Own Server) - Use any existing server

Coming Soon

• Google Cloud (Compute Engine)
• Azure (VMs)
• Caddy
• Traefik

Development

Building Locally

make build && ./lightfold .
make test

See Documentation for complete guides, API reference, and examples.

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