Basic deployment instructions

Table of Contents

Learn how to get your application up and important application architecture principles.

How deployment works

The command to create a new app and to push a new version of an existing one are the same: cf push. The steps:

1. Set up your local directory with the code you want to deploy. For example, if you use Git, check out the code you want to deploy: git checkout main

2. Target the appropriate organization/space: cf target -o <ORG> -s <SPACE>
3. Deploy the application: cf push <APPNAME>

Check the resulting cf command line messages for the route for your app, usually APPNAME.app.cloud.gov or similar.

For details about cf push options, see Deploy an Application in the Cloud Foundry documentation.

Application architecture principles

Here are core architecture principles for this cloud environment – the five things you need to know to avoid surprises when running your applications on cloud.gov.

Avoid writing to the local file system

Don’t depend on local file system storage. When your application restarts (for example, if you restart it, or if the platform automatically restarts it for you), files on the local filesystem will disappear. Instead, use a storage service.

The platform will restart your application

cloud.gov will automatically restart your application instances occasionally. For example, application instances will be restarted if they exceed memory limits.

Application instances will also be restarted when the cloud.gov platform is updated, which can be several times a week. This shouldn’t disrupt your running application if you set up multiple application instances and avoid writing to the local file system.

Check your log configuration

Proper logging might require special libraries/configuration for your app.

Set environment variables

See Cloud Foundry’s documentation on environment variables.

Ignore unnecessary files when pushing

By default, cf push will deploy the working state of all the files you have in that directory. You should exclude files that your application doesn’t need, to prevent those files from slowing down your cf push process.

Next steps on application architecture

1. cloud.gov works best with applications that follow the Twelve-Factor App guidelines. This is more of a comprehensive philosophy than a set of requirements, and it helps explain how cloud.gov expects applications to behave.
2. The Cloud Foundry Considerations for Designing and Running an Application in the Cloud apply to cloud.gov as well, including more details about the core principles above.
3. The cloud.gov production-ready guide explains how to prepare your application for success in production on cloud.gov.

Troubleshooting buildpack issues

If you experience issues with your app that you believe might be buildpack related, please refer to this knowledge base article for more information.