Getting Started
Introduction
Dequel is an open-source, developer-centric cluster container orchestrator designed to deploy, run, and scale web applications, APIs, and background workers.
Dequel provides developers with a Heroku-like platform experience on top of virtualized docker runtimes and cluster node providers. You get the simplicity of automated Git triggers, built-in let’s encrypt SSL proxy routing, and direct persistent volume attachments without wrestling with complex Kubernetes configurations.
Core Philosophy
- Zero-Config Routing: Incoming traffic is automatically proxied to active deployments based on project configuration.
- State Isolation: Web containers are designed to be ephemeral. Persistent state is kept cleanly separated in managed databases or mapped node volumes.
- Self-Healing Runtimes: Failed container instances are automatically replaced, and scaling adjustments occur automatically based on CPU usage.
💡 Key Concept: Projects
A Project in Dequel represents a single service (a container build) along with its environment configurations, database attachments, routing domains, and active deployments.
How Dequel Works
When you connect a repository or upload a folder:
- Dequel reads your project’s code directory and looks for a
Dockerfileor builder configurations. - It initiates a secure cluster builder environment to package your container image.
- The container image is pushed to the local cluster registry and distributed across running nodes.
- Caddy routing endpoints are automatically updated to direct traffic to the newly created instance ports.